Magic Thursday: You can't judge a book by its cover, right? Umm, Wrong.

by HelzKat Designs (aka Eleni Konstantine)

In this blog post, I talk about reader perception of covers. In a future blog post in 2018, I'll talk about cover design itself.

The saying 'You can't judge a book by its cover' is well, wrong. People do and will continue to judge a book by its cover. It's the first thing that attracts a reader's eye. Or not.

In art, what one person is attracted to is not what another will be, but in the world of book covers, it's not just about the art, it's about the promise and message a reader gets from the overall cover. Each cover sends a message - I am an 'x' type of book.

For example, have a look the snapshot from our Covers page on our website.

What do you see?

Well, since this is the DarkSide DownUnder, most of the covers have the fantasy, paranormal, sci-fi look about them. The others reflect the genre they represent most notably, romance.

These covers give a short-hand to the reader of what type of story is inside the covers.

Now, since there are mixed genres as well, it's not easy to tell from the cover if it's an urban fantasy or paranormal romance every single time, but there are clues.


From this selection, say you were looking for:

• a sci-fi romance, you'd gravitate to Crashed on an Ice World, by Anna Hackett (planet & couple on the cover) or The Star of Eternity by Imogene Nix (alien looking woman on the cover). 
• a paranormal mystery, you'd look at  Secrets, Spells & Murder by Janni Nell as there's a modern witch and cauldron to say paranormal & it's clearly marked as a mystery with text. 
• a paranormal romance,  see The Magician's Keeper by Nicola E. Sheridan (couple up the top, soft shading, the title and the bars at the bottom of the image), and Necessary Alpha by Khloe Wren (attractive male on the cover, tiger in the background).
• urban fantasy, there's Silver Reaper by Shelley Russell Nolan (font, dark background, mysterious woman) and Ashes Reborn by Keri Arthur (flame headed woman with fire at the bottom)
• For fantasy, there's The Forbidden Heir by M.J Scott (fantasy looking world in background, font, a hint of mystery with mist), and Serpents' Souls & Dragons' Hearts by C.M. Simpson (well if the title doesn't say it all, the image of a serpent figure is sure to). 
• For something different, let's say rural romance, there's A Very Country Christmas, featuring various authors including our Fiona Greene (it has a bush landscape and there are Christmas design elements) and Secrets at Wongan Creek by Juanita Kees (bush landscape, cowboy in foreground with hint of smile despite the angle)
• For suspense, there's Nothing to Fear by Claire Boston (dark clouds, foreboding looking house, figure of woman looking away from us, bold font)

You get my drift and that's only a few titles from this sample, which is only a small collection of our covers over the years, which in turn is only a tiny fraction of what's out there. 

Reader expectation

Now say a reader brought a book that screamed epic fantasy but it ended up being a cosy mystery? That is going against reader expectation. The author will end up with a bad review, not because the story wasn't good. No, because the promise to the reader - the expectation of an epic fantasy - was broken and if it's one thing readers hate, it's broken expectation. 

So let's give you an example. Have a look at these covers I designed for my alter ego, Eleni Konstantine.

 

What if Apprentice Bound was a love story with vampires, and Sealed with A Kiss was about a wizard looking for apprentices?

Then the covers would then be all wrong for them. 

Instead, Apprentice Bound has a young woman playing a flute in a forest. There are lights around the flute. Add the title name, and the fact it says it's a 'fantasy short story', then the reader can expect a fantasy short story. 

Here's the blurb: 

Ddrill is on the hunt for candidates for apprentices to enter the Order of Enchantment. Can he find it in the backward land of Marinndi? 

Does it meet the reader's expectation based on the cover? 

I think, yes.

Now for Sealed with a Kiss: There's a couple kissing. That signals romance. It's a black and white photo, which lends itself to the paranormal. Looking back a vampire symbol would have put it firmly in the paranormal camp, but it does have the words 'paranormal romance' and 'short story' so that base is covered. 

Here's the blurb:

Can a gift from her grandmother protect Lise?

Lise doesn’t believe in vampires. Or so she tells herself. Though, she constantly wears the garnet necklace her grandmother gave her, which wards off the creatures. Andreas, the man she’s attracted to, seems more than a little interested in it. Could there be an ulterior motive?

Does it meet reader expectations based on the cover? 

Yes, again (though I have noted that it could have been improved).

How do you get the cover conveying the right design? 

