Excellent Question…

I did an interview with cover artist Lyn Taylor a couple of days ago and I showed off some of Lyn’s covers. Anyway a reader left a really good question in the comments section of the blog. The reader said –

“Enjoyed the interview but wonder why ebooks need covers?”

What a bloody good question! I like people who ask stuff because it makes you think. I guess the main answer, to me, is that e-books will become paperbacks hence the need for a cover. Then there is also the fact that if you go to one of the many on-line publishing houses to buy a book you naturally will want to look at a couple of things before you buy. The first, do I like this author? I received a great letter from a fan who said that she loved Mad About Mirabelle but she did not like the cover models hair because he had a mullet. I loved this comment. It was so out of the box and honest. It made me go and have a look at his hair. But she bought the book because I wrote it which is something every writer wants to here. So name recognition is important. Next, you want to buy an e-book, regardless what anyone says, we all judge a book
by its cover. You like a cover, so you’ll click on it and read the blurb and an excerpt. If you are turned off by a cover you are less inclined to buy.

I asked some smart authors I knew to give me their thoughts on the whole why does an e-book need a cover question….

Because unlike Hollywood, we like to keep our artists happy and getting them to color inside the lines keeps them busy.
Because all those words confuse people.
Because a diagram is always the best way to show how part A fits into part B
www.kellykirch.com and www.kkirch.blogspot.com

Because we like looking at pictures of pretty half or mostly naked men too?
Jacquéline Roth -www.jacquelineroth.com



Because buyers like them. They look pretty on the web page? Makes the whole point and click thing easier.
Cindy Spence Pape - www.cindyspencerpape.com

Once I realized my books with hunky, gorgeous guys on the covers were selling better than the books with only females on the covers, I posed the question on a readers loop.

If you ask nicely, readers will admit they DO buy a book by its cover. At least they'll give it a longer look and are more apt to read the blurb. If they like that, they'll read the excerpt. If they like all of it, they'll buy the book.
Ashlyn Chase - www.ashlynchase.com

It's very important to have a bookcover. Psychologically, it helps the author feel like a normal author: a bookcover, an aknowledgment, a title page. Otherwise the ebook may look like an unpublished manuscript. It's all of that that made me realize that

an ebook author is as much an AUTHOR as the printed one. It helps the reader realize the same. In a way the bookcover is the validation of an author, whether the book is printed or electronically released
Mona Risk - www.monarisk.com

Because covers give readers a visual image and an instant idea of what the book's about.
Kathy Kulig - www.kathykulig.com

Thanks for the question. It gave us something to think about. And, check out some of the great covers for e-book that are available now to buy – you know the drill - click and buy and read. Shopping is easy and good for you on the Amarinda Blog. Would I lie?

Quote for Today...

"Whatever I believed, I did; and whatever I did, I did with my whole heart and mind as far as possible to do so..." -- Jean Toomer

Anny is discussing the madness of being a writer on www.annycook.blogspot.com and Kelly is in Cheeseland or leaving it on www.kkirch.blogspot.com. As always the blogs to the left are excellent reading.

***Sneak peak of Silverhills by Sandra Cox released January 10 at Cerridwen Press. Click on the cover to find out more.

Silver Hills - the blurb

Set in the 1870’s, Silverhills is the epic saga of tough, handsome Brandon Wade and lovely tempestuous Alexandria O’Malley.

Brandon is driving a herd of longhorns over the Chisholm Trail when a youth appears out of nowhere riding a magnificent black stallion and packing a deadly-looking six gun. In need of trail hands, Brandon hires the young man on. Not till weeks later during the middle of a terrible stampede does Brandon learn that his young sharp shooter is a beautiful woman. A woman, full of fire and passion, that he burns to possess. A woman steeped in mystery who refuses to disclose her past.

Alexandria is on the run and must be able to disappear at a moments notice. When she hires on to the cattle drive, she doesn’t expect the powerful attraction between herself and her trail boss or the response of her treacherous body. Will love and desire cost Alexandria her life. . .or save it?

The excerpt....

Brandon squatted down in front of her, the brown blanket partially covering his arms and exposing his hard chest and flat stomach. “And now, Alex O’Malley, I think its time we had a little talk.”
Alexandria gave him an uneasy look.
He stared at her, his eyes hard and searching. “Who the hell are you?”
“What kind of fool question is that?” Alexandria scoffed trying to brazen it out.
“If you have any sense at all, you won’t push me, O’Malley, not tonight,” he warned quietly.
Her chin came up and she looked him in the eye. “My name is Alex O’Malley.”
Before Alex could react, Brandon reached out and grabbed the front of her poncho and ripped it from top to bottom. The poncho slipped from her shoulders, leaving her bare to the waist, except for her bound breasts. He grabbed a fistful of material, his fingers pressed against her bosom.
She clenched her hand and swung. “Bastard,” Alexandria spat, as she hit him in the jaw.
Brandon barely registered the blow, aware only of the rise and fall of her breasts against his fingers. His grip on the cloth tightened.
“Let go of me,” she groundout, rubbing her aching knuckles.
“Who are you?” His voice was ragged.
Alex spat out, “Alexandria O’Malley.”
He abruptly removed his hand.
Alex grabbed the torn poncho and wrapped it around her.
“How old are you, Alexandria O’Malley?”
“Nineteen.”
Brandon’s face registered relief.
“Why the masquerade and why my trail drive,” he asked in a grim voice.

“If I had realized those four-hoofed horrors were your particular longhorns Mr. Wade,” she snarled, “you can be damn sure I would have kept riding.”
“And the masquerade?” he demanded.
Alexandra glared mutely at him then turned away.
As the silence between them grew, the foreman watched his wrangler. He bit back a grin as the light from the moon revealed the determined jut of her jaw.
Studying her, Brandon wondered yet again how he could have ever mistaken her for a boy. The days in the sun had tinted her skin a warm apricot. Raven-winged brows sat above glittering amber eyes, now hidden by heavily fringed lashes. Her cheekbones were high and stained with color and she smelled of rain.
He removed Alexandria’s soggy hat that she usually wore pulled down on her forehead. Short, auburn curls fell about her face. His gaze moved to Alex’s full mouth and lingered.
“Okay, forget it for now. But make no mistake, O’Malley, someday you will tell me and of your own free will.” He dropped the subject. “We’d better turn in. It’s been a long day. Lay down and I’ll share my blanket with you. You’re chilled to the bone.”
“Not in this lifetime or the next,” Alex said grimly, trying to ignore his bare chest.
Wade’s eyes traveled over her. “You’re perfectly safe with me, O’Malley. To me you are just one of the boys.” And I’m hell bound for lying.

www.freewebs.com/amarindajones/
Go ahead: Live with abandon. Be outrageous at any age. What are you saving your best self for?