Graham Smith: Cover Reveal & Guest Post

Woohoo!!  Who is a lucky #CrimeBookJunkie? *waves hand furiously* …Me! Me! Meeeeeeeeeeee!

Can you tell I am just a wee bit excited peeps!  The wickedly wonderful and extremely talented crime author MR GRAHAM SMITH has honoured me with the absolute pleasure of revealing the cover to his next novella: Matching The Evidence aaaaannnnnd he has sent along a great guest post to get us chatting!!  

So drum roll please…….here it is…the kick-ass cover of Matching The Evidence which, my book-loving friends, is currently available for pre order!  Grab a drink, sit back, check out the guest post below and the wee bit of exciting news I have to share after the guest post!  EEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!!!  I LOVE IT!!!

Don’t Judge a Book
How often have we all heard that old saw – Don’t judge a book by its cover – or one of its variations? I’m guessing that if you’re as judgey as me, you’ve probably heard it a few times.

As an author, I’m putting my neck on the line and my name on the cover of a book in the hope you’ll judge it favourably enough to not just pick it up and look at the blurb on the back, but to also carry it across a room and part with some of your hard-earned book budget. (Or one clicking. I can do modern me!)

Doing this can be stressful and whenever my publisher sends me a cover I’m filled with excitement and worry. I’m lucky enough to have an excellent relationship with Darren Laws and he’s willing to listen to my feedback and take on board any suggestions I make. I don’t always get my own way but I do feel I have more of a say than many of my author friends get.

Within the world of book covers there are certain tropes which reflect a branding element. Take for example the type of thrillers authors such as Lee Child writes; they tend to show the back of a lone figure set against a backdrop which reflects the novel’s story. Another example could be the number of books with a woodland scene with colour bled through the entire image.

Another factor of book covers is the name at the bottom. Having a name like Lee Child or David Baldacci on the cover of a book is going to be a huge factor in influencing readers as both those authors have deservedly earned a reputation as fantastic authors. They have built up a fanbase over a number of years and will always sell books due to their names being on the cover. Yet their publishers will still work hard to give them awesome covers because those covers are what attracts new readers.

Step back into history and you’ll find a time when books didn’t actually have a cover. They were just bound in hardback and had the book’s title on the front. Even the author’s name was omitted although this was added as the years rolled by.

Nowadays there is the cover image, the author’s name, possibly a mention of the lead character if the book is part of a series (James Bond was the first character to have his name larger than the author’s name on a book cover) and a blurb from a reviewer or another author.

How about the blurbs on the cover? Do they really influence book buyers? I’m lucky enough to have attracted some great blurbs from authors’ whose success I can only dream of emulating. While they make me feel all goey and special, I’ve never really known if they work. I’d be more than a little interested in finding out your views on book blurbs so please comment below.

Thank you soooooo much Mr Smith!  I am absolutely over-the-moon to be a part of the cover reveal and look forward to reading/responding to any comments…which I will contribute to as well!

So what is the news I have to share!?  Well holy cheeseballs (my polite speak) #bookjunkies!  There is going to be an EPIC blog tour for this book, kicking off with Claire Knight- Guest Reviewer Extraordinaire of CrimeBookJunkie on August 29th, throw in a few of the #TopBloggers out there, and ending with me on September 18th!!  Like I said…FREAKIN EPIC!  So make sure you join us for some awesome reviews, Q&A’s, Guest Posts….and your chance to win a signed copy! OMFG!  I cannot bloody wait! 

The book is out September 8th, but if you click the link below…you can pre order!  DO IT! DO IT! DOOOOOO IT!  ??

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