At this moment I am in the process of researching just how much power a title and a cover can have upon potential readers. I personally feel that the two books I put the most work into are going unnoticed. This is a hard pill to swallow by times and one must ask themselves the question why? Just what words encompass what it takes to attract a reader? What illustration or picture has to be on the cover to tweak someone’s interest. I used to evaluate advertisements by placing a couple of dozen of them up on a flat wall and then asking people to walk by and tell me which ones they were most attracted to. To my surprise, most of them chose ones which did not work for me simply because I was too close to the subject to evaluate successfully. In other words, my thoughts were too deep and wanted to tell way too much of the story in a picture and a half dozen words.
For example, is the title “Education 1940-2020….Are We In a Crisis” more attractive than just plain “Tragedy”. Is a complicated picture of a frustrated student more powerful than simply “4 x 5 = 19”.
“Is the title “The Legends of Broken Creek” more attractive than “Survival”. Is a simple picture of a young boy taking aim with a primitive home made bow and arrow more appealing than a full page photograph?
It’s obvious that my ideas concerning titles and cover pages need grooming. There is a reason why people go to post secondary schools for years learning the knack of advertising.
My want is simple. I want potential readers to walk up to a shelf full of books and pull one of mine out because of its title or its cover. These two things plus the first page are the things that sell novels to the fullness of the potential they have. I’m trying even though I would rather be writing.