I spend about 2hrs on the road everyday and have picked up a habit of listening to books. Over the past 4yrs, I have listened/read an average of 40 books a year.
I am a reader who reads purely for entertainment, so it’s mostly horror, crime, travel, thriller, sci fi genres.
So when I start searching for a new books, i usually depend on Goodreads and Google for recommendations. And there are so many reccos that I generally just chose a book which has a cover which sort of connects with me.
So while there are some initial level of filters and search words I use, the final selection is pretty much based on the cover. So I am literally just judging a book by it’s cover and reading.
Even among authors whom I like, I end up reading a bit of summary but summaries always sound good for most of the book. So I just see which one has the most intriguing cover.
How is everyone else tackling this ?
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I’m totally more drawn to books with nice looking covers! I can’t help it. It’s not my only criteria for picking a book though so I don’t think it matters much.
Honestly most covers at any given time period/genre look basically exactly the same because the designers just follow trends, so… I don’t put much stock in them lol
Honestly most covers at any given time period/genre look basically exactly the same because the designers just follow trends, so… I don’t put much stock in them lol
Covers are generally meaningless and just follow design trends. Look at the history of covers for any reasonably famous novel that you hold in high regard and tell me covers mean anything.
I, too, am a sucker for a pretty cover! But the other commenters are correct in that it’s not a meaningful way to judge a story.
Maybe try to pick less arbitrary criteria when deciding between books- like if you want specific content or for the story to elicit a specific emotion, CTL+F the reviews to see which one has it? Think about what you want out of it and with the info you have decide which one fits the bill.
I, too, am a sucker for a pretty cover! But the other commenters are correct in that it’s not a meaningful way to judge a story.
Maybe try to pick less arbitrary criteria when deciding between books- like if you want specific content or for the story to elicit a specific emotion, CTL+F the reviews to see which one has it? Think about what you want out of it and with the info you have decide which one fits the bill.
You know the old saying, judge a book by it’s cover. Or something like that.
I’m a sucker for a good cover, but I have a good blend of recommendations that I’ll just look up online’s to see if it’s for me. As well as just browsing and finding cool covers, then looking up online if it’s for me.
I sometimes buy based on how the words in the book are spaced. If it’s too close together it’s hard to read.
Sometimes it’s random. Sometimes it’s based on the cover. Sometimes it’s how the title sounds.
I don’t think it matters.
You know the old saying, judge a book by it’s cover. Or something like that.
I’m a sucker for a good cover, but I have a good blend of recommendations that I’ll just look up online’s to see if it’s for me. As well as just browsing and finding cool covers, then looking up online if it’s for me.
I sometimes buy based on how the words in the book are spaced. If it’s too close together it’s hard to read.
Sometimes it’s random. Sometimes it’s based on the cover. Sometimes it’s how the title sounds.
I don’t think it matters.
Covers, in my experience, are decently reliable at showing genre. Sometimes they’ll even that a book is in a niche part of a genre.
“Not just Fantasy, but Romantic-Comedy Fantasy!”
But they are there to sell the book, so won’t tell you much about the quality or writing or plotting.
Covers, in my experience, are decently reliable at showing genre. Sometimes they’ll even that a book is in a niche part of a genre.
“Not just Fantasy, but Romantic-Comedy Fantasy!”
But they are there to sell the book, so won’t tell you much about the quality or writing or plotting.
I don’t believe in “don’t judge a book by its cover”. The cover is the marketing for the book and it’s the first impression you get of the book. And we do judge based on first impressions all the time, it used to be essential for our survival.
Of course first impressions get corrected later on all the time and also, what is considered a good or a bad book cover depends a lot on current trends. But yeah, if judging books by covers wouldn’t be a thing the industry wouldn’t spend money on cover design.
I don’t believe in “don’t judge a book by its cover”. The cover is the marketing for the book and it’s the first impression you get of the book. And we do judge based on first impressions all the time, it used to be essential for our survival.
Of course first impressions get corrected later on all the time and also, what is considered a good or a bad book cover depends a lot on current trends. But yeah, if judging books by covers wouldn’t be a thing the industry wouldn’t spend money on cover design.
Rarely will I spend much time with the cover, I’m usually interested in the title. Only once did I buy a book on the basis of the cover, and that was because the artist was fairly famous in certain circles and I figured maybe they’d only put their art on a book they felt was worth it. That was the last time I did that as the book was decent but fairly forgettable. That said, a good cover can pull you in. One series of books I have liked have fairly unique covers that portray the feel of the book perfectly. They look like old pulp magazine covers, and it fits the tone of the book perfectly. If you like the hard-boiled detective genre mixed with supernatural thriller. I’d check out this site Blackshadowdetectiveagency.com, apparently, the first book just got an audio edition