A Parenting and Book Writing Lesson Learned At a Bookstore

02 Nov 2026 #misc

Do you have a book for parents raising two teenager girls?, a guy said.

He was in the next aisle at a bookstore. I was looking for some Christmas presents. I had on my hands Clear Thinking and The Cat Who Saved Books. I was looking for a third book to take advantage of the month’s promotion. The cheapest of the three was free.

The guy kept walking the aisles. An employee started to recommend titles: Think and Grow Rich, The 5:00 Club… Then his daughter said, “I’ve seen this book…I don’t know the title, but its cover is a little brain made of 1-dollar bills…“

“The Psychology of Money,” I said laughing. That moment I knew she was my kind of reading mate. And I knew his after was doing something good: surrounding them with books.

Then I saw it: sometimes a good book covers does all the heavy work for your book. Design your cover so a 13-year-old girl, probably not interested in your subject, could remember your book.

Like it or not, a book is judged by its cover. Just like you and me are judged by the way we look.