Cover Art

One of the most important aspects of selling novels is the cover art. But what's an author to do when the cover art that is presented to her doesn't match the theme or style of the novel she's created. First off she should state her point clearly and consisely after she's had a moment to calm down from the screaming fit she's probably had for hours after first seeing the work.

Then it's time for damage control. Hopefully the art department of the publisher she's at will produce something more fitting, but if they don't it's time to get out the heavy artillary and re-work the promotion scheme. She's probably going to have to go well out of her way to sell the premise of the book to readers who won't be able to tell it from the cover. If she has an audience already she's probably going to have to convince them the cover artist was on drugs when they did her book and it really IS what she's saying it is. Believe it or not, the existing audience can be harder to convince than the passerby.

Luckily for writers the Internet has made communication with our fanbase even easier than ever before, and a whole lot faster. So if you hit a brick wall on a cover that is not going to sell your book... get talking.