The Movie Cover Effect

I remember being a kid at Hollywood Video or Blockbuster looking at all the movie covers. Before cgi the video, and eventually DVD, covers were drawn by a skilled hand. These always stoked my imagination. What was on those videos that promised so much? The answer? Usually disappointment. The rare video that offered something new or a surprise was one in a thousand. You can see plenty of disappointment on Red Letter Media's YouTube page. But there was always that hope, that chance that you would find a video worth adding to your collection, or better still, a movie worth remembering. I can count on my fingers the number of rentals that were worth the hype behind the cover. That leads me to my own fear: the fear of my book not living up to the hype. You look at Stephen King's The Shining and the cover hooks you in. There's been a dozen covers for the book but the one that haunts me is this looking up picture of a hotel door with the words "redrum" drawn in a child's handwriting. Like a disturbing finger painted signature. Then we have the movie cover, a screaming child's face that takes up the bottom half of the "T" in "The Shining." These media, especially the movie cover, make promises with the buyer. Promises of dark and haunting experiences that will settle into your core. That's the experience I want for my book, a book that lives up to the cover. You see, I know what I want for my cover. I've drawn it in my head about a dozen times. I want what's inside to be as impactful as the cover. Like a double punch to the jaw, one from the cover, and one from the book. That's the impact every writer wants. Then I want the reader to finish the book and put it down and say "I enjoyed that." Strange as it may sound, sometimes the reader can enjoy a punch to the jaw. That's something I hope my book brings to the reader.