How to really make the readers mad.

[crystalwizard]

I'm on a fantasy reader's list and once in a while subjects come up that are kind of eye opening.

The current subject concerns the blurb on the back of the book and commentary inside the book on how great it is.

The gist of the majority opinion of the readers responses is:

Don't.

don't give away the ending on the back of the book

don't ramble on for several paragraphs about how great it is

don't use someone that has written a lot of blurbs to write how great the book is

don't include reviews in the book

DO NOT put art on the cover that has nothing to do with the book inside and make SURE your book looks good on the bookshelf. Make sure your cover art is outstanding as well. The stats say that the back of the book is most important. The readers said the cover art was. Not only that, they said they DO judge whether they'll even open the book at all by what's on that cover.

[Jordan Lapp]

Totally. My friends and I were in a Chapters recently and spotted a trade paperback sized book that was obviously self-published. It had a crappy .gif on the cover that looked like it had been ripped off the internet and was totally stretched at a really odd proportion. It looked terrible.

Obviously we didn't buy it, but worse, we wondered how it had even gotten into the store at all...

Jordan Lapp

http://jordanlapp.com/blog

[Michelle Lowe]

This is an interesting post and I wonder if I could take advantage of it? I have self-published a novel titled The Warning http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&rh=i...%20lowe&page=1 and because of how expensive it is to have a cover done, I designed it myself. Would it be too much trouble to ask for thoughts about the cover? I promise it has a great deal to do about the story, but it would be nice to know if also appeals to the reader or not. I agree that a book cover is just as important as the blurb so I did my best to create the right image. Any insight would be most appreciated, thanks!

[Melkor]

I like it, I'd definitely check out the first few pages if I saw it in a bookstore. It has an eerie vibe.

[The Griot]

I get the best cover art I can afford. There are some artists I would love to work with and vice versa but I frankly can't afford them. I've had good response overall despite that.

[Michelle Lowe]

I like it, I'd definitely check out the first few pages if I saw it in a bookstore. It has an eerie vibe.

Thank you! That made my day, and I haven't had coffee yet. Thanks!

[luci2also]

Thank you! That made my day, and I haven't had coffee yet. Thanks!

I just put it on my wish list at amazon for when I take a break from writing and need a good read.

[Michelle Lowe]

I just put it on my wish list at amazon for when I take a break from writing and need a good read.

Wow! Thanks a million! I hope you like it.