Book covers, ebooks, and more!!

With the changes in the economy and in technology, the future is uncertain for many writers. There is evidence that times are changing in the publishing world. Publishers are scaling back staff; that's a fact. New authors are having a difficult time getting their manuscripts into the hands of an accepting agent or editor. Many new ebook publishers are opening doors of opportunity for new authors to break into the publishing world.

In a roundtable discussion at a recent Central Ohio Fiction Writers meeting, Sue Grimshaw mentioned the only thing holding back the explosion of ebooks is a "universal" reader. Personally I have a reader and it's a bit clunky in comparison with the newest Sony and Kindle ereaders. I'd love to own a new reader because of the ease of carrying multiple books, and opening a page whenever the opportunity arises. I love reading books, whether they are printed or ebook. What I don't like about ebooks with Kindle is the mentality that I must purchase through Amazon. Each reader takes a particular "format" in order for the book to appear seamlessly.

Another thing that surprised me about book buyers is the importance put on the cover of the book. I asked the question "On what factors do you base your decision when purchasing a debut author's book?" The answer surprised me: book cover, author quotes, and voice. Sue shared several cover flats with us and discussed what's hot and what's not in romance book covers. Since authors have such little voice in what their covers will look like, it's horrifying to me that a cover could make or break sales! Evidently, established and best-selling authors have a small amount of power when it comes to changing book covers. She also said that "yellow" covers do not sell well. Wow! So, yellow isn't appealing to the reader's eye?

Lots of interesting tidbits to consider.

Here are my questions to you:

As a reader, what types of covers are you drawn to? (What tempts you to pick a book from the shelf to peruse it?

Do you own an ereader? If so, does this limit the amount of shopping you do in a bookstore?

Looking forward to seeing some discussion. Thanks for stopping by!

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