Book covers. I love them. I often joke that I write books just to get cover images. One of the boons of releasing eight books in 2007 is getting covers in rapid succession. I look forward to those emails the way I looked forward to Christmas Day as a kid. I always take a moment to collect myself after I see a subject line and Outlook paperclip symbol that tells me there’s a cover attached. A deep breath fills my lungs and hope fills my chest. In that brief minute, I prepare for something pretty major–attached to that email is something that will either help me sell my book or hinder me.
So much rides on a book’s cover. A great cover can get people to pick up a book they normally wouldn’t and a bad one can turn away a reader who might have given it a closer look. My first book–an erotic Regency-set historical anthology–released with a cartoon cover and a flippant title. This was a deliberate choice on the publisher’s part and over a dozen covers were scrapped before they decided on the one you see for sale today. The reasoning was that I was a new author and my name alone wouldn’t sell the book. But wrap it up in a familiar package and title it within a popular and well-established series, and perhaps that combination would sell it.
In the end, this didn’t work for a historical novel. Readers bought the book in spite of the cover, not because of it. Many, many reviewers and readers said, “Ignore the cover and horrible title. This is a great read.” Some readers mentioned bypassing the book a few times before purchase because they couldn’t get past the cover.
As an author, it’s heartbreaking to hear that something completely beyond your control so negatively impacts your ability to sell a book you sweat blood over.
When my next cover email arrived, I was scared to open the attachment. Scared. My heart raced, my palms grew damp. What if I got another ill-fitting cover? To my absolute delight and relief, the cover image attached was gloriously beautiful and perfectly suited to the book. I cried. Seriously. I knew it was going to sell my book for me. And it did. Reviews mentioned the great cover. A buyer for a major chain of bookstores emailed me privately and called the cover gorgeous and “a wonderful change from [the other book]“. Another book of mine had a cover so awesome it got fan mail. Fan mail for a cover.
Recently, a dear friend of mine had a cover she loved. It was later changed to a cover she didn’t love because of a sales account recommendation. The original cover was deemed a hard sell. Earlier this week, the same thing happened to me. A cover for one of my 2007 titles was scrapped when a sales account had concerns. Luckily, I didn’t love the cover and now I’m hoping for one that reflects the book better. It’s a second chance. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed. I really want to sell all my books, of course, but I really want to sell this book and a new cover might do a much better job of helping me with that.
Earlier today I received another cover (totally different book) and it’s the best cover EVER. Like the one I cried over, this one captures my book in one image. I showed it to my friends and more than a few said, “OMG, Syl. You’re going to sell a lot of that book!” A great cover can do that.
Here are some books I’m going to buy because *I* think they have great covers: Retrieval, Dipped in Chocolate, and Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind.
So, let’s talk about a new trend that’s driving me batty — the recycled cover. Those of you who frequent my blog (which has been dead lately due to my brain being overloaded) have seen my posts where I’ll put books side-by-side that have the same cover. Some of these books are releasing in the same month. Some of these images are being used three or four times. I’ve had some friends who’ve successfully had cover changes when the duplicate image was pointed out, and others where they found out too late and had to live with sharing their cover. Have you seen the same covers sitting next to each other on the store shelf? What do you think when you see a cover that you know is on another book? I wonder if this impacts sales. Authors fear that it does.
(Care to post some examples? It’s the wee hours of the morning for me now, but I’ll be back with coffee and I’ll post the ones I’ve seen in the comments section.)
Related posts:
[...] … talking about covers over at Romancing the Blog today! [...]
Sylvia, you have some gorgeous covers -very eye-catching. I admit though, that I am not the most observant person, but I’ve seen the dup covers at your blog and Alison Kent’s, and I don’t like the the recycled cover popularity because the thing is, like you said, it happens with books that are released around the same time from each other. It just seems pretty tacky, especially if it’s several books.
Would it prevent me from buying a book if I already had one with a similar cover? I seriously don’t think so. I try to base my book-buying on the storyline vs. the cover.
I have to say I never really notice covers much with one exception. I will not buy a book with a cartoonish cover. Absolutely not! I won’t even look at the blurb to see what it’s about. Those covers make me think the book is either chick lit or romantic comedy. Both irritating abominations to me.
