UK Amazon Kindle Forum discussion
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Book Covers - do you like characters on the front?
Romance and young adult are perhaps special cases where I can see the point, but generally I agree with you Katie, the only characters that should appear on front covers are alphabetic :-)
An identifiable face on a cover puts me off - like the Stieg Larsson books. I love a 'bit of art' like the Camilleri covers.
If the book has been turned into a film or TV show, I don't like any of the actors/characters to be on the front. But I don't mind if a person or a cartoon of the characters is on the cover, I still imagine my own characters anyway.Like in Harry Potter, in my head Dobby looks more like Prof Flitwick from the movie and Prof Flitwick is just a very, very small man.
Interesting post, my book cover has two Viking's on it, but very deliberately both are facing away from the reader. The reason for this is I want the reader to imagine what expressions are on their faces, and what those faces look like. You will understand if you look at the cover and see what is facing them. I wouldn't like to define 100% how a character looks as the reader needs that bit of license to imagine them in their own way!
Jud (Disney Diva) wrote: "If the book has been turned into a film or TV show, I don't like any of the actors/characters to be on the front. But I don't mind if a person or a cartoon of the characters is on the cover, I sti..."I have to admit, Jud, that one of the reasons I don't put faces on my covers is that I often base characters on actors (lesser known ones) and I don't think readers want to know which actor I used!
I prefer something which imparts the ambience - I'm rather partial to good photographic covers or suggestions of what the book contains. Having said that, I NEVER let the cover influence me towards or away from a book. I only see it once, when I download it. I don't ever go trawling Amazon for books. I know what I want when I buy a book - usually from an author's promo, here or elsewhere, or from a recommendation from a friend with similar taste. In that case, it doesn't matter what the cover looks like.
I think that for YA and Romance, the reason is that a lot of ladies like looking at a nice bit of man ;)
Having seen how much work went into the cover for my book, I have a whole new appreciation for cover art!
I'm with Ignite on this. Since my kindle I don't really look at covers. Having said that, I do know I've been put off downloading books because the covers were so awful. But that was back in my freebie frenzy days. And having said THAT, I really dislike having what a character looks like stuck in my brain. That really goes to what Jud said about watching a film adaptation of a book though.
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Molly Ringwald as Fran in The Stand is WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!
Almost everybody in The Stand mini series is wrong, wrong, wrong
I'm not keen on people on the covers, often they are *totally* wrong (i.e. different to how I imagined them).But what I hate, hate, HATE!!! with a passion is shirtless torsos...
What the heck is that about!!!
I think you're supposed to look at it and say something like 'Phwoooar! I have to buy that!'I just say 'Phwoarget it! I'm not buying that!'
Oh yes. The infamous shirtless torso.*looks at Mel*
You're right Darren. The only one that was even close to being right was the dude who played Stu Redman.
Hands up all the authors who are now considering changing their covers.
Yes, sorry. I didn't mean to offend anyone. But there are a LOT of covers with shirtless torsos, male and female.Actually, I belong to a group of book cover designers on Facebook and it's a bit of an in joke that many of the men on these shirtless, raunchy covers are the same man - he poses for stock photos and everyone wants him on their cover!
And spends the rest of his time posing in front of his mirror I suppose?
Ignite wrote: "And spends the rest of his time posing in front of his mirror I suppose?"Oh, Ignite, how could you think such a thing? ;)
Ignite wrote: "And spends the rest of his time posing in front of his mirror I suppose?"He's probably looking after his grandchildren at the moment and can afford to buy them little treats because every so often a cheque comes from the company whom he did the photos with forty years ago :-)
To be honest, the quality of covers that we should be able to take for granted is going down hill.
I prefer more abstract covers - unless the design and illustration/photography is absolutely top-notch, having characters on the cover can scream 'pulp'. And I read a lot of stuff which is pulp.Case in point, I've not read the A Song of Ice and Fire books (yet, the series to date is all in the TBR file on my Kindle) but I've admired the cover designs many times in Waterstones. On the train yesterday a girl was reading the Spanish translation of Game of Thrones, complete with a shoddy painting of a beefy warrior on the cover, wielding a huge sword. I wouldn't have given it a second glance in a bookshop.
Jacquelynn wrote: "My cover for Tainted Tree was designed for me, but I specified I wanted a back view of my heroine."Ah, cashing in on the Pippa phenomena :-))
I don't like the trend in crime books for a moody, bleak landscape. Looks cheap to my eyes.
I barely pay attention to covers - am I awful?
Louise-Lesley (Elle) wrote: "I barely pay attention to covers - am I awful?"No, sensible - most of them are forgettable! :)
I don't look at covers either Elle. I think on an ebook they are actually irrelevant.BUT, I don't like faces/people on a book cover, to answer the original question.
