Sunday Conversation Topic 3/30

[Jason]

Let's talk about Book Covers.

Have you ever read a book solely because of its cover?
What elements of a book cover catch your attention the most?
What is your opinion of special edition covers, such as with textured covers?
Have you ever been misled by a book cover?
What is a book cover you have disliked?
How are book covers different in different countries?

And of course, speak to whatever is on your mind.

[Karin]

Yes and no. If you mean the picture, probably not, but if you mean the picture and what's written on the cover, yes. Now I'm more likely to read the inside jacket because new book covers usually have raves on the back rather than what the book is about.

There's no one thing that catches my eyes for a book cover. It might be colour or design. There are some covers that turn me completely off a book as well.

I'm not interested in special edition covers, but learned about it from a young librarian who belongs to a fantasy club where she gets new titles with amazing art on the covers and collect them even though she can already make a profit from some of them. I've seen some of them and they even have art inside of the covers.

Yes, indeed--I've had books that looked like they were going to be stellar based on the cover that were so bad I couldn't finish them; I've also started some with covers that looked boring which ended up to be amazing.

There are too many book covers I haven't liked to choose from.

Book covers often vary for different cultures. Sometimes I prefer the UK covers to the American ones, but am stuck with the American ones which are seen in Canada and the States.

Some of the more recent trends in covers start off as fun but swiftly become boring.

I dislike it when stock pictures are used because a. it puts cover artists out of work and b. it leads to different books having the same cover or almost the same cover.

I also dislike it intensely when classic are reprinted with classic paintings on the cover that have nothing whatsoever to do with the book itself.

I'll stop now, because I have many opinions about covers and nobody has that much time to read all about it :) If you've read this far, hooray.

[Robin P]

I picked up solely because there was a sheep on the cover. The blurb then looked interesting, so I bought it. It turns out sheep don't really feature in it, but it was still good.

I will probably stay away from books with a lot of black on the cover, which tend to be thrillers/horror/technothrillers. On the other hand, lots of pastels are chick lit/cutesy romance which isn't my favorite either.

I don't mind classic paintings on the cover of classics, they are better than modern pictures that try to make Jane Eyre or Elizabeth Darcy into a valley girl or sexpot. There are some hilarious covers on reprints of classics, like Doctor Zhivago with a picture of a surgeon and sexy nurse from a 1950's romance comic.

I really don't like movie tie-in covers. In general I don't like detailed pictures of the characters, because they are often wrong - like the heroine is depicted as blonde, but the book clearly states she has dark hair.

And trends are annoying - women facing away, parts of women's faces or bodies, block text on top of multicolor background, "cartoony" covers, etc.

[NancyJ]

I can’t read most print books anymore, but I used to love the feel of special covers when I browsed books in Borders. (Does it even exist anymore?) I made more impulse purchases back then.

Gorgeous covers will catch my attention, and help me remember a title, but I don’t (consciously) read books just because of a cover. I read mostly audios and ebooks now, and I spend a lot more time researching books in advance. The familiarity of covers is helpful when we’re trying to pick a book from a long tag list every month.

I do a challenge every year that includes some prompts based on covers. I dislike the ones that refer to objects on the cover, because it’s hard for me to see covers clearly when looking at a small picture on a small screen. Color is much more important to me now than it used to be, due to my low vision.

I noticed that there are many trends that give us a pretty good idea of what to expect, based on other books with similar covers. For instance a picture of a woman with her back turned is still popular with historical fiction books about women. I might overlook a book if the cover signals a genre or sub genre I don’t normally like. The only reason I tried All Systems Red is because of enthusiastic recommendations by people I knew.

Sexy covers with half dressed people sometimes give me the creeps, or just feel dated. Maybe it comes from my early feminist training that we shouldn’t objectify people based in their bodies. I wanted to set a good example for my kids when they were young, when I had books all over the house. I have no trouble with talking or reading about sex, so I know my aversion seems inconsistent.

[Joy D]

I bought this book for its cover:


I like covers that have been artistically designed to fit the book.
For example:


Or those that express a sense of the book by referring to its themes in symbolic ways:


I don't care for those that feature blurry designs, single body parts, partial faces, ghoulish figures, or cartoons.