I’ve only notice beautiful covers long after I’ve bought the book. I only look at the cover to make sure that if there’s a woman on the cover, her hair isn’t red. Romance covers don’t interest me otherwise. What catches my eye is the title and/or the author’s name, especially if the author’s name is not familiar to me. I actually never noticed romance book covers until I started reading blogs and websites that snarked on covers. I realize now how very odd it is that I don’t notice the covers on romances. When I read science fiction or horror, the covers are always of great interest to me, however.
I don’t look at covers much. I buy books by blurb and blurb alone. For this reason, I don’t post covers like most of my fellow reader/reviewer bloggers do. That and I’m lazy.
I’ve not read the book with the cartoon cover you mentioned, Sylvia, but I honestly didn’t think it was that bad. OTOH, I also don’t read historicals much.
A duplicate cover wouldn’t keep me from buying a book, but it sure as heck might confuse me. I have so many books that I sometimes can’t remember if I’ve already bought a particular one or not.
Here are some books I’m going to buy because they have great covers: Retrieval, Dipped in Chocolate, and Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind.
Hm. Interesting. I wouldn’t by any of those based on the covers. Ok, I might think about buying Retreval, but would hold off to see if it gets some better reviews first.
But that just shows you how different people are, and what a hard time publishers must have trying to come up with one cover that will reach the most readers. That’s got to be an incredibly difficult job.
If I see a book with a cover I know, I will assume that I’ve already bought the book, or rejected it for a reason – I will *not* pick it up to read the blurb and find out that it’s a different book; so it’s a lost sale for the author.
The different author/title would only make me think I’d misremembered it.
Beautiful covers, or artistically interesting covers might make me pick up a book more readily in the first instance, just as a horrible one will make me frown, but I am a compulsive browser and will usually read the blurb/first few pages of _anything_ on the shelves that I am unfamiliar with, regardless of my buying power (I get a lot of books out of libraries, too, and ours has small branches and a networked catalogue, so I often browse in bookstores, take note of the so-sos, and order from my local library.)
If the covers are hideous or completely unsuited to the book I begin to be sceptical about the publisher rather than the author.
Yeah I agree a great cover can make or break a book. Because despite the saying ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ everybody does. Especially the non-writers.
The covers that are recycled can get annoying. But if they’re in different genres, historical vs contemp, I’m not even likely to notice unless i see someone blogging about it. But when I see the same fireman in 3-4 ebooks, yeah, then I’m gonna take notice.
I buy books based on recommendations, not on the cover. And I think there are only so many ways to do a cover. BUT to have them released at the same time, that’s another story. Interesting, too, is when an old book is republished at the same time a new book with the same title comes out. That happened to me with my first mass market release. Interesting.
Nice cover certainly catch my eye, but they don’t make me buy a book. Been burned too many times . . .
It’s EXTREMELY rare that a romance will have a cover that doesn’t make me cringe. Below are a few that I love
The Seduction
No Man’s Mistress
Just One of Those Flings
Delicious
Take Me
I usually buy books based on the blurb. A cool cover will catch my eye and make me pick it up. But I won’t buy the book unless the blub tells me it is something I’d be interested in. I noticed a few books having the same cover at the same time and it always blows my mind. I wonder if some cover designer is running a little scam… It’s almost funny. My favorite example was a cartoon-type cover with a woman eating a strawberry. On one book the cartoon woman was white and on another they’d blackened her and made her a black woman. Both were for sexy books. The one with the white woman was a 100 ways to satisfy your lover in bed/how-to book and the other was an erotic anthology.
Thank you! I can’t take credit for any of them, but I do admit to gushing madly to my editors when I’m given a cover I love. *g*
I’ve heard this from many a reader.
Sylvia, I agree 100%. A good cover can make or break a book. So far, I’ve loved all your covers… yes, even -That Cover-.
I thought only epublishers recycled covers. Quite a few of my ebooks have the same covers but I can’t say that it bothers me. I’ve seen that fireman Shelli Stevens referred to on quite a few books, too! LOL.
I have to say, most of the cartoon covers just look stupid to me (oddly, I like the covers for Erin McCarthy’s books, despite that). It won’t make me not buy a book, but I’m not likely to pick it up on impulse without recommendation or “knowing” the author from somewhere.
I’m not sure what’s up with the whole cartoon cover deal. I’ve heard more readers complain about them than like them.
My peeve is with the computer-created people favored by many epublishers. They all look like aliens and I’ve yet to see a good one.
A great cover will catch my eye every time. (Of course, I like shiny flashy things. *ggg*) But seriously, a good cover will make me pick up a book to read the blurb. The blurb is what ultimately sells a book for me.
