Does your cover match your book?

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳?

The other day I decided to read a book on marketing by an author whom I greatly respect.

Except... the book was about judo.
The introduction was talking about the art of judo.

Nothing unusual... This author looooooves drawing parallels from different disciplines to make a point.

So I kept reading.

And learning more and more about why people should do judo.

At some point I started getting impatient.

“What does this have to do with marketing?!"

I flipped to the table of contents, looking for the actual marketing content.

I think I reread the table of contents at least three times.

When I finally realized it wasn't a marketing book at all.

The book was really and unmistakably about judo by a completely different author.

𝗧𝘂𝗿𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸.

After a moment of serious frustration with the publisher, I realized something:

𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘥𝘰𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘻𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘮.

That's the power of a cover.

It shapes expectations about what is inside.

If your cover has never quite matched the "book" inside you, join me for the 𝘗𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘧𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 masterclass.