[Booknblues]

I am always drawn to books with a black and white or sepia photo or print on the cover. A couple from this year:




I have various others that appeal to me, but I'm not sure why.

I would avoid a book with a bare chested man on the cover.

[Algernon (Darth Anyan)]

To Green Angel Tower
yes, more than once. I think Michael Whelan and Luis Royo are two graphic artists who inspired me to search a book after I have seen their artwork online

[Joanne]

Joy D wrote: "I bought this book for its cover:


Joy, I entered the giveaway for The Essex Serpent because it was so beautiful! And I won! It still sits prominently on a shelf in my loving room.

[Holly R W]

I am drawn to book covers as an art form. Before music went digital, the album covers were carefully designed and creative, just like today's book covers.

Interestingly, I just now looked at a Goodreads article about what books they recommend for April. Each book cover was shown. I noticed that each genre of books had its own tell-tale, typical design. I could easily discern Y.A., Fiction, Fantasy, and Romance from the book jackets.
===================================

Here are two stand-outs to me.

I love this one for The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. I read that Patchett hired an artist to specially paint it for her book.


Because of how the cat is depicted, I dislike this book cover for North Woods. (Maybe I should have listened to my gut reaction to the book cover. I did not enjoy the book!)

[Theresa]

Joanne wrote: "Joy D wrote: "I bought this book for its cover:


Joy, I entered the giveaway for The Essex Serpent because it was so beautiful! And I won! It..."

I too bought that one because of that exquisite cover and it still sits in the TBR Towers. I do stroke that cover once in a while though.

[Theresa]

Booknblues wrote: "I would avoid a book with a bare chested man on the cover...."

Not me! 😂

Though when there's also a studly dog on the cover, the bare-chestedn hunky man barely gets a glance.

[Booknblues]

Theresa wrote: "Not me! 😂

Though when there's also a studly dog on the cover, the bare-chestedn hunky man barely gets a glance."...

I was assuming there would be some who disagreed with me.

[Theresa]

I am absolutely seduced by some covers, even to the point of buying the book without knowing a thing about it, not even reading the jacket. Prime example: The Night Circus - I bought it in 1st Edition hardcover which had this wonderful cover: . It was some years before I read it though.

One of the most beautiful covers - in fact the entire print book, paper, everything, is stunning:

While there are many covers and trends in cover designs that I dislike, even deplore, it never stops me from buying a book. It does mean though I don't just buy it on impulse, but at least read the jacket blurb. Of course, when wandering in a bookstore, I am more apt to pick up a book that attracts my eye in a positive way, or is eye-catching from art, design, color, title. For example:

Books with covers like these appeal to me just from the cover - clearly color and vibrancy 'speak' to me:




I too tire of 'trends' in covers: women walking away on the cover of HF -- enough already.

I hate the current trend in romance novel covers - they have little to no design or artistry to me, and absolutely do not lure me to read the book - I have not read any of these and the covers do not have me wanting to even find out what the book is about:



These covers are better - they have some design though again it's a trend that could be retired any time now:


Then there is this trend - and I hate it:
- this is a favorite author and in general her covers have mostly been pretty bad with a few exceptions.
-I have not read this author and these covers do not lure me to them either.

Have I ever been disappointed in a book whose cover drew me in? I wouldn't say disappointed - or not often. Now if there is a studly dog on the cover, say with a cowboy or other buff man, and the book doesn't have a dog in it at all - yes I'm very disappointed. Even enraged. Happened once a few years ago and I still am fuming. However I have been misled though it usually works out - example led me to think it was a relatively lightly book, nothing too deep. I was so wrong - and it affected my initial reaction to the book as it was far deeper and darker than I was ready for. I did love it though.