A good cover might make me pick a book up, but the cover alone won’t make me buy it. I’ll pick it up, read the blurb, and if that’s interesting I’ll read the first few pages. If it’s hooked me, i’m there. (This is a real disadvantage ebooks have, when they count on an excerpt of their choice to reel you in.)
A bad cover OTOH, won’t even get picked up; unless it’s by an author I’m already a fan of. Cartoons bug the heck out of me, but then again I’ve never liked cartoons. Scooby being the exception.
Ebooks are beginning to escape the horrible cover trap. While Cover Snark features the worst of the worst, she also takes time to feature some truly gorgeous covers. Still, there are some ebook publishers I won’t even browse because their covers are embarassingly bad. I figure, if they care so little about advertising their product, then their product must not be worth advertising.
What I don’t like is the very “romancy” covers.
Those covers severely limit when and where I’ll read the novel (on the plane next to my v-p? Not a chance).
Same thing with romancy titles.
Don’t really need a visual of the hero/heroine.
One of the coolest covers I’ve seen in a LONG time was the one for the novel Warrior & Witch by Marie Brennan. I’m not good with html, but here’s the link. http://www.twbookmark.com/books/25/0446616974/
It’s just so cool!
I hate covers that are gag-inducing. I seem to like covers without heads for some reason. Someone once mentioned that they like them because you can put your own spin on what the characters look like. That’s why I like those kind.
I love pretty covers. It’s the reason why I sometimes have multiple editions of the same book (although I have to love the book too
). They’re very rarely romance books, though. Mostly YA, like Donnelly’s A Northern Light (which is also an exception to my usual dislike of having faces on the cover, no matter how pretty); I have this version and the hardcover. I received the HC as a gift and when the PB came out, I liked it so much, I bought a copy (she seems to have lucked out on her other book covers too). Likewise, I have three different copies of McKinley’s Beauty.
Once in a while I’ll buy a book pretty much based on the cover and/or title; it worked out well with Dana Stabenow’s Hunter’s Moon. I haven’t done it recently, though. On the other hand, I don’t particularly like most romance covers, especially the ones with half-nekkid people or some guy staring at you, so I try not to look at them when browsing or buying.
As a reader I have to admit that the cover is what initially attracts me to a book; however, a ho-hum cover won’t completely turn me off.. I also read the blurb on the back, and a few pages from the middle of the book to see if something sparks an interest.
I’m a visual person and like to see a cover where the hero and heroine are featured, rather than the fancy victorian home where they eventually reside. One thing that bothers me though is when a heroine is described as a pixie with curly red hair, and the cover shows a blonde amazon sized woman! Eeek.
Having caught the writing bug, I now realize the author has little control over the art work… just my pet peeve
And that’s why covers don’t necessarily reflect the book. The goal of a cover is to get readers to put their hands on it and pick it up. That’s half the battle. Then there’s a possiblity of a sale. If you won’t even touch it, there’s no possibility.
The best covers (IMO) are the ones that are eye-catching, share a bit about the story, and accurately reflect the contents.
Thanks, Ally!
My most recent cover knocked my socks off. I can’t wait to post it!
Nope. Here are some from NY:
I Love the Image
More Covers
Even More Covers
At least two of the covers that Tonda Kalen posted are the exact same image — one is simply a close up. I think that the whole Stock image thing is becoming more popular. I don’t think any cover designer is trying to pull a fast one. I just think you see cover designers from different companies or imprints pulling the same stock photo, and not realizing it’s being used elsewhere.
I had a cover I loved get nixed by buyers. Later I had a cover I loved get scrapped for a whole new concept that looks like every other cover out there. Now we’re several books into the new concept, and I get mail from readers telling me that they didn’t realize that the new title was different from the old title, becaues the covers look so much the same as the last one!
This “same cover” situation that Sylvia is referring to is happening not only to different authors, but to the same author — where every book she writes is given a nearly identical cover. It’s apparently the hot new thing in branding an author — they do it on PURPOSE. I think it makes a five book series look like one book over and over, but do I get a say? Hell no.
I admit that I judge a book by its cover. Of course, it’s not the only reason I buy a book, but a nice cover makes me pick the book faster from the shelves. With ebooks, a lousy cover means much more. The way I see it, if they couldn’t hire a good graphic artist to do their covers, then they couldn’t have hired a good editor either.