Quote:
Originally Posted by BetterRed
But does cover design really count for much in the ebook-world in terms of sales. I appreciate how one might be attracted to pick up a book in a bricks and mortar bookshop based on the cover design, but not at on-line sites like Amazon, Google, Apple etc. Can't recall where (maybe here), but I read recently of a book that sold upwards of 10,000 copies in e-book form, but only a few hundred paper copies.
|
It counts in eBooks for the same reason it counts in paper.
The job of the cover is to attract the reader's
attention, and get them to take the book off the shelf/look at the marketing copy and reviews on the web site, as the first step in what the author hopes will be a purchase decision.
A bad cover can be death on a paper volume, and almost as bad for an eBook.
The reader may not understand what makes a cover design good as a designer would think of it, but a bad one will cause them to pass it by or actively reject it, because "bad cover" screams "bad book".
More sales in eBook form than paper aren't a big surprise, depending on the book. Fiction, for example, with a straightforward linear narrative, is made for electronic format. Other things get problematic. Non-fiction depending on topic and content may work better in paper.
And eBooks are generally cheaper (especially if self-published/indie-published) and the process is far more friction free. You can browse for titles, find one you like, purchase and download for immediate fulfillment without getting out of your chair. While it's possible to get paper volumes and have them shipped, you don't get the immediate gratification.
Without knowing more about the book, that volume that sold ten thousand in eBook format and a few hundred in paper didn't mean publishing the paper version was a poor decision. It depends on what the paper version cost to produce and what it sold for. If there hadn't
been a paper version, those additional sales wouldn't have happened. People who buy in paper when an eBook is available either can't or just don't want to read an electronic copy, and wouldn't have bought it if there was only a eBook edition.
______
Dennis