I also dislike it when a movie or tv series tie in leads to a tie in cover edition - and you suddenly can't easily source one without that cover. I am attracted though to special editions where there is additional material added such as essays as well as new covers. Long in print books and series go through generational trend changes -- Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond series recently got new covers that I think cheapen the series: . I own a set with the prior covers, thank goodness: . Recently I had a conversation with friends over newly issued designs for some of Agatha Christie's mysteries which are quite appealing: but also a friend had just re-read another Christie, her ancient mass market paperback copy that was a 1970s edition - it was dreadful as were many in the 1970s - the cover not the book - Towards Zero - though I couldn't easily find a copy on GR to share here.

As for foreign ... just like here they go through trends.

The bottom line is that for too many covers, especially for genre fiction, publishers have moved far away from actually creating art for book overs.

[Robin P]

Theresa wrote: "I am absolutely seduced by some covers, even to the point of buying the book without knowing a thing about it, not even reading the jacket. Prime example: The Night Circus - I bought..."

The romance novel covers you showed are what I mean by "cartoony" - and I agree with all your judgments.

[Theresa]

Of course, when it's an author you like, you read the book regardless of the cover!

Could that be why so many covers for genre books have become so cartoony? Publishers don't want to pay for art any more because with most authors the book sells - in print and in ebook - regardless of the cover art? So they use AI or a salaried graphic designer to formula?

[Joy D]

Theresa wrote: "I too bought that one because of that exquisite cover and it still sits in the TBR Towers. I do stroke that cover once in a while though.."
It does have a lovely texture.

Joanne wrote: "Joy, I entered the giveaway for The Essex Serpent because it was so beautiful! And I won! It still sits prominently on a shelf in my loving room.."
Very cool!

[Joy D]

I am not put off the book if I dislike the cover, but I have clear preferences for some form of artistry.

I also dislike the current trends of the back of a person's head (what's up with that and why is it remotely interesting?) or woman looking off into the distance (lots of historical fictions seem to be using this type of cover).

Since I don't like romances, I am wary of anything with a couple on it (also, I'm not reading anything that screams "boddice ripper" or any of those with the studly men on the cover).

I like covers that show some thought was put into it, and those that use complementary colors in a pleasing way.

[Joy D]

I agree, Theresa, that it's a cost-saving measure to use more generic cover art but this generally puts me off the book. It makes me wonder that the quality of the book might match the cheapness of the cover, so I probably wouldn't buy it.

[Theresa]

Joy D wrote: "so I probably wouldn't buy it..."

Yes! Though I might read it but I'm restricting it to borrowing in ebook from the library almost all the time. Even when it's favorite authors whose books in some format I usually buy.

I'm both a visual and a tactile person. I don't knit and actually can't really wear wool anymore because it makes me itch, but I love wandering through yarn stores touching, feeling, gazing at the yarns. My 'therapy' for years after a bad day at work was to stop in one of my favorite indie bookstores that was along the route home to spend time wandering through the store, gazing at the tables of books (more than at the shelves where you only see the spines), touching, picking up, soaking it up and being seduced by covers. My visits to favorite Indie stores seem to have me reaching out to fewer and fewer books because the covers just don't call out to me the way they once did. I miss that.

[Book Concierge]

I have bought a book because of the cover ... Can't remember the name of it but the cover was gorgeous. A painting of some sort ... landscape? Still life? I just don't remember. But I DO remember that I did NOT like the book and was angry that I let myself be seduced by the cover art!

I tend to buy books more for the author or the subject matter rather than cover design.

But one book which had a terrible cover: (I didn't buy it, got it from the library.) Excerpt from my review: P.S. At the risk of sounding as shallow as most of these characters … for a book about the ultra rich who are SOOooo concerned about the latest fashions, this has got to have the ugliest cover EVER. Though, if you wanted to judge the book by the cover .. you wouldn’t be far off.
The paperback edition was a better cover ...

[Karin]

Joanne wrote: "It still sits prominently on a shelf in my loving room."

I love this typo because it brings so many good things to mind relating love, which is something the world needs more of.

[Theresa]

I just remembered something I overheard a couple of decades ago one evening when I had stopped at one of the bookstores on my route home for a 'therapy session' after a long day at work.

