Timothy's Thoughts

B ook covers are an important part of the book. We know that the story will be just as good, no matter what the cover looks like, but covers are an important part of our marketing strategy. We often think in terms of a brick-and-mortar store. A reader would have a hard time finding a book if he walked into the store and they all had white covers with black text. So, our main objective with a cover is to convince the reader that he wants to consider the book. Often, a reader will reject a book because of its cover and occasionally a reader will purchase a book because of its cover. In reality, most of us need not be concerned about what the reader sees in a bookstore as much as we’re concerned with what the reader sees online. Even if your book is in a bunch of bookstores, it may be hidden among the stacks and no one will notice it unless they are looking for it. More and more readers are discovering books online before they decide to make a purchase. That means that they are making p...

T here are several stories that I’d like to be writing right now. And there’s a non-fiction book I’d like to write. Actually, there’s more than one. Funny how I want to work on them while I need to be working on the book I’ve already started. The one I’ve started completes a five book series. I really want to be finished with that series. It isn’t that I don’t want to spend more time with those characters; I love my characters, but I’m ready for a new cover design. That’s one of the great things about self-publishing; you get to design your own cover. Of course you can let someone else do it, but what’s the fun in that. So one more novel and I get to play around with covers again.

D enise Hunter posted a sneak peak at Seaside Letters , a story about a woman who falls for a customer and gets into a online dating relationship with him, but doesn’t want to let him know (go figure). Actually, she didn’t steal that idea from me, though it has a few of the same elements in it as Searching for Mom . But there are some very obvious differences. The main similarities are that the love interest between a worker in a restaurant and a customer, as well as the online dating aspect of it involving deception. In my story, the poor guy didn’t even know he was in an online dating relationship.   I thought the cover was interesting. It has all the stuff wrong with it that I don’t care for with recent Christian fiction covers, such as appearing to be a stock photo, chopping off the head and too much pink. What makes it interesting is that the woman dress appears to have gotten hung on the name banner as she walked past it. So ladies, that’s why you shouldn’t wear short skir...

It’s Friday and I’m going to take this opportunity, as many bloggers do, to rant. Though, to be honest, I tend to do that a lot anyway. I really dislike the covers on Christian books right now. At the Christian Book Expo (CBE), most of the publishers had their books lying on tables or stacked on the floor in such a way that potential customers could see the front covers. I walked through all the displays to see what they had made available. All of it was somewhat like this, but I remember one table in particular, a sea of pink , where I moved on quickly with the thought, someone’s going to think I’m interested in these . Yeah, I know it’s a guy thing and the covers weren’t so much pink as they were pastel, but I felt very out of place. It isn’t just the sea of pink . Many of the covers look like someone just went out and snapped a photo of some people to plaster on the cover. Enough about covers, what about content? When’s the last time you saw a Christian how to book? I don’t necessar...