Let’s stop pretending they do not. They do. Within seconds, a reader has already decided whether your book feels professional, interesting, trustworthy, emotional, commercial, or worth picking up. Before they read the blurb. Before they open the first page. Before they know how brilliant your writing actually is. The cover speaks first. And if the cover is not doing its job, the book may never get the chance it deserves. Your cover is not decoration. It is strategy. This is w