I’m always thrilled to have Lois as a guest. She’s a talented, prolific writer with a fabulous mystery series, especially if you love crafting. Scroll down to find out how you can win a copy of her latest, Anastasia Pollack mystery, Sorry, Knot Sorry.
Judging a Book by its Cover
By Lois Winston
There are two kinds of book buyers. One goes into a bookstore, whether brick and mortar or online, and knows exactly which book she intends to purchase. The other peruses, wandering the aisles or scrolling through e-tailer pages, until she finds a book that strikes her fancy.
But what first makes the perusing customer stop to look at a specific book? It’s always the cover.
Most of us are visual shoppers. We’re first drawn to any item by the packaging graphics. For books, the packaging graphics consist of the cover artwork and the title, and that’s what first piques a reader’s interest. If it does, she’ll pick up the book and turn it over to read the back cover copy describing the plot and characters. Online shoppers click on a link to bring up the book’s page to read the description.
If the reader’s curiosity is piqued further, she’ll open to the first page of the first chapter or click on the sample to begin reading. If she likes what she reads, chances are good, she’ll buy the book.
That’s why cover images and titles are so important. Before the reader reads anything beyond the title, she has some sense of what the book is about and whether it’s something she’ll enjoy reading.
I write the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, a humorous cozy series. Readers know from looking at my covers that I don’t write gritty suspense or thrillers or noir mystery. My covers employ bright colors. My titles are tongue-in-cheek and often puns, as in A Sew Deadly Cruise. And because I write a crafting-themed series, a craft or craft-related word appears in my titles.
The fonts used for those titles, author name, and series name are light and modern. Sometimes I even substitute an object for a letter in the title. In Revenge of the Crafty Corpse, the third book in the series, I used a fabric yo-yo for the “o” in Corpse. In A Stitch to Die For, the fifth book in the series, the story takes place during Halloween. So instead of an “o” in “For,” I used a jack-o-lantern.
Sorry, Knot Sorry is the thirteenth book in the series and my newest release. The title is a play on words with “knot” replacing “not.” Instead of the usual title font, “knot” is written in a rope font to represent macramé. The background graphic is tie-dye. Macramé and tie-dye, two crafts extremely popular back in the 60s. Why? Because there’s a tie-in to that crafting era in the story.
But unlike my other titles, which incorporate words like assault, killer, deadly, die, guilty, or crime, there’s nothing about Sorry, Knot Sorry that tells you the book is a mystery. “Sorry” conjures up regret, but lots of books have a theme of regret without being mysteries. The series name at the top of the book does indicate the book is a mystery, but a reader looking at a thumbnail cover online might not notice that. The book could be a romance or memoir set in the 1960s.
And that’s why the cover also includes bullets. With them, there’s no mistaking the genre of the book.
What first draws you to a book? Is it the cover art or the title? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook of one of the first nine Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.
An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 13
Magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack may finally be able to pay off the remaining debt she found herself saddled with when her duplicitous first husband dropped dead in a Las Vegas casino. But as Anastasia has discovered, nothing in her life is ever straightforward. Strings are always attached. Thanks to the success of an unauthorized true crime podcast, a television production company wants to option her life—warts and all—as a reluctant amateur sleuth.
Is such exposure worth a clean financial slate? Anastasia isn’t sure, but at the same time, rumors are flying about layoffs at the office. Whether she wants national exposure or not, Anastasia may be forced to sign on the dotted line to keep from standing in the unemployment line. But the dead bodies keep coming, and they’re not in the script.
Craft tips included.
Buy Link:
Bio:
USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter and find links to her other social media: www.loiswinston.com
Kathleen, thanks so much for once again inviting me to be a guest on your blog.
Lois, your covers and titles are always so clever. Love them!
It’s always a pleasure to have you as a guest on my Birds, Books, and Banter. I love the symbolism in the title; it’s perfect for a cozy mystery.
Thanks, Diane and Kathleen! I have to admit, I do love a good pun.
Lois, like you, I spent my first writing years as a magazine editor, where part of the job was to oversee the cover of the newsstand editions. I learned then that the graphics and the words on the cover are what drive most sales, and I’m certain that’s a big part of driving sales today, whether online or in a store. Loved the new book, by the way. Best of luck with Number 13!
Thanks so much, Gay! I guess you never know how your early work experience will somehow get woven into a new career down the road.
Fonts are a whole science and art, too! I like how you balance uniqueness and readability!
Thanks, Barbara! I studied typography in school and always found it to be fascinating.
Sorry, Knot Sorry is a great title!
Thanks, Lev!
I enjoy both your covers and your stories.
I’m so glad you do, Susan. Thanks!
Lois, this cover is da bomb! Catchy design and title, and, yes, the bullets!
Thanks, Saralyn! It was a fun one to design. And write! 😉
Agreed, Kathleen, Lois is a phenomenal guest blogger. And I agree with her on the importance of a cover. Themes are absolutely key in any mystery, and clues on the cover draw in potential readers. I’m lucky to have gotten lots of comments on my publisher’s cover designs. Thank you, Lois!
Glad you enjoyed the article, Erica!