Today’s my birthday! Now I’ll admit that as I age, a birthday isn’t the momumental event it once was, but it’s still worth celebrating, right? And to make this birthday particularly memorable, my November book cover just came out.

That might not mean much to you, but for me, the first glimpse of a new book cover is a major event. Each time I see one, I spend the entire day scrutinizing every detail, emailing the jpeg to my friends. I’m like a mother eyeing her newborn child for the first time (Are his toes and fingers all there? Whose eyes does he have? Look at his beautiful hair!)

So you can imagine my excitement when I saw the cover of TO PROTECT A PRINCESS, the second book in my Crusaders miniseries. I stopped working. I spent the afternoon staring at the picture, enthralled. I studied every inch of it, flipping through my mental checklist to see if the artists got everything right:

-Is the hero attractive? Yes (huge relief)!

-Do the cover models resemble my characters? Yes again. The heroine’s coloring is a bit light, but that’s minor. No one will notice. And the red tinge is probably due to the explosion in the background, not the color of her hair.

Do the clothes work? The heroine’s jeans and t-shirt are perfect. The hero is wearing a leather jacket that isn’t in the book, but again, no one will care.

The background: I love the lights, the intensity, the way the artists caught the moment when the bridge blows up. They made the Inca suspension bridge out of wood instead of rope (a minor mistake) but the overall effect is still great.

So I’m thrilled, relieved. They gave me a good cover. What a wonderful birthday present. I can’t wait to show it off.

And in case you’re thinking I’m neurotic, I can justify this obsession over covers. In a recent Live Journal poll, 63% of readers said they purchased a book based on the cover art. That’s not as significant as familiarity with an author’s work (99.1%) or the recommendation of a friend (91.1%), but the cover can certainly influence sales.

So what do you think? As a reader, does the book’s cover matter to you? Can it influence whether you buy or reject a book? How about my new cover? Do you like it? Any thoughts?

And because it’s my birthday, I’ll send a prize to someone who answers. I’ll either send you a copy of Heart of a Thief (the first book in the Crusaders miniseries) or I’ll preorder a copy of To Protect a Princess for you on Amazon.

Now I’m back to staring at my cover…