I love looking at cover designs and thinking about the role they play in forming a potential reader’s perception of the book. We’re all swayed by these designs, even if we wouldn’t want to admit it. Certain color palettes (bold primary colors or stark black and white, pastels or shades of gray, blue, green) evoke specific moods and emotions. Same goes for objects (a windowsill, a gun, a dish or glass, a flower) and animals (a bird, a lion, an insect) and people (a woman in a long dress staring off in the distance, a man in soldier’s uniform). Caustic Cover Critic writes thoughtful posts about covers. Here he notices a stock photo being used over and over on different books, and here he lauds the incredible artwork of Niroot Puttapipat:
Reading the Past is one of my favorite blogs about historical fiction. Sarah Johnson (@readingthepast) is a reference librarian at Eastern Illinois University and has written two guides to the genre. Her most recent post examines covers too–the difference between hardcover and trade paperback designs on several books written by men, including Brooklyn by Colm Toibin and A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. With each one, the figure of a woman has been added to the paperback design. Johnson wonders if this makes women readers more likely to buy . . .
Beyond the Covers is the blog for the California company The Book Designers. Here we get to see the evolution of a cover design through all the versions before the final cover is chosen. Check out all the ideas for Janet Gurtler’s The Weight of Bones. My favorite is this one, but the final cover is tbd.
Come on–tell the truth. Have you ever bought a book for its cover?
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Thanks for posting about my site, Kelly! The Beyond the Covers blog is excellent. So many cover concepts, and only one will be used…. it makes you think about all the time and effort that go into the design.
I’ve absolutely bought some books for their covers. That gives me an idea for a future post!
>> I’ve absolutely bought some books for their covers.
Which ones?
Okay, I’ll give a few examples. Tan Twan Eng’s The Gift of Rain, the paperback – it has a gorgeous Asian landscape painting on the cover. (Haven’t read it yet.) Kate Quinn’s Mistress of Rome, with a woman looking out on ancient Rome. (Ditto, sigh.) And Ian Buruma’s The China Lover, the hardcover. That one I have read, and although I enjoyed it, it was too literary for my taste; I had to work too hard to get at the story. (And I usually like literary.)
These all sound wonderful!
I have to avert my eyes when I walk by the Penguin “Great Ideas” paperbacks. To wit, the gorgeously typeset cover of Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations”
Instant buy.
I have bought books based on their covers. Also, I would be more likely to buy books written by men if there was a woman on the cover.
Thanks for talking about these really interesting blogs – I’ve already subscribed!
Absolutely I judge books based on their covers. If they don’t care enough to put a good cover on it, why should I care enough to read it?