Quote:
Originally Posted by conan50
I wonder how many truly beautiful book covers have one and two star reviews that keep people from buying them? If I see a two star review on it the book cover means nothing to me, especially if there are dozens of one and two star reviews. A beautiful cover can get my attention for a moment, but everything else had better fall into place, like a great synopsis, good reviews, good formatting. I think the only way a cover seriously affects my choice is if it is butt-ugly and seems made to turn me away as a reader :-)
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You two--you and m'Lud Wolfie, Lord High Curmudgeon--are mixing apples and oranges. Nobody here is going to pass up a fabulous description, great blurbs and a terrific first 1300 or so words, just BECAUSE there is a bad book cover. Just like a bad book cover wouldn't kill us off if we saw 50 4-5- star reviews.
BUT, kids, what you are not thinking about is, how does the prospective reader get to the product description page IN THE FIRST PLACE? To see those reviews, stars, blurbs, descriptions and first 10% of the book? By either browsing or searching through...a page of covers. Whether it's a category browse, a best-sellers browse, a "books on sale" browse, or a search for "vampire novels," (gods help us), or WHATEVER, Somehow, someway, those searchers see that thumbnail FIRST. In an ocean of other thumbnails. That's the reality.
Sure, if you've heard about a book at Goodreads, or here, or "around," that won't push you in one direction or another. but if you're simply browsing, conan50,
I think you are dismissing the power of the First Impression.
That's MY point.
Hitch