Z = Zebra Print Makes for a Bad Book Cover

There are some things I just can’t get past when looking for a new book. A bad cover is one of them. Go to lousybookcovers.com if you don't think they're out there. 

An author's book remains unsold, month after month, and the author assumes the market is just “tough” or that she hasn’t had enough of the proper marketing.

Nope. It’s not the marketing strategy, and it’s not the market itself. It’s your cover.

• It’s hard to read any font, no matter how large, if your cover image is so busy that the font is just one more set of squiggly things.
• Your three year old’s crayon drawing is for the fridge, not your cover.
• Five different fonts is too many. And don’t match them exactly to your cover image, especially if it’s bright yellow flowers.
• Lots of words on the cover make it worse, not better. Save some words for inside the book, eh?
• Don’t use the words “A Novel” unless there is genuinely a reason someone might think your book is something other than a novel.
• If your book’s title is Bearing Love’s Burden, don’t have a cover with a romantically entwined couple, a shadowy figure in the background who is literally carrying a burden, and a full moon with a bear’s head in it, looking down at them.
• Cowboys don’t wear tank tops or walk around with their shirts unbuttoned. None of the outdoorsy types I know want to get any more itchy dirt and crap on them than they have to, and would never think to unbutton their shirts while out in the field.
• Eyes that look down from the sky on a couple on a ranch/boat/picnic are just creepy. I don’t know where that trend started, but I wish it would stop. It’s freaking me out.

And zebra print? Just . . . no.