You Can Only Judge a Book by its Cover When You See It

How do you shelve your books?

This may sound like a questions that has an obvious answer but take a moment to actually think about it. Where do people store their books? Are we all thinking, bookshelf?

A bookshelf does a great job of storing books. They look nice and neat all lined up with their bindings looking out to the world. How often does that bookshelf make you take a second look when walking by it? Are the pictures on the bindings inviting? I know that I just asked you a lot of questions. I want you to really visualize yourself walking past a bookshelf in your own home and taking the time to think of your normal reaction.

What if I could share a simple idea that would probably entice you to look over at those books that are calling for you to read them?

Well, here goes — We are all drive by advertisements. A book's main way of advertising to us is by the cover. Although I try not to judge a book by its cover, the cover does have a great deal of whether it will be a book I pick up to peek into.

Did you grasp the idea yet?

That’s right, what if you displayed your books with the cover looking out at the world? This called rain gutter display, where the cover is simply facing the potential reader as apposed to having the binding being our main source of advertisement.

I first learned about this simple idea when I read, The Read-Aloud Handbook, by Jim Trelease. This book is a great resource for parents. I will be sharing more idea and statistics that I have learn from this book in future blogs.

In the meantime, try the rain gutter.