I've been reviewing stories on Wattpad for a while now and, boy, has that been a journey. Your stories have made me gasp and squeal. Your stories have made me laugh and cry.
But, from time to time, your stories have made me cringe.
In commemoratio...
Yay! New section! I've been itching to open up this section, so to finally be able to do that is very exciting to me.
Now, first of all... covers? Why is that here?
Well, okay, I debated putting this in the section for writing advice, but here's the thing: it's not writing advice. A lot of us don't actually make our own covers! I'm calling myself out here, I am literally so incompetent at making aesthetically pleasing covers. The only cover I've made is the cover for Sunshine's Review Store, and it's literally so basic, but every time I tried to move something, everything on the screen would go 'wheeee' and just collapse and I'd scream and panic and Microsoft Word can go to HELL and--
Anyways! Covers!
I am going to put them here. Why?
I asked a lot of you, after the last chapter, whether you judged a book by its cover. I asked my friends from my writing community. I asked my parents, who don't read books. I asked all the students I teach.
The answer?
A big, resounding yes.
Almost every single person told me that, absolutely, they judge a book by its cover.
So whoever came up with the "don't judge a book by its cover" -- stop coming up with excuses. Go find yourself a better designer.
It's literally amazing to me, because when I sat back to really think about it, I realised that it's so ridiculously prevalent. Here are two striking examples:
When I found out that the Hunger Games trilogy was coming out in movies, and I still hadn't read them all (I must have been about twelve?), I instantly bought the whole series. Why? Because I had to buy the covers before they spawned the god-awful movie covers with the actors on it.
The other instance is when I went shopping with my mum. She does not read. She just doesn't. I've tried to make her read, but she just doesn't enjoy it. Alas.
After literally decades of claiming that she can't read books and that she will never read a book, I see her pick a book from the shelf. Something had drawn her to a book suddenly. She hadn't even read the blurb. She just knew it was perfect for her. Because of the cover.
Mind you, the cover was of a man with a six-pack, wearing a lab coat. And the title was "A Second Chance with the Surgeon" or something. I honestly don't remember.
Did she read it? No. She hates reading.
But does she look at the cover occasionally and smile dreamily?
Absolutely.
So! In short: your cover matters.
Let's talk about it! And I'll make book covers for each topic I discuss! For irony purposes, expect covers that do not at all match the titles.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
