Friday, December 27, 2013

17245--Do I need a dust jacket?

The question came up again about judging books by covers, this time even extending to the point of asking if an author should be judged by a book.

No, just…no. Cover art may have nothing to do with what's inside, especially from bigger publishing houses. Judge books by their writing. Authors, like anybody else, you have to know to know. You're seeing more of an author in their book than you are an actor or even a director in a film, but it's all still out of context. Roland Emmerich directed the “Stargate” film, for example, but doesn't believe in ancient alien astronauts. The TARDIS is more than just a blue police box.

A grant was granted and an exhaustive scientific study was done, proving for all time that there’s more stuff inside books. The covers are just wrappers. Just as eating the food inside a package gets you more than just examining the package, reading a book brings on an entirely different experience than simply studying its cover.

Likewise, I am more than animated skin.  Certainly, bigger on the inside.  Or smaller on the outside.  As you like.  Any of us grows over a dozen yards of digestive tract and then miles upon miles of circulatory vessels and neural tissue.

I do occasionally wrap it in a duster, but I never considered a dust jacket.  There's way too much on the inside to even consider that, even if it were all black or had really cool art.


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