The Economics of Judging a Book by Its Cover

You've heard this metaphor recapitulated time after time your entire life. Don't judge a book by its cover. But I'm here to argue that that's exactly what you should do.

You see, publishing houses are involved in a thing called business. One of the principles the majority of businesses try to adhere to is maximize profit. So obviously all book companies are idealists who believe that a book shouldn't be judged by its cover. They spend as little as possible on the book's appearance, trusting that readers will be enchanted by the content.

Publishers spend an average of $3,000-5,000 on a book cover. In the video below (start at around 0:50 for the quote), Brandon Sanderson states that the highest paid cover he's heard of was $15,000. Fifteen grand. That sends a very clear message that publishers are worried about how their books look.

And for that very reason you can, should, and do judge books based on their outward appearance. Another poignant observation that Sanderson makes in the video is that publishers don't worry about whether or not the cover represents what's inside. To them, it's basically a movie poster for the book. In that sense, if you've written a fantasy novel, your cover has to appeal to fantasy readers! If it doesn't, your sales will suffer.

I'll make a comparison to the literary world. Most publishers won't take a look at your manuscript unless you have an agent representing you. To them, if you can't even manage to convince one person who's educated in how the literary world moves to stand by your project, they don't want to waste their time on it. For the same reason, someone who's on the lookout for a new title won't consider making the time investment on your novel if you can't even make it look exciting.

Next time you're at the bookstore (or at your bookshelf) examine which covers entice you and which ones turn you off. A nice fantasy or sci-fi cover always intrigues me, but the romance covers turn me off. That's okay, I'm not the target audience. It doesn't mean that I won't enjoy every single book whose cover isn't particularly exciting. It just means that I'll have to be introduced to those volumes through another source.

I'll end with a series that I was attracted to by the cover, the Bartimæus Trilogy. It had excellent payoff as well!