Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover: Guest Post by Brigitte Nioche

The self-publishing authors I work with understand that a professional team of editors and designers are needed to create a quality book that can stand out in a competitive marketplace.

But what happens when the cover you choose hurts instead of helps your book? Do you stick with the cover you and your designer worked so hard to create, or do you go back to the drawing board?

Brigitte Nioche, author of Getting Over Growing Older: A Humorous Memoir of Discovering the Challenges of Aging, faced that dilemma several weeks after her book was published. In celebration of the re-release of her book, she’s agreed to share her story with you:

I believe we all judge a book by its cover! Viewing a book’s cover is like getting a first impression when meeting a new person—that first impression tells us if we want to see more or not.

It is the same when we browse in a bookstore, or even when we scan the pages of Amazon. A cover or title either catches our interest, or we pass over that book.

Several weeks after its debut, I decided to change the cover of my recently published book, Getting Over Growing Older. If you saw it on Facebook, Twitter, or on my blog, you will remember that it prominently featured a picture of me.

The Reaction Wasn’t What I Expected

And the reaction I always got was “Oh, that’s a nice photo of you,” but that was not the message I wanted to convey. By putting my picture on the cover I wanted to show readers that I’m a regular person who practices what she preaches because the book is about sharing my challenges of aging, and the message is how taking a step back and seeing the world with humor and a smile can make the difference. I didn’t want to say that I know best, because I don’t. But because I am going through the ups and downs of getting older, I want to assure women in their forties, fifties, and beyond, who worry about what is ahead, that growing older is not all about going downhill. Quite the contrary.

Aging brings new opportunities to enjoy and see the world from a new perspective, offering choices we didn’t have before—like travelling, spending more time with your spouse and family, or just enjoying the freedom of being you. I could go on and on because there is much more to be grateful for when we get older, but I will let the book tell you the rest.

Research and More Research

So following my hunch that the cover was not representing the book well, it was back to the drawing board. I started by spending a lot of time at Barnes & Noble looking at covers. It helped. I saw what I didn’t like and admired covers that were telling their story well.

My next step was talking to my designer, Gary Rosenberg of The Book Couple, about changing the cover. And taking his advice, I spent two more days looking at graphic designs. We finally narrowed those down to five possibilities, and after getting the opinions of experts and friends, Gary designed the final version, which I feel conveys the story of the book well.

Thank you for giving me the change to show you the new cover, and I invite you to share your stories with me about being “older but wiser”—email me at bbnnic@gmail.com or at GettingOverGrowingOlder.com.

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