I’ve heard in another post of mine that a fair amount of fantasy fans want to see more engaging covers. I would assume this sentiment goes beyond just the fantasy genre. However, as fantasy is my main focus right now, that’s where I’m coming from for this post.
I recently saw the spray-painted editions of the Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros) books and they are quite cool. Perusing Barnes & Noble recently, I’ve seen a mix of both interesting and what you might call “dime-a-dozen” covers. For me, the cover is what gets me to pick up a book and read its blurb. If that sounds decent, then I’ll usually give it a try.
Are you like me, or is your hunt for new authors/books a bit more involved? Do you have any covers as examples that are your favorites? What stands out the most to you when looking at covers?
On a side note, I heard from a reputable source that books published traditionally typically don’t get much, if any, author input on the covers, as the publishing company uses their resources to decide what will work best to market the book. As a future potential author, that’s kind of disheartening to hear. Of course, with indie publishing you can decide your cover art. Would love to hear if anyone has any thoughts on that…
First of all: What I’m about to say is my personal approach, and not that my personal approach is a very good one 💀
For me, it absolutely depends on the cover whether I pick up a book and read what it is actually about. Whether I’m in the library, in the book store or on Goodreads. However, if I see a book I haven’t read before a lot (as in: I see many people talk about it), I’ll take an interest in it as well (e.g. I haven’t ever heard of Cloud Cuckoo Land, I notice it twice on Goodreads, I see it mentioned on Reddit, I go to the library and am surprised that it’s right on display, I pick it up and it sounds interesting, I read it). But for that to happen, I need to notice the cover often enough to remember it as well. I usually forget book titles when there’s no picture, like here on reddit, when I don’t look them up specifically and have no matching picture. When that happens, I go more by popularity than personal book cover preferences… However, I do have preferences and book covers that will absolutely NOT make me read the book. If I look at my Read and TBR shelf e.g. There’s “Violeta”, “A Master of Djinn”, “Legendborn”, “A Far Wilder Magic”, “If You Could See The Sun” but also such as “Woman, Eating”: I love illustrated covers so, so much! Both digital art and classical paintings ❤️ If I like the book I will absolutely want to buy it, even if the pretty cover is more expensive! Then there’s books with a more modern and clean look like “The Atlas Six”, “Cleopatra and Frankenstein” (which fits both categories), “The Setting Sun”: very pretty in my opinion but mostly in person and not that special when you see them on the screen. Irl I’ll notice them a lot and will pick them up and probably buy!
Book covers that will make me hesitate before I pick them up: classical romance covers (like “The Love Hypothesis”) and thriller covers (like “Behind Closed Doors”). Also, it’s very unlikely that I’m going to buy such a book, even if I enjoyed it a lot. Books that I will not pick up at all: any real life person on the cover, unless it’s like a zoomed in eye or lips or such. If it’s a shirtless dude, a woman with a big gown or a whole very touchy couple, I won’t read it no matter what it is.