A new employee was being given some training in shelving books -- both new stock and replacing stock that had been pulled out and put back incorrectly or left elsewhere in the store. I was in the mystery section and just started blatantly eavesdropping as the senior person took the newbie through the ropes -- and learned that there are certain genres where you make sure a large number of the titles on the shelves with the cover of the book turned out rather than just the spines showing because readers are drawn to the covers. Mysteries are one of those and he also mentioned romance and SFF. I know I am drawn to shelves with books facing out not just spines when I shop in real bookstores, unless I am looking for specific authors or titles.

[Joanne]

Karin wrote: "Joanne wrote: "It still sits prominently on a shelf in my loving room."

I love this typo because it brings so many good things to mind relating love, which is something the world needs more of."

haha, auto - correct must have liked it too.

[Robin P]

I'm sure publishers are deliberately copying book cover styles to draw in people who liked something similar. Same with titles, the author named the book Oona Out of Order but in Britain it was retitled[ book:The Rearranged Life of Oona Lockhart|49931433], to specifically align it with the many books at that time that were The X Life of (person's name). For me that would be a turnoff, but apparently booksellers felt customers made decisions that way. Same for all the books with Girl in the title after Gone Girl and The Girl Who . . books.

[Joy D]

I agree - all those "Girl" books - ugh! I blamed Gone Girl for that as well as for the trend of inserting huge twists in books that basically make everything up to that point meaningless.

I think the publishers are trying to fool people into buying a book because they THINK it is the popular one with a similar title. I would hope most readers are too smart for that ploy.

[Jason]

I recently added this book to my TBR because of the cover combined with Joy's positive review.


I don't like copycat covers. Cover trends actually turn me away from a book. I'm also always wary of being influenced by overt marketing ploys. I know I fall prey as everyone else, but a combination of being in sales most my life and watching Mad Men, I try really hard to fight that unexplainable feeling to purchase something. Rarely do I purchase a book because of its cover but I do love covers that feel more original or authentic.

Here is a follow up question. What about AI with covers? My wife's cousin makes covers for historical fiction books and uses largely AI now. You can look at many of the cover reveals on Facebook: Historium Press

[Joy D]

I think AI is actually quite good as a graphic design tool. AI has come a long way and AI graphics capabilities are currently ahead of language usage.

As an aside, photography is one of my hobbies, and I have allowed several of my photos to be used as cover art for self-published authors who are not wealthy and trying to break into a tough field.

ETA - I am (intentionally) not on Facebook so I cannot access your suggested reveals. I do follow early releases, so I see new covers when those announcements are made.

[Jason]

Joy D wrote: "I think AI is actually quite good as a graphic design tool. AI has come a long way and AI graphics capabilities are currently ahead of language usage.

As an aside, photography is one of my hobbie..."

They have a website as well. https://www.historiumpress.com/books

[Joy D]

Thank you!

From looking at the covers on the website, I can tell that some of the trends in covers are requested of the AI. It is only as good as the instructions given it by humans. Apparently, half faces and women looking in the distance, which are some of my pet peeves, are being requested. But also, there are some nice designs that are related to the subject matter in the book, which I like.

[Theresa]

I have no real aversion to AI covers. It's like any software programs that are now used by graphic designers or even architects and interior designers. It's a tool that some are good at using to create art and some are better at it than others.

[Robin P]

The question is whether designers are getting the work, even if they use AI, or if they are being replaced by AI.

[Joy D]

I imagine designers are going to have to adapt to the use of new technology, just as they always have in the past. AI is part of the future, and it won't be going away.

Jason - I'm glad to see my review helped. I hope you enjoy the book!

[Jgrace]

As usual, coming late to the party. I have been thinking about book covers since this discussion began.

I do care about the presentation of a book. They get my notice and may cause me to look closer. But, a cover alone won't cause me to buy or read a book.

I have shelves and shelves of books, but at this point I rarely buy a physical book. Mostly I listen or read with a kindle app. I'm very annoyed when Amazon randomly changes the cover of a book on my virtual kindle shelves especially if it's to promote a TV or movie adaptation.

