Guest Author: Patrice Michelle!

Today's guest is my new friend Patrice Michelle, who I totally accosted into coming to do a blog post. Patrice is talking about covers - and she definitely has some stunning ones. She'll also be giving away a cowboy *grin*. Read on to find out more. (Just leave a comment to enter the contest. Winner will be posted in the comments.)

“Never judge a book by its cover."

That saying has been around for a long time, but the reality is something more along the lines of “You never have a second chance to make a first impression.”

Ha! I’m all philosophical this morning, because as much as we’d like to “think” we follow the first saying, the truth is…in a lot of cases, we do judge a book by its cover.

That’s why authors sweat bullets waiting for their book covers. They know that a very compelling book cover could garner them new readers by the fact that the book’s cover was intriguing, unique, beautiful, etc. An arresting cover will draw the reader over. They pick up the book and then…

It’s up to the blurb on the back and the writing inside to “keep” the reader interested. ;o)

Did you know most authors don’t have any true say so in their book covers?

One of the nice things about starting my writing career off with a small publisher was that I had a large say in what my book covers looked like. I wanted to project a specific image for my books and I knew the book covers could go a long way in helping with that. So I was detailed and diligent in my requests, and for the most part, I got exactly what I wanted. Yey!

Now that I’ve sold to a larger NY publisher, the ability to have true input into my covers is very minimal. I know that the marketing department is going to go with a cover they know is proven to sell books. So it was with much trepidation and holding of breath that I opened the email with my first NY book cover.

And it was beautiful!

And no, nothing of what I asked for was on the cover, except the cave in the background. :) But the cover gods smiled on me. And I was happy. All was well with the world.

So tell me, do you judge a book by its cover? Have you been known to buy a book just because the cover was so gorgeous? Did you ever regret such a purchase? Or did the book live up to that fabulous cover on the outside?

And what about the opposite? (The one we authors worry about the most) Have you passed over a book because you didn’t like the cover? Did you ever go back and buy the book once you heard rave reviews on it?

Inquiring minds want to know.

I’m going to be giving away a download up my upcoming cowboy release ANTICIPATION coming out October 23, 2007, so get involved and tell us your thoughts on book covers. :)