Grasping for the Wind

Ask the Bloggers: Book Covers

This edition of "Ask the Bloggers" asks the question:

What kind of book cover attracts your attention? What attributes of the cover make you more or less likely to take it off the shelf? Does the spine of the book have any effect on your choices?

Gav @ NextRead: This is from a UK perspective so it might be different across the pond but I think that branding is important when it comes to a particular writer and keeping covers similar helps that. So all The Dresden File books are the similar and use the same basic idea then it's easy to tell what they are from a glance. Terry Pratchett is instantly recognisable. So is Iain M Banks. Most-long term authors have covers that are similar or so it seems.

A refresh of covers can also attract interest when you consider things Gollancz's recent Terror 8 and Future Classic promotions. I think Richard Morgan is getting another refresh this autumn and his books are always stunning in terms of concept and design. Neil Gaiman also has some stunning and simplistic designs on his covers.

Also looking similar to other books helps identify a book so painted covers seems to be used for space opera and epic fantasy for example.

Imitation seems to go on a lot. But anything that makes it easier for someone to recognise the genre is a good thing.

What attracts me? Well I think I'm conditioned slightly by what I've read before so if the cover looks like something I've already read then I'm probably going to pick it up. The quality of the design and art makes me buy books I wouldn't normally buy but this is mostly as I
love the design aspect. I do still have to like the story before handing over the cash.

I like seeing the changes that are made sometimes from hard to paperback. And how the publisher has taken a different approach.

I don't think that I've ever been put off by a cover unless it looks like it's from a genre or on a subject I'm not going to like.

The spine does have to match the covers as I've got a good visual memory and keeping them the same does help me find things quicker and I think that publishers do put a lot of effort into making the spines a strong point as it's usually the only showcase the books has to show off it's wares.

Lisa @ Danger Gal:I make my living as a graphic designer, so the cover element composition is usually what first draws my attention. I gravitate toward either very simple covers or particularly lush covers, no matter the genre. I never realized just how much of a challenge designing a book cover is until I designed one for my critique partner Jordanna Kay for her novel TABOO. I do pay attention to the information on the spine, but I'm not sure the non-writer type of reader notices that much. As a writer I'm looking at not only what genre is printed there, but who the publisher is.

When it comes to Science Fiction I'm looking for art that conveys the scope of the story. For instance, the covers by Paul Youll for Elizabeth Bear's HAMMERED trilogy were very simple and it was that minimalism that caught my eye in the bookstore. The story deals with some pretty big issues, but they're all through the filter of the main character Jenny Casey. I'd say another example of this minimalist approach can be seen on David Louis Edelman's INFOQUAKE. At the other end of the spectrum are some of the covers done for the Juno line of books, like CLOCKWORK HEART by Dru Pagliassotti and Chris Howard's SEA BORN -- I don't even know what those stories are about yet, but the covers are so enticing I want to read them. The same is true of the art Stephen Martiniere did for Edelman's MULTIREAL and Kay Kenyon's BRIGHT OF THE SKY. These two latter examples show off the galactic scope a Science Fiction cover can convey.

In the Romance genre, I'm looking for a variation on what's called the "clinch cover" that depicts the couple the story is about. I prefer the more subtle variations on it though, such as any of the J.R. Ward covers and the rebranded covers of Linnea Sinclair's books. I don't mind the male torso covers in Romance any more than I mind the "butt covers" in Urban Fantasy showing the torso of the female protagonist. I think covers are meant to be evocative, and sex appeal certainly plays into that. Of the former group, recently I liked the tattoo art on Gena Showalter's DARKEST KISS. Two cover examples in Historical Romance that have just the right touch of ornate lushness to them are Deanna Raybourn's SILENT IN THE GRAVE and SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY.

Regardless of genre, some of my all-time favorite covers are the Thomas Canty ones done for Pamela Kinnealy-Morrison's and Michael Moorchock's books, and the Leo & Diane Dillon covers done for Joan Vinge's Snow Queen/Summer Queen books. There are so many elements interacting on those covers that I see something new every time I look at them.

SQT @ Fantasy and Scifi Lovin' Book Reviews: Covers do matter. If I see something that looks like a romance cover, heaving bosoms and all that, then I'm out.

What attracts me? Something different I guess. I think Orbit has some great covers on their books, especially Brian Ruckley's. I like those because they seem to set a mood. There's also the Night Angel series by Brent Weeks and I like those too. They all tie together so, like Gavin said, it's easy to recognize all the books that go together. A lot of different types of books seem to have similar covers. It's pretty easy to recognize paranormal fiction by the covers now.
Everyone seems to be going for the whole dark and brooding thing. Sword and sorcery novels are kind of the same way. When I think of high fantasy I think of men in armor on horseback.

Spines... I don't really know.... I'm sure if I see something eye-catching on the spine that does encourage me to pick up the book and check it out.

SMD @ The World in the Satin Bag: For me, the cover is practically the selling point. If I don't like the cover, I'm not going to even pick up the book. I know we're not supposed to do that, judging a book by its cover and all, but quite frankly I don't have time to pick up every single book when I'm at Borders or any other book store. I'm sorry. If that were the case and I picked up all of the books and read all their back covers, I'd never leave the store. Seriously. And trust me, a lot of people would be very irritated with me for having to stand around for twelve hours waiting for me to finish. Sometimes the cover doesn't matter if I see a name I'm familiar with, but otherwise I need a nice looking cover or I'm not going to bother looking closer.

Covers that tend to grab my attention the most depend on the genre. I personally hate all the cliché fantasy covers--buff man with a sword and his ragtag group of folks in the background, or whatever other common "standards" show up. It's just old and boring for me. I like fantasy covers that do something new, quirky and original. Fantasy tends to be a really hard sell for me, which is tremendously unfortunate because I know there are a lot of great fantasy books out there, but the covers are