I've been gradually reducing the number of actual books that I keep on shelves. If I keep or buy an paper book it's often because of cover design, illustrations ,and the beauty of the binding. I don't go seeking author signatures anymore, but many of my keepers are signed. I have multiple copies of some books because I enjoy comparing different interpretations in the illustrations. (Although in some cases I refuse to buy a book with a different illustrator. Why have a Peter Rabbit that wasn't drawn by Beatrix Potter ?)

I agree that this is one of my favorite covers:


This is one I bought for the cover after I'd read a library copy:


I'm often attracted to NYRB classics because of their covers. I buy them, but I often end up actually reading electronically so I can enlarge the print. There are some of my favorite covers:

[Theresa]

JGarce's post reminded me that I have been remiss in bringing attention to one of my absolutely favorite publishers, whose covers and print books are glorious, and also champion overlooked authors: Persephone Books!

https://persephonebooks.co.uk/

A few of my favorites - books and covers - these are print keepers:

[Joanne]

I love their book covers, Theresa.

[Theresa]

Another Persephone favorite:



Everything about these books makes me pick them up to read without my knowing anything about the content.

I also am drawn to the NYRB covers and excellent quality of the books themselves. One of my favorites .

[Jgrace]

I like this Barbara Comyns cover



The cover and the contents tempt me. Another one for the TBR tower.

[Booknblues]

I just saw this cover


and was tempted but I remembered I didn't like her other book much, but loved the cover.

[Theresa]

Jgrace wrote: "I like this Barbara Comyns cover



The cover and the contents tempt me. Another one for the TBR tower."

Added it to mine as well. I really liked her Our Spoons Came from Woolworths and highly recommend it. I'm going to be at one of my local indie bookstores on Saturday and this is on the list, especially as the store carries usually a nice selection of the NYRB books.

[Booknblues]

I read WP 10 Noteworthy Books for April and was struck by some of the covers.
I'm gifting the article so you can see them all:
https://wapo.st/41TO3Cg

I liked these covers:

[Jen]

Joy D wrote: "I imagine designers are going to have to adapt to the use of new technology, just as they always have in the past. AI is part of the future, and it won't be going away.

Jason - I'm glad to see my..."

Agreed we are all going to have to adapt to AI and learn how to use it as a tool to improve what we can do rather than fight it and get replaced. I know this year is the first year I'm actively teaching students how to use AI in an acceptable manner and how to check themselves for AI being within limits before they submit. We just have to adapt with the times or we will be replaced by someone who will. It's hard enough to get a new job past 50 as a woman without giving them extra fuel.

[NancyJ]

I had a challenge one year to read two books with similar covers, and I liked these. I ended up reading something else first, but now I’m finally reading Puma Years. The beginning feels more like a horror novel because of the conditions, so I’m kind of surprised I bought it. Point is, I think I bought it for the cover, without doing my typical preview. Fingers crossed it will be worthwhile. I still love the cover up close.

[Booknblues]

NancyJ wrote: "

I had a challenge one year to read two books with similar covers, and I liked these. I ..."

I read Puma Years and while I liked it because I always enjoy animal stories, there were parts I was disappointed with.

I almost suggested you read The Fallen Stones: Chasing Butterflies, Discovering Mayan Secrets, and Looking for Hope Along the Way because I think you would like it better, but if you read that you should first read The Tenth Island: Finding Joy, Beauty, and Unexpected Love in the Azores. They are both memoirs by a journalist, but the Tenth Island is first.

[Karin]

Jen wrote: "Joy D wrote: "I imagine designers are going to have to adapt to the use of new technology, just as they always have in the past. AI is part of the future, and it won't be going away.

Jason - I'm ..."

I agree. My computer is just a shade too old to use it at top speed, so I'll wait until I replace it. I'd prefer something I can use offline since I don't store things on the cloud. I keep important things on flashdrives. I have started using AI assist sometimes in my browser searches if I just want a quick answer, even though it isn't always correct (it's not perfect!) since what's online isn't always correct--as in there are both correct and incorrect data given. It's rather like using wikipedia (for those long out of universit with no kids in it this century, it's never allowed as a source on academic papers which also generally require articles only found via google scholar in periodicals a university pays to have access to.)