Discussion Question: How Important Are Covers?
Do you care what the cover of the book looks like? Does the cover make you buy the book? Not buy the book? Since I read mostly on my Kindle, I have to admit that I don't really care about the cover when I'm clicking that buy button. A beautiful cover will not make me want to read a book if the synopsis doesn't sound interesting. And a horrible cover will not make me not read the book either. But it does affect whether I want the physical copy of the book. One of the best things about my Kindle is I can be reading a book with an embarrassing cover and no one knows. So if a book has an awful cover, I will still read it, but I won't want to have it sitting on my bookshelf. There are exceptions to this, of course, because if it's one of my favorite books, I'll buy it no matter what the cover looks like.
What about you? How important are covers?
Posted by: Pam
I like pretty covers. A pretty cover will make me want to buy a book every time, even if it's a black and white Kindle cover since I have the paperwhite….A cover can make me buy a book, but even with a pretty cover, I have to like the plot/summary. I wouldn't blindly buy a book based on the cover alone.
ReplyDeleteI like with the Kindle that if a book has an embarrassing cover or title, that no one knows, like you said. :) That's the case with "Duff: The Designated Ugly Fat Friend", I know if I were to read that in public around people I see on a weekly basis, they would be like "The Designated Ugly Fat Friend, that's an interesting title. What's that about?", but then I'd feel like they would be judging me based off the title because I mean, it does make a person think twice about it.
I will buy books that have an interesting summary but awful cover. But, I do find myself more drawn to the pretty covers. This would hurt me in a bookstore as I may look over the ugly cover one with the amazing summary for the pretty one. But, since I have to do most of my book shopping online, I really don't have too much of an issue.
ReplyDeleteCovers initially pull me in and if I am just browsing I am more like to skip over ugly covers. But after that, I don't really care. I won't read or not read a book because of its cover and same about buying. Fortunately, I don't think any of my favorites have ugly covers though.
ReplyDeleteA pretty cover only matters to me on the basic visual appeal level. If I'm in a bookstore, a pretty cover will always entice me to pick it up and read the synopsis to make sure I want to actually read the book. Or if I'm browsing Goodreads, a pretty cover will always stand out to me, as well.
ReplyDeleteBut in general, it doesn't really matter. It's what's INSIDE the cover that matters most to me, because sometimes the designer just gets it wrong.
I am a huge cover lover and I will not lie a bad cover has deterred me from picking up a book once or twice but essentially the inside is the star. Maybe I just won't keep the copy out on display or something.
ReplyDeleteCovers don't really make me want to or not want to read a book. I'm way too picky about what's on the inside. But I do like the fact that a Kindle gives it some anonymity if I'm reading a smut book haha.
ReplyDeleteI am a huge fan of covers. For example, if a book has multiple covers then I'm probably going to be buying my favourite. Sometimes an ugly cover can put me off picking up a book and turning it over to see what it's about. I know they say never judge a book by it's cover, but I'm definitely guilty of doing that quite a lot.
ReplyDelete