Romancing the Blog | Romance Authors and Readers Who Blog

I think there are several sayings that just always leave people feeling jilted.

“You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.” Which doesn’t mean you can eat cake that’s given to you, it just means you can have the same piece of cake in your hand and in you stomach at the same time.

“Beauty is only skin deep.” Um… Isn’t that where beauty is supposed to be? (Yes, yes, I get it – it’s about getting to know a person because judging people on shallow aesthetics is un-American or something.)

And, of course – my favorite:

Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover

We’ve recently been discussing covers a lot in our agency. Several of our agency friends have had “cover mishaps” – like a book’s release being delayed because there wasn’t enough pre-sale support for a book (and the cover is believed the one to blame), or a cover that misrepresents the book, or simply – a cover that the sales reps didn’t like.

Sales representatives are the publishing industry professionals that connect the publisher with their most important customers. No, not readers, but book buyers. And, because of that, sales representatives usually talk to buyers and have a good idea of what books are currently doing well and – by that token – what covers are currently doing well.

Is the book representative of the content? That’s the publishing houses’ job.
Is the book going to attract the eyes of readers as they walk by? That’s the voice of buyers and sales reps coming to bear.

How much say does the buyer/sales team have? Let’s just say there have been more than one book that has gone back to the proverbial and literal drawing board because of their say so.

But what happens when you read a book, like I did last year, that was so entirely misrepresented by the cover. The cover looked like a fun, sexy chick lit and it turned out to be a straight historical romance.

Now, I love historical romances, but that’s like taking a sip of iced tea when you think you’re drinking a soda and going, “BLEH!” Sure, you like iced tea just fine, but if you’re expecting soda… it just tastes wrong.

How do/can readers guard against the nature of the cheating/lying cover? By reading the first few pages, of course… Which is where you see readers hunched over a paperback in the romance aisle, being careful not to bend the binding flipping through the first page or two to get a sense if this is going to be “the one,” that they take home or if it’s going to get shelved for another lucky reader.

But once in a while I get taken in by a particularly beautiful cover… and since I’m not a aisle-reader I will throw it on top of the other fourteen novels I’ve already picked up (really, at this point, what’s the difference?) and rush towards the cash registers before I can change my mind. And when I get home, I often leave this one for last, because I’m unsure of it… but when I do crack the binding… sometimes I’m so pleasantly surprised that I kick myself for not opening the book earlier while at the same time patting myself on the back for having “such good intrinsic taste.”

Because, while you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover… sometimes beauty is more than skin deep… and when you find a book that is both beautiful inside and out, you can have your cake and eat it, too.

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