Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Book Covers, A Survey, and a Giveaway!

Lee Tobin McClain here, just wondering: Do you judge a book by its cover?

I suspect a lot of us do. I think Love Inspired books have beautiful covers. But along with my Love Inspired books, I also publish independently, which means I have to hire my own cover artist and dream up my own cover ideas. I'm not terribly artistic or visual, so I'm learning as I go! To help me keep making my covers better, will you give me some insight on what makes a book jump off the shelves and into your shopping cart?

On the cover, do you prefer to see:
a) the hero alone?
b) the heroine alone?
c) the couple?

Do you prefer a hero who looks
a) like real men you know?
b) extremely more attractive than most men you know?

And finally, in terms of mood, do you like a cover guy who looks
a) thoughtful and tough?
b) thoughtful and sad?
c) happy?

 Thoughtful and tough
Thoughtful and sad

Happy
Answer in the comments, like this:  a, a, a. If you say why, that'll help me even more. Either way, if you comment before Easter, you'll be entered into a drawing to win a copy of my Love Inspired novel, Engaged to the Single Mom.  

My Sacred Bond series of Christian romance novels is all about the guys . . . they're former delinquents who make a vow to serve God and those who most need their help. That's why the covers feature men in all their solitary glory. And in my humble opinion, they're pretty handsome!

Want to try the series? Click on any of the captions below the covers to find out more. And if you click on the happy guy (Before the Bond) you'll get to my website where you can sign up for my newsletter and get this pre-prequel short story for free. You can also read Book One in the series, His Baby Bond, for free. Enjoy!







10 comments:

Samantha said...

I'll go with c), a), c)
but it really depends on the book.

I feel the cover should represent what the book is about.So I do love books featuring only the hero, or only the heroine, but seeing the couple together is always sweet :)
I do prefer realistic heroes. It's nice to read a book and feel like you could meet a guy like the hero. It brings so much more to the story ;)
Finally, even though any combination of thoughtfulness, sadness, happiness and sadness would work, I like to see a happy hero (especially if he's with the heroine on the cover). But depending on what the story is about and what part of the story is illustrated on the cover, any of the 3 choices could work :P

Hope it helps! ^_^

Lee Tobin McClain said...

Thanks, Samantha--it does help--especially your preference for realistic heroes. That is good to know.

Unknown said...

I agree with Samantha

joy said...

C, a, c

Deborah Bates Cavitt said...

a b c
No one wants a hard photo. but him have feelings like a puppy.

Shirley said...

C, a, c
I also like for the cover to give a hint about the story.
Pet peeve - the people on the cover not matching major characters in the story. Wrong color hair, wrong body type, etc

Jackie Smith said...

I'll go with:
a b c

So excited about your books!!

Jennifer said...

I'd say a,a,a and mostly because I like seeing the hero standing tall with a confident smile! Jenny

Anonymous said...

I really love the love inspired books ! Been reading them for 15 years ! Can't get enough! Also how do you enter the giveaway ?

Unknown said...

cbc