That first glance. The fluttering stomach. The goose bumps.
Nothing grabs my attention like a good cover.
When I step into a bookstore, I head straight for the tables. One of my favorite bookstores has a series of tables in the front: literary fiction, romance, non-fiction – covers as far as my greedy eyes can see.
I’m in stimulation overload because, more often than not, I can always find a cover that’s appealing. Then another. And another. It’s multiplies like that Heather Locklear shampoo commercial from the 1980s. And so on… And so on…
I pick up the book whose cover has caught my eye, suddenly curious. I hold it. I inspect it. I flip it over to read the back cover copy. That’s when things get interesting, when my initial lust either moves forward or I search for another pretty. Depending on my reaction, I either drop the book like a hot potato, upset that I was blinded by the pretty, or add the title to my book list. In the two years I’ve been actively tracking what I read, I’ve been disappointed three times, post initial cover lust. I think those are pretty good odds.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to remember that the author has little control over their cover. It’s marketing; the art department and the Powers That Be determine what they think will sell the book. When the cover and the description of the book don’t match, it’s frustrating for a reader (at least for this reader). Does it turn me off that author? No, because not every author can be blessed by the cover art gods for each release. It’s true the cover is going to make me pick up the book; good writing is going to make me stick with So-and-So.
But, oh, how I love to look at the pretties!
No related posts.
I’m always amazed when someone waxes ecstatic about the joys of cover art. I honestly pay no attention unless it’s so awesomely bad as to be snark-worthy. I’d be perfectly happy if they stocked the shelves with the backs showing, since I rely completely on the description to grab my attention.
But I buy 99 percent of my books online now, so you can keep your full frontal pretties in the stores.
My favorite publisher for cover art is Dorchester. Jana Deleon and Susan Grant both had tremendous luck with their book covers there!:grin: I hope they pay their artists well.
Cover art means everything to me. Well, that’s not surprising as a comic book editor. I’m very visually oriented. I even went out and bought second copies of certain Georgette Heyer novels years ago simply because they were reissued with Charles Geer covers. In hardcovers, he had quite a career doing nonrepresentational art (he did a lot of Mary Stewart’s titles, for instance). Very effective, atmospheric suspense art. But when he did paperbacks, he drew glamorous, sexy people and did them correct to the historical time period. And with the right hair color! It has always driven me mad to find a cover with 18th century clothing and hair on a story taking place in the 19th century. In other words, Georgian waistlines and brocade and pomp hairdos instead of Empire waistlines, gossamer fabrics, and hairdos a la victime. The just-out Vanora Bennett book, Portrait of an Unknown Woman, had the wrong period of artwork on the ARC (imitating Girl with a Pearl Earring, but that’s the wrong century and the wrong country, too), but finally got it right and put some 16th century art on the published cover. Good thing, because the wrong cover attracts the wrong reader. Art is important.
Loved your description of walking into the bookstore and seeing all of the “pretties”. I know the feeling! Since we only have a few bookstores in the Florida Keys, and none of them are that big (The largest being the Borders Express in Key West, but that’s over an hour away.), I relish the whole sensory experience of hitting a big bricks and mortar store when I go “off the rock” to the mainland. I love the visual appeal of the covers, the feel of picking up a book and holding it in my hand when I read the back cover. You can even smell the paper of allll those books, mixed in with the triple caramel Costa Rican roast with a hint of Madagascar cinnamon.
I admire the great covers, but don’t let a bad cover turn me off from buying a book that catches my interest.
This is true for authors too – nothing is better than getting a great cover from the art department, and I am so thrilled when people visit my MySpace page and compliment me on my Cards Never Lie cover even though I had nothing to do with it. We often get to fill out sheets about what we want on the covers, but the artists can and do ignore us! I have noticed that those who ignore me come up with a better cover than any idea I have though. I guess I’m not that visual.
I love the pretties too…
Great post!
Gwyneth
Count me in with the visually oriented types. Oooh, all the pretty colors….
In fact, the other day I was sitting on the side of my best, gazing over my (burgeoning) TBR shelf, and realized just SEEING the books made me long to read them. And that the covers — which one hopes convey at least the mood of the books with reasonable accuracy
— are very often the deciding factor when I’m trying to choose what to read next. Something I’d *never* get from perusing a list of downloads on an e-reader, sorry. In fact, if it weren’t for the books themselves sitting there, taunting me with their rainbow of colors and fonts and images, I probably wouldn’t get ANYTHING read!
And yes, I know e-books still have “covers,” but…it’s just not the same.
I am very big on covers. If a cover can’t attract my attention then I’m probably not going to pick up the book. The only exceptions are with authors who I’m familiar with and enjoy regardless of whats on the cover.
Maybe its my business book training
(not the most exciting covers in the world)
but covers don’t interest me.
My favorites are ones like
Richard Templar’s The Rules Of Wealth
with only the title printed on a plain yellow cover.
Its kind of like the first rule of bake sales.
Buy the ugliest looking bake good
(the cake that looks like a kid iced it
or the deformed muffins)
’cause if someone feels that’s worth selling,
it’s gotta taste darn good.
I, too, love a cover!
I look for my authors first. If I dont find any of my authors or I have read them all then I start looking at covers to see what catches my eye. I do not like a couple cover all over each other. Leave it in the book, either show me one or the other or better yet give me a drawing like Christine Feehans new covers or Lori Fosters new covers. Dont distract me from the story.
I love a beautiful book cover, one that speaks to the story inside. I’ve tried authors I’d never heard of when their book jackets caught my eye. I’ve never read a book solely based on its cover but I have been turned off from reading others by their unattractive, and maybe even slightly offensive, covers. I may give it a second chance, based on its back cover blurb, but if that doesn’t get me, I’m putting it down.
I prefer my covers without models because I enjoy using my mind’s eye and imagination to envision the characters. Graphic art depictions are okay if they resemble the author’s description. I absolutely hate when the author’s description of the character is nothing like the person on the cover. A book should be a cohesive product.
Wow, serendipity. I posted about the exact same thing on the same day in my blog. I did a small experiment with my sister in the bookstore. She’s not a romance reader, so I thought it would be interesting to hear what a non-romance reader thought of the covers. Interesting results –
http://grace-draven.livejournal.com/4249.html
I won’t buy a book based strictly on the cover. The back blurb and short excerpt have to sell me as well. However, it is the cover that will make me pull it off the shelf to read more or pass it over for something more visually appealing. the exception to that is a well known, favored author or one recommended to me. Otherwise, I’ll look to the cover first.
[...] *Sigh* Yeah, Jana, I know what you mean. Gets my attention every time. [...]