The other day I was browsing through Amazon’s holiday romances trying to find a book that I wanted to read. I’d make note of it in my head a few weeks ago and promised myself I would remember the title when I was ready to read it.
So of course, I couldn’t remember the name of the book at all and was browsing through page after page of holiday romances trying to find it.
While I was browsing something struck me as odd. I kept seeing the same photo used on cover after cover.
Okay, so it’s the sexy Santa thing. I get that you’d want him on your book cover. But so do a dozen other writers who use the same photo and clip art service you do.
Instead of having a book that stands out from the crowd, all these look-alike covers blend together and make each other look like copy cats.
With more than a million books available on Amazon, why wouldn’t you try to set yourself apart when you are choosing the cover for your book? You’ve worked so hard writing it. Don’t let it get lost behind a cover that people will pass over because they’ve just seen six more almost identical covers. People do judge a book by a cover and if it doesn’t stand out from the crowd, you’ve already lost your potential reader.
If you don’t have the skills or resources to design your own cover art, then hire someone. There are several affordable options out there, but for goodness sakes, don’t just slap a photo you’ve downloaded from some subscription service onto your cover. Your hard work deserves better than that.
Be original and stand out from the crowd!