I don't even think I'd notice a cover unless it was truly awful or the person/face on it was just hilarious.
From observations in the library, the quick choice section where covers are on display empties quicker when displaying books that have people or body parts on them. Based on this I'd say most people do. Personally I don't mind either way. What I dislike more is when a writer gives such an in depth description in the narrative that it gives my imagination little room for manoeuvre
OMG.pet hate: the book cover does NOT MATCH THE DESCRIPTION OF THE PERSON.
argh - biggest annoyance in PNR/UF series'
I've made a point of never matching my description.It's a survival mechanism :-)
I have no issue with characters/creatures on the cover, especially in fantasy books. One of my favorite fantasy reads right now is Way of Kings. It contains illustrations of some of the creatures. To be honest, I skip right by most fantasy books that have abstract covers. I want to see some representation of magic, a city, or a battle or some such. Usually draws me right away.
Tim wrote: "I'm undescribable..."Want me to have a go?
No, better not.
They should let us do their author blurbs, eh? ;)
Patti (It's a grape life) wrote: "They should let us do their author blurbs, eh? ;)"No. We want people to buy our books, not call the police...
Patti (It's a grape life) wrote: "They should let us do their author blurbs, eh? ;)"It would be ammusing to read, not sure I'd want to use it though :-)
OK Katie, I have a commission for you. On my next cover, I want a back view of a shirtless man sitting on a horse - with a troll under his arm. I'm going to call it In Vino Verity!
Katie wrote: "LOL, Lynda! That would be fun!Not."
No? Can't tempt you? Shame! :)
I don't think my covers would work so well without the figures, though, tbh. And unlike a paperback, readers rarely see the cover on an ebook. Only when they are browsing or buying online - which is when we need to grab them with a stunning cover. Maybe that's why bare torso-ed men/big breasted women are so popular on the front of books. Writers only have one chance to pique their interest
I went for an abstract cover for my Kindle book because most books at thumbnail size look abstract anyway, but I used 'crime' colours - red and black/grey.Most crime covers don't seem to tell you much about the story - a street scene in subdued lighting, a thoughtful face - I think it's more the look and feel that tells people what kind of book it is.
But I do wonder at times if I should have had some people. I was going to go for a face half obscured in shadow but thought it might look a bit Phantom of the Opera...
Lynda wrote: "Maybe that's why bare torso-ed men/big breasted women are so popular on the front of books. Writers only have one chance to pique their interest..."Given how everyone flocked to my author thread when someone mentioned it contained porn and popcorn, or how my blog still gets hits from people searching for Marks and Spencer Knicker Adverts, I think you're absolutely right :-)
Thanks, Jim. Right. We all know what to do.Katie - start looking for pictures of a bare chested Johnny Depp, please. Even if we don't use them on the cover, I still get to go phwoar.:-)
Really, Lynda!Hugh Jackman is definitely better than Johnny Depp!
What? What? Was it something I said? I may be old but I can still fantasize. My memory still works :)Oh, and HJ would be my second choice.
Jim wrote: "Lynda wrote: "Maybe that's why bare torso-ed men/big breasted women are so popular on the front of books. Writers only have one chance to pique their interest..."Given how everyone flocked to my ..."
My author thread got busy when I started talking about writing a drunken paragraph in which Yoda was digging yoghurt from his ear, or something.
It really does take all sorts...
I don't much like characters on the cover, usually because they just don't look like the person I have imagined when reading the story.
I don't mind - any way it works. They are Katie's favourite drawing subjects, after all.
Katie wrote: "Really, Lynda!Hugh Jackman is definitely better than Johnny Depp!"
I can't help but hear his name as Huge Ackman (maybe ladies do to, and that is that part of the attraction)
The Grauniad's Review this weekend has a bit about the latest 'trends' from the London Book Fair - yellows, pastels are out. As are images of furniture, 'hand-drawn' and retro look covers. And images of bits of women eg feet/arms.So what's in? Woman's back in period costume. And Text only covers - including handwritten/ jumbled typeface.
And lots of copycat covers imitating previous bestsellers, of course.
Sounds like a little originality is needed. Where's the Vivienne Westwood of cover design?
I'm a sucker for the abstract cover, although they can sometimes err on the side of obscurity which is why they're not always used by the marketing types. I do get a weird sense of joy when a seemingly random cover image pops upmin the storyline. Overall I guess it depends on the genre you read.
I think characters on the cover are fine. However if it is the 'hero' or the book's main characters I think they should be facing away from the reader. The reader will always have an image of them in their head and the writer should not try and change that image with their own idea :)
What do you think? Do you like to be shown what characters look like or do you prefer to imagine them for yourself?