Fresh Start September – Guest Post by Brodie of Eleusinian Mysteries

Hey Guys!
Today on Fresh Start September we have the wonderful Brodie of Eleusinian Mysteries. She has written a brilliant guest post for all of you about what she does and doesn’t like about covers. What appeals to her and makes her eventually pick up a book from the shelves.
Hope you enjoy it!

I admit it: I DO judge a book by it’s cover. I screw my nose up at unprofessional covers with poor photography, text, colouring, etc. If I’m casually browsing shelves online or offline, the books I’ll click on or pick up are those with a cover that is well put together. There’s likely hundreds of amazing books I’ve missed out on because the cover has never interested me enough to check it out. Which is unfair to debut authors, because if I love a seasoned author, but hate their newest books cover, I’ll still be running to my nearest bookstore because of their name alone (why hello there, The Casual Vacancy…). Most debut authors sadly don’t have the name benefit.

Professional photography is a must; it’s more than just sticking a girl with a pretty dress on a cover. You could have the prettiest dress ever, but an awful quality shot will ruin the whole thing for me. When a designer can pull all elements of a cover together and make it look EFFORTLESS, so that my attention is not drawn to each aspect that went into building it, then ding ding ding, I’ve found a winner!

I love covers that tell me something. The fiery symbol on Divergent obviously has significant meaning to the two people overlooking the city and it makes me want to learn WHAT it is. Forgotten is compelling in a less bold way; why is the girl laying alone (forgotten?) in a field of poppies? And Under the Never Sky teases the aether sky with the heroine trekking… well, under it. I love it!

Those are just a few debut covers that I’ve loved, that have made me want to pick up the book regardless of what it’s about. Surveying them all together, I do notice I have a tendency to pick those with models on the cover… maybe I just feel bonded with my fellow humans? Or I like to have an image or the protagonist before venturing into a story? Sure, the hair colour might not always be right, or their dress sense, but many times the posture, the confidence, the fierce or broody gaze give give an idea for the tone of the story. So, the most important thing? THEY LOOK PROFESSIONAL! Well put together will almost certainly have me intrigued enough to flip it over and read the summary!

So there we have it! What a lovely post! What about you? How do you decide which books to read? Are there any covers that you love?
I want to take this moment to thank Brodie for writing this guest post for me and for allowing me to host her for this event!
Don’t forget you can actually vote for your FAVOURITE covers out of the books we’re showcasing in this event by clicking here.

As a bonus part of the event we are giving everyone the chance to win some prizes donated by our wonderful participants and ourselves! These include:

• 2 winners of Strange Chemistry ARC packs, each pack including a copy of Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings, The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke AND Katya’s World by Jonathan L Howard (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• 1 winner of an eBook of My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris (courtesy of Entangled Publishing)
• 1 winner will receive a paperback copy of Speechless by Hannah Harrington – US/CAN only
• 1 winner of a hardover copy of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues (courtesy of the author)-US only Enter here
• 3 winners of a book of your choice from any that has been featured in Fresh Start September (each courtesy of the hosts)

The giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and will run until the end of the event (30 September). Remember to follow the Twitter and Facebook pages of the prizes you want to win, for example, to be eligible to win the Strange Chemistry Prize, you must follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Good luck!

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