Hi everyone,

I’m very happy to say that I’ve just had my debut novel published and would love to swap thoughts and opinions on what makes a compelling read. Obviously, some of my motivation is market research, but if I don't ask people who are interested in books who can I ask! With this in mind, what do you think attracts a potential reader? Would it be the front cover like mine below or is it more likely to be on the strength of the synopsis? Just how important is the cover art and what really determines our decision to invest the time to actually sit down and read a book? As a new author, I feel these questions are very important, so any insights you can give will be greatly appreciated. It may help me not to make the same mistakes if I ever get around to writing another one! :)

Most readers do judge a book by its cover, so its good to have an engaging cover as well as a good blurb. Make sure not to make the blurb so lengthy that it beats out the entire book, but catchy enough to make them wanna read more.

Thanks for replying. I think I agree with you. It seems that while a good cover may encourage someone to take a closer look at a book, it's really the synopsis that makes the difference. I don't know if you will get time to check it out, but it would be great to get some feedback on my own synopsis. You can find it here: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/markjohnhockley/...age/mywork.html

For me, as shallow as it may sound, image is everything. Despite the whole "Don't judge a book by it's cover" thing, I find that literally and figuratively I am judging by looks. Normally when I'm in the library or a book store and looking for a book, I go straight to the ones with the eye-popping colors and interesting font, same with the cover. If the cover doesn't look appealing to me, then I automatically assume that the book itself won't be that good.

A synopsis is also important. I hate when I'm in the book store and I find a book that looks like it's got potential, but looking at it I don't find a synopsis to it. When I read the synopsis I'm usually just scanning it, not "reading". So keep it short and sweet without divulging too much.

Hope that helps

And congrats on publishing a book too

If i was picking out a book, HONESTLY, the cover of it attracts my eye first.

I'm not going to pick out a book thats cover looks boring, dull, blank, stupid, no-point to it.

So if the cover looks nice, id consider it.

Also the cover should match the book

if the the book is dull the cover shouldnt be amazing and mislead people into reading a dull book.

so the cover and book so be both amazing and Eye Catching

:)

good luck

speaking of covers, sometimes it's better to leave things for the imagination. having characters on the front can sometimes ruin the book in terms of what images readers have in mind. if you must have a person on the cover, MAKE THEM HOT! it may sound lame, but people will be less interested in reading a book with an ugly person on the cover...

lol obviously a hot person.

orrr, some unique character or face
like mysterious

that'd be cool

Hi everyone,
I hope you will forgive me for getting all excited and letting you know about my first official review for The Magic Lands. You can find it here: http://www.enchantedentertainment.co.uk/bo...y-mark-hockley/
Of course, I hope it will help to encourage you to rush out and get a copy of the book!

I usually judge it by the cover, if it looks to cutesy its out of the picture. I like more mysterous looking covers like (new moon, eclipse and twilight by stephanie meyer).

For anyone interested there are a number of mini reviews of The Magic Lands on Amazon.co.uk It would be great to hear from some readers and I'm always happy to answers questions if anyone has one!

the blurb bored me. i wouldn't read it. i'm sorry.

Sorry to hear the blurb didn't grab you. Fair enough if it's not your kind of thing. On the other hand, there's a couple of positive reviews from readers on Amazon US.

Hopefully a few more people will give The Magic Lands a try :)