We spend a lot of time thinking and talking about book covers.  While you can’t judge a book by its cover, it certainly is part of the buying process.  This is especially important in trade publishing.

Many technology publishers have adopted a series strategy, and every book in that series looks more or less the same.  For example in For Dummies Tech, you can pretty much assume every cover looks pretty much like the others - black and yellow.  The series look and feel is very much a part of the overall branding, which hopefully makes the books immediately recognizable to the consumer.   99% of our Wrox titles looks exactly like the others save the Author’s photos.

D’Arcy from Winnipeg  says if publishers were smart we would put tasty treats on the covers of our books.

However, if you look at the bestseller lists at Amazon.com you will see that most of the titles are not part of any series or brand. Today, 13 of Amazon.com Top 25 Computers and Internet titles are not books from any series.  These “one-off” titles have very distinct and unique covers.

What does this say about series publishing?  One might argue that readers buy books on their individual merit regardless of any series affiliation.  But does that mean a really great book - one that would be a bestseller if it were a “one-off” - gets unnoticed if it’s part of a series?  Does a bad experience with a series book turn readers off for good?

What say you?  What role does a book series have in your buying decision?

Photo credit: QuantanaRoo 

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