Judging books by their covers…. and lost sales

This is a topic that comes up regularly, and now unfortunately, it seems to be affecting me, so I'd like to get some opinions, please.

I recently got a email from a popular m/m reviewer telling me she's gotten comments and emails about MY cover! She pointed out that readers of m/m said they had actually passed over my book thinking it was menage and that I am definitely losing sales. Several reviews have actually added "disclaimers" to the effect that despite the woman on the cover, the book is pure m/m and m/m readers can safely read it.  But a lot of people pass up even reading the review if the cover warns them away.

I'm a brand new author, so 99.9% of readers never heard of me or know that I only write m/m.

I'm considering whether I should ask for a new cover and I'd appreciate some feedback via a poll and comments. Feel free to comment anonymously if you'd like. Thanks.


468 ad

Leave a Reply