What does a Cover Say?

Hi from Texas! Debra Clopton here hoping you have a blessed day. First I'd like to congratulate the Harlequin art department for bringing my hero of my September book Her Rodeo Cowboy to life in this cover. It was announced this month that it won the Judge a Book By Its Cover Contest in the Inspirational Category, sponsored by the Houston Bay Area RWA Chapter. Whoo Hoo! I think the art department did a great job with the cover because Luke Holden is a great guy inside and out and I thought the look in his eyes conveyed a steadfastness in him...this was the 1st book in the Mule Hollow Homecoming series. You can read the interview with Luke here or visit my website
www.debraclopton.com/about-debra/interviews/

This is the cover of the 2nd book in the Mule Hollow Homecoming series HER LONE STAR COWBOY out March 20. What do you think about Jess?

These are brothers in the series, and they have two completely different expressions. At first I worried what readers would think about Jess's expression. What does his expression say to you? I'll give you a cheat sheet but would love to hear what your first reaction to Jess was. He is actually a fun loving guy, determined not to let his past affect him. He and Luke and Colt, whose story will come out in August 2012 do have a hard childhood that they each have dealt with in their own way. So, what do you think of his expression? What do you think he's thinking about?

You can read about the story at my website under coming soon.

And the big question is, do you judge a book by it's cover?

I will tell you that years ago someone gave me a book with a horrible cover and told me I just had to read this book. The cover was so bland that it just really turned me off. I set the book to the side and forgot about it. About a year later I saw a friend reading a book, something about the cover looked familiar to me. She told me it was a wonderful book and started telling me about it and how it was affecting her. Suddenly it hit me--and I went over and dug the book out from under a stack of books--it was the same book I'd been given. I read the book and loved it!!! It is to this day one of my favorites and I always think about that terrible cover and how it almost caused me to miss out on this wonderful book. How about you--do you have a bad cover story?

(I'll have an interview here next month with Jess from Her Lone Star Cowboy if you want to find out what he's really thinking about)