This year, Arlington Virginia. WFC #40. But not my first rodeo, oh no.

    My first World Fantasy was the 5th, 1979, Providence Rhode Island. And when I looked at the official site’s “archive”, I realized that I attended 17 of the first 25 WFCs.: Providence. Hunt Valley MD. Berkeley CA. New Haven. Chicago. Ottawa. Tucson. Providence again. Nashville. (I skipped London England, 1988—had just been in 1985.) Seattle. Chicago again. Tucson again. Pine Mountain Georgia. Minneapolis. New Orleans. Baltimore. Providence again, 1999. I’ve watched aikido demonstrations, held a real Viking Sword, seen stage combat, been to Poe’s and Lovecraft’s graves, been to midnight poetry readings, and gone horseback riding.

   I took a few breaks, over the years. But this year I’m signed on again—and I’ve been asked for a story to be included in a flash drive to be distributed to the whole convention membership! I selected Where Bestowed, which originally appeared in Rick Gilliam’s Excalibur anthology. (I met Rick at a WFC, after all.) It’s also in my collection Mythos, an Arthurian Miscellany, so if you aren’t going to WFC, it’s 99 cents now for Kindle, with a great Teddi Black cover, and two other Arthurian tales besides.

Fun Quiz: What is the job of the book  cover?

1. Keep the book clean. (Dust Jacket, duh!)
2. Make your book a best-seller. (Sell a gazillion copies.)
3. Attract attention. (Pick me up! Pick me, pick meeee!)
4.  Help you find a book on your shelf. (Identify.)

   If you chose #3—give yourself a gold star. If you chose #2—you may just be a typical indie author-publisher.

   The job of a book cover—and this is Commercial Art training and 19 years in retail advertising sharing with you—the job of a book cover is to make a potential purchaser pick up the book. (Studies show that touch is an important part of a sale. Customers who pick up an item are much more likely to buy it. (“Odds are if you touch it, you’ll probably buy it”) Farm & Dairy Auction Guide, March 26, 2009.) (What, you think I make these things up?) Book covers are how your book gets noticed.

   But does the cover of an e-book still matter? After all, many e-book readers say they couldn’t tell you what a given cover looks like—once they buy the book, they never see its cover again. Yes! All the marketing, sales-inducing features of traditional publishing still apply, thus:

1. Cover (Cover Image) gets your attention in a crowded marketplace.
2. Back Cover Copy (Product Description) tells you what sort of book you’re looking at. Romance. Science Fiction. Self Help. Vampire Mystery.
3. Inside Cover Copy/Random Read (Look Inside) informs your decision on whether or not to purchase. Do I like the writer’s style, or does the obvious lack of well-drawn, engaging characters drive me nuts? Does the first chapter draw me in? Hook me?  What about the second chapter? Is there a 40-page list of characters to wade through before I get to the story?

   In fact, an e-book enjoys an advantage over a physical book in a real book store. Every book is displayed face-out. (In stores, this is a costly (to the publisher) piece of product placement. Aw, you thought that happened by accident, didn’t you? On-line, you see every cover, not just a shelf of spines.

   The best cover in the universe will not make your book a best-seller. The cover is a marketing tool. Myself, if I know the book or the author, an e-book cover only matters a little to me. Who sees it once they’ve bought and read that book? But a physical cover…that matters enormously. It’s a crucial part of the book’s identity, the author’s branding. Many covers are rightly classics, with award-winning art good enough to hang on the wall. Those transcend mere marketing.

   A great cover might sell your book. A 5-star review might sell your book. But reviews and ratings only influence me up to a point. The only way I’ll know if a book is for me is to read some of it. When I skip the “Look Inside” feature on an unknown book or author, I risk disappointment. No one’s fault if I don’t look. Not the fault of the reviews, either. Only I know what I like—or what drives me crazy in a book.

   It all starts with the cover. That eye-candy image, that siren song in pixels. If I notice it, take a closer look, spiral in—that cover has done its job, whether I buy the book or not!