HOW NOT TO JUDGE A BOOK

I listen to writers talk about the covers of their books. There is a lot of agony in that talk. Will the cover be nice enough to attract readers?

One of the oldest adages, not just for writers but for life, is: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Everyone knows you can’t trust a pretty face. A pretty face is a good place to start. I like to look at pretty faces. Most people do. But a pretty face is only a start. Many a pretty face is a mask for a wrinkled heart.

So we should not refuse the wrinkled faces. Behind such wrinkles might be a full and giving soul.

So why would we trust a pretty cover for a book? The cover tells us how talented the artist is, not how talented the writer is. If I pick up a book because of its cover, and the story inside is not worth my time, I’ll not trust that author or artist or publisher again.

I have been blessed with great and interesting covers for my books. I greatly appreciate the artists and editors who produced those. But if I can’t write, if I don’t know how to tell a story, no cover will cover my inadequacies.

John Robert McFarland

johnrobertmcfarland@gmail.com

Daughter Katie Kennedy’s Learning to Swear in America will be published by J. K. Rowling’s publisher, Bloomsbury Press, in 2015.

My novel, VETS, about four handicapped and homeless Iraqistan veterans who are accused of murdering a VA doctor, will be published by Black Opal Books in 2015.

I tweet as yooper1721.

I also write Christ in Winter: Reflections on Faith from a Place of Winter for the Years of Winter. http://christinwinter.blogspot.com/