While I'll talk on actual cover design in a later post, the first thing to do is look at covers in your own genre. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to mimic other covers, but it's a familiarisation exercise to see what you think works and what doesn't. It'll help you see what elements would make a good cover for reader expectation. 

~~~

HelzKat Designs (Helen Katsinis) specialises in designing for writers at affordable prices.

She delivers the right look for each project from book covers, banners business cards, to setting up and customising blogs and websites. She has also given talks to authors on the subject of blogging and navigating in the online world.

She began by designing author banners for her writing persona (Eleni Konstantinte) and her writing groups. After winning the 2010 Little Gems Cover Contest (Topaz), she started to specialise in designing for other writers thus combining her two worlds of design and writing.

In 2018, she's entered the world of pre-made covers. You can see available covers HERE. 

Magic Thursday: New Experiences

with Eleni Konstantine

A couple of weeks back, I was one of the authors at the ARRC2013 - that is the Australian Romance Readers Association's Convention - held in Brisbane.

It was a new experience for me as an author as I'd never been to the convention before (this was the 3rd one), and so it was great to go to something that was focused on readers and not writers.

As an author, I had a Meet the Authors session, which we had five minutes to talk about ourselves and our stories. Boy, that went quicker than I thought. I had some lovely authors also presenting, including DarkSiders Annie Seaton and Nicola E. Sheridan. And boy, I grabbed some tips watching them present. I'm not a natural speaker, so all the tips are handy.

Later that day, I was at the book signing. I've gone to one before but as a participant, never as an author. I sat next to lovely ladies, Sami Lee and Rachael Johns.

Because my work is ebooks, it was a struggle to think of what I should do for the booksigning. Bookmarks, tick. But then chatting to some author friends, I decided to do a 'lucky dip', which seemed to work well. As did the chocolates. :)

What was also a new to me was promoting my latest release - Sealed With a Kiss - my paranormal romance short story that I have Indie Published. I decided that I would have a special code to have the story for free on smashwords. Readers seemed interested and I thought it was a good way to get readers to try a new to them author.

What I was also stunned about - and again a new experience for me - was having some fans seek me out. It was absolute surprising and lovely. I really did a 'who me?' moment. I can't even recall if I said thank you, I was so stunned. So thank you!

It was a great weekend despite the Brisbane weather (humidity, yuck!)

Now to the giveaway, while all can get a FREE story, I hope you would comment and let me know...
What kinds of things do you like seeing at book-signings?


To celebrate my new experiences, I've extended my FREE download of Sealed With a Kiss until the 21st March on Smashwords. Code: CK98U

Can a gift from her grandmother protect Lise?

Lise doesn’t believe in vampires. Or so she tells herself. Though, she constantly wears the garnet necklace her grandmother gave her, which wards off the creatures. Andreas, the man she’s attracted to, seems more than a little interested in it. Could there be an ulterior motive?

A Bite Of...Sealed with a Kiss

Welcome to another fortnightly A Bite Of...

Today I'd like to welcome Eleni Konstantine with a snippet of her book Sealed with a Kiss.

Can you, in less than five words, describe your story, Sealed With a Kiss.
Cute romance with gorgeous vamp.

What inspired you to write it?
I initially wrote this for a competition. I found out that garnet was a stone that is used to ward of vampires, and suddenly I saw a club scene with the heroine wearing the garnet and a hero that seemed interested in it. At only 3K, I wanted it to be a short, snappy, sweet story.


And here's the snippet! 
 “Oh my God, Lise, he’s here.”

Sandie pointed to the man at the bar. Lise looked over and her heart did a somersault. Black shirt, black jeans, black hair, a strong chiselled profile and a ripped body. All she could think was…Oh, my.

Her friend’s eyes hadn’t rested on Mr Black, but on the tall, blond, smiling bartender who motioned her over. No wonder Sandie had only wanted to come to this club.

“What should I do?” her friend whispered.

Lise wasn’t much use in the lurv department. Her last date was a complete disaster—not to mention her last boyfriend.

“Why don’t you get me a drink,” Lise suggested.

Sandie gave her a thankful smile, grabbed her bag and sauntered over to the bar.

Lise’s eyes shifted over to Mr Black. As he took a swig from his beer bottle, his eyes locked with hers for one electrifying second before he looked away.

If only she could be as bold as her friend.

The doof-doof of the music pounded in her ears. Lise twirled her fingers around her Gran’s garnet amulet, wishing she were at a café enjoying a latte. This was so not her scene.

Quick as a flash, a guy seated himself in Sandie’s vacated chair. His too tight t-shirt and slacks made him look like a body builder on steroids. “I thought she would never leave,” he smirked.

Lise gave him a small, tight smile. Life would be so much easier if she was a bitch with the backbone to shoo him away, but she had this thing about being nice and hated confrontation. Hence, staying with Jeff for too long.

“I’m Davo,” he said as he grabbed her hand.

“Lise.” She shook his all-too sweaty hand hoping he’d let go. He didn’t.

“Let’s dance.”

This was another reason why she hated nightclubs—she had two left feet. “No thanks.”

“Oh, come on.” He tugged at her hand.

A quick glance at the bar confirmed Sandie was in deep conversation with the bartender. Half her luck. Lise pulled at her hand, but he held tight. “I don’t dance,” she hissed. What would it take to get rid of this guy? Her nasty side wanted to knee his groin, but that would be taking it too far.  Maybe it was time to play the boyfriend card.

Davo raised an eyebrow. “Come on, just one. You know you want—”

“Is everything all right here?” a voice interrupted.

It reminded her of rich, dark chocolate, and it belonged to Mr Black.

Oh, boy.

Thank you for sharing Eleni!