Am I alone in this?
It's just that, once an image is formed, it's hard for me to get past it, especially if the girl or guy on the cover isn't what I'd imagined them to be. I don't mind a little bit of imagination sparking, a beautiful gown, a handsome man in the background, maybe a nice landscape or bit of architecture that relates to the story, but when you show everything, it limits the mind.
With that all said, what constitutes a good cover? Personally, I'm not completely sure. To me, it's just something that sticks out to me or something that turns me off from the book. I do think that book covers really can make or break the book though. You hear "don't judge a book by it's cover" and I fully agree with that statement but sometimes, as a reader, its extremely hard to get past the cover. If it depicts something in a way that you don't like, what's to make you push past that an actually read the book?
I came up with a few things that would push me to read a book despite its cover:
- Author - if it's by a certain author that I like, no matter the cover, I'll still probably give it a read.
- Recommendations - If someone recommended a book to me (and I know they enjoy reading what I do) I'll give it a read no matter what.
- Back blurb or first few pages - If I happen to pick up a book (even if I dislike the cover) and I read the back blurb or the first few pages and like the style or am intrigued by a plot twist, I'll push past the cover in hopes of finding a diamond in the ruff.
YES!! I totally agree. I always take the book jackets off my books so I don't get distracted by the image on the front cover and can let my imangination work uninhibited. I think simplicity makes a good book cover. With simple covers I always have the assumption that the author is confident enough in their writing that they don't need "flashy eye-poping covers".
ReplyDeleteThis is just my opinion. Too much of a good cover is just distracting to the eye. I will have to give more thought on how I choose books. Interesting post Em.
Thanks for the input Zachary!
DeleteAbsolutely! If a book cover has a picture of an actual person I tend to skip right over it. I won't even read the back of it to see if it'd be something I'd be interested in unless I run out of other, non-heroine showing covers to browse. Books with scenery or an object will always peek my interest because I want to know what the story is about, where as covers with people on it pretty much tell you "This is who the book is about, forget using your imagination, this what he/she looks like." It's something that's always annoyed me and always will!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree Steff! I guess it depends on how visual the reader is - if they want the images shown to them or want to create their own. Great thoughts!
DeleteI agree about people on the covers whether photos or painted. They're a turn off for me too.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorites are The Twilight Saga with the simple photographs, The Hunger Games trilogy with the symbols, The Left Behind series. I also like chick lit covers with bright colors and quirky cartoons (Shopaholic series comes to mind)
My biggest pet peeve is when the people on the cover don't match the physical description of the characters (brown-haired hero is blond on the cover).
I'm right there with you - when you see a character on the cover and then read the book and find out the description is nothing like the cover it's always a letdown. I'd prefer to make up my own mental image anyway ;)
DeleteI don't choose books by the covers. They don't matter to me one bit. Most publishers choose the covers, not the authors. Isn't it a a little short-sighted to turn away from a good story because you don't like the publisher's choice of a cover? I hope my readers get my books because they enjoy my work - not the work of the cover designer.
ReplyDeleteThe old adage about not judging a book by its cover seems to apply here. :)
Well, I'm an author who's in total agreement with the "no people [at least their faces] on the cover" concept. Personally, I don't like the headless people concept either (and that was a trend in romance for a while, especially with one major CBA publisher). There was one really cute "cowboy" but when he showed up on about five different book covers for Christian romances (both historical and contemporary), I said, "No people on covers for me." My books have done quite well for being a fairly new author (contemporary Christian romantic adventures) with an indie publisher, and as such, I have the "perk" and unique opportunity to help design my book covers. Even chose my own designer. I told him (Dino) I preferred not to show people because (as you said, Emilie) I wanted the reader to have in her own mind what my characters looked like and not give them a perception of some model's face. Dino stressed to keep it simple and limit the cover design to only one to three things synbolic of what was inside the covers. The first (you can check them out on Amazon under my name) had a yellow rose (not in full bloom but Awakening, the name of the book), Second Time Around had a wedding bouquet with a heart-shaped gold key dangling from it with the backdrop of a wedding gown, the third... Feel free to take a look. What a lot of people never see (unless they buy the paperback), is what's on the back cover. On Book #2, it's baby shoes. Book #3 a gazebo. The most recently released, Book #4, took us in a different, more modern and sleek direction but still in keeping with the first three front covers but a perfect representation of the characters in this particular installment of the series. Sorry to go on, but I'm excited to see a discussion of something I find so important and am pretty much in the minority among authors, I believe. In my particular case, it's another example of how the Lord directed me to my publisher and also my cover designer. I'm happy as a lark. When I had my first book published with a bigger publisher (a Christmas novella) this past year, I worried, but they even honored my wish for the "no people" concept even though most ALL of their other covers featured people. Turned out to be very well-received, and I loved it--perfect and whimsical for the Christmas season. Thanks so much and many blessings!
ReplyDeleteThat's so wonderful JoAnn! I will definitely head over to Amazon and check out your covers & books :) I like the idea of having something symbolic on the cover though - I hadn't thought about that! I think, as a writer myself, I approach cover design with the thought that it could set the stage for the entire novel. Thankfully, like Nancy said above, there will be readers who buy books because of their loyalty to the author (I know I do that as well) but as an author I want to draw in new readers to. Ah so much to consider, but I really appreciate the feedback!
DeleteI brought up the topic of covers on my FB page and got lots of comments! Boy, people certainly have opinions when it comes to different kinds of covers they like or don't like. I knew they were important, but I had no idea how much they can influence readers. Great topic, Emilie! Glad you brought this up. I may write a blog about it too - after I get my rewrites done! LOL!
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful Nancy! I'll head on over to FB right now and find your page :) It's been something that I've thought a lot about and I randomly saw a cover on FB (of all places hehe) and thought - I wonder what people think about covers? I'll have to check out your blog, I'd love to read what you post about this!
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