Great Stories Should Come in Great Packages

As much as certain writers and hardcore readers complain about the publishing industry allegedly wanting nothing more than to make money, there is a strong case that can be made for the proper marketing of books. Seriously, ask yourself how many times you have not known about a book, been in a bookstore and judged a book by its cover? It happens. It has happened to me in the past. I’ve never bought a book that I knew nothing about if the cover looked boring, or if the blurb sounded trite, silly or uninteresting.

We, especially the “WEs” in the U.S., are prone to buy things based on their packages. Don’t believe me? To see that this is true all one has to do is a little research on the behaviors and habits of consumers. This is even truer if we know what the item is and it is well packaged—pleasing to our senses.

Let’s translate this to buying books. I have shopped in bookstores not knowing what I wanted to purchases (it is rare but has happened), and I have purchased several books according to their cover design, or the quality of the blurb on the back or inside flap of the book. One recent example was my purchase of the book titled The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey.

I had never heard of this title, but right away the cover grabbed my attention. It was sleek, simple, and catchy. So I reached for it. I then read the inside flap. The description of the story grabbed my attention. It made me want to read the book. I turned the book over and read all the endorsements on the back; there were quite a few. I also liked the binding and the uneven ridged pages. I then do what I always do whenever I am contemplating purchasing an unknown title, I read the first line of the book. I liked it. So, I bought this book based on those features alone and somehow I do not think I’ll be disappointed when I read it.

Even so, there are times when I have purchased books strictly on those same set of criteria and been disappointed, but it’s rare. I say all this to say that the marketing of books can be (and usually is) important. So, should we judge a book by its cover? Not really, but many times great stories really do come in great packages. And let’s face it great packages can have an impact on the sales of books.