url on cover

[dennishky]

I am reformatting my cover for ebook distribution.
I was considering putting my novel's URL on the cover-
www.blizzardballnovel.com
Is this frequently done - have others had experience doing this.
Dennishky

[JRHenderson]

If I remember correctly, Amazon explicitly forbids authors from putting URLs onto eBook covers.

I'll see if I can find the list of rules and regulations...

[Coral Moore]

I'm not sure I see the value of putting the url for the book on the cover. At the point where a reader is looking at the cover, I don't think you want them to navigate away from that page and be sent back to the book site.

I won a paperback recently that had the author's main site url on the back cover under the blurb, and that seemed a passable idea in case the person picks up the book somewhere and don't know you.

[RichardHein]

I threw a QR code on the back of my print version that takes people to my site. 

[dennishky]

One reason I wanted to include he URL on the cover is that I am offering readers a sweepstakes and wanted to direct them to the entry site.
Dennishky

[JRHenderson]

I'll see if I can find the list of rules and regulations...

I'm sorry Dennis, I can't find it now. I just know that I wanted to put the URL of my website on the cover of my book, and I distinctly remember thinking "Well that's the end of that idea" when I read that Amazon wouldn't allow it.

But now that I can't find the actual guidance... who knows, maybe I imagined the whole thing!

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

Is this frequently done - have others had experience doing this.
Dennishky

Do you read ebooks?  Have you spent ten minutes looking at the covers on Amazon?  Go do that and find out how many publishers put an url on the front cover of the book.

The LAST THING you want to do is make your book look unprofessional or look as if you don't know what you are doing.  The front cover is suppose to serve the same purpose as a movie poster:  it draws the reader into the book.  Don't put stuff on the front cover that does not belong there.

Now if you have a PRINT book, you can include an url on the back cover along with the blurb.  Publishers do this all the time.  But you don't put an url on the front cover.

[Sheila_Guthrie]

I think URLs on the cover are not allowed at Smashwords, either.

[BrianKittrell]

If someone is viewing the cover at a size big enough to see a url on the cover, then they're inside your book. URLs go in the front matter, back matter, or on the back cover near publisher, pricing, genre, and barcode.

The cover should be title, subtitle, series location (if any), and author name. If you have a major recognition, that would tend to go along the very top, i.e. "New York Times Bestselling Author". Putting anything else is acceptable in some cases, but it is markety. A lot of people don't like markety (and a URL is being markety).

* markety - adj. - the act of marketing in inappropriate places with your own work, such as putting a URL on the cover of your book. Also, trapping others and wasting their time to self-promote, i.e. "We got invited to this conference, and the guy running it did nothing but talk about his own books the whole time. It was just too markety."

[JeffreyKafer]

I think it looks unprofessional on the front. You'll never find a major publisher doing that. It should be about the book, not advertising more of your work.

[JRHenderson]

I'm sorry Dennis, I can't find it now. I just know that I wanted to put the URL of my website on the cover of my book, and I distinctly remember thinking "Well that's the end of that idea" when I read that Amazon wouldn't allow it.

But now that I can't find the actual guidance... who knows, maybe I imagined the whole thing!

FOUND IT!!!

I didn't imagine reading it, but Sheila was right -- it wasn't in the Amazon guidelines, it was in the SmashWords style guide:

Step 23: Prepare your cover image

Book covers cannot contain nudity, a price, or a web address (Apple, for example, will reject your book if they see a hyperlink on the book cover image).

Anyway, I'd hate it if you guys thought that digging up this old thread to set the record straight indicated that I was obsessive in some way...

*gets up and washes hands precisely three times*

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

FOUND IT!!!

I didn't imagine reading it, but Sheila was right -- it wasn't in the Amazon guidelines, it was in the SmashWords style guide:

Anyway, I'd hate it if you guys thought that digging up this old thread to set the record straight indicated that I was obsessive in some way...

*gets up and washes hands precisely three times*

It isn't obsessive.  It is determined.

Do you need some hand sanitizer?  I have a travel bottle of Purell...

[JRHenderson]

It isn't obsessive.  It is determined.

Do you need some hand sanitizer?  I have a travel bottle of Purell...

Julie, I want to thank you for being understanding. And for the hand sanitizer.