Here are the questions I asked and the average responses:
- Do you decide to read a book based on the back cover blurb? - 7 out the 7 said yes. (I agreed.)
- Does the title influence your decision? - Nearly everyone said No. (I agreed). One person said only if it was completely ridiculous or over the top.
- Do review quotes by best-selling authors printed on the cover influence your decision? - 3 out of the 7 said yes. (I disagreed). One person said no because she knew of two best-selling authors who were friends and had seen review quotes by the authors on each other's books so she felt those types of endorsements are deceiving. (Personally, I couldn't help thinking what are friends for. LOL)
- Does the excerpt on the inside of the book before the title page influence your decision? - 5 out of the 7 people said sometimes or yes. (I agreed.) One person said she never reads them.
- Does the cover art influence your decision in any way? - 5 out of the 7 said yes. One person said if the title was catchy and the back cover blurb sounded interesting, she would still give it a try even if it had what she thought was a bad cover. Another said if the cover looked too racy, had anything vampire, werewolf, or witch related on it, she would pass it by. (Yes, this was my 70-something mother.) I agreed with the majority. If the cover art looks like something my eleven year old nephew could put together in Paint, then it makes me wonder what type of editing was done and how well the story was written. Of course being an author myself, I know that in most cases authors have very little say over the cover art so I try not to be too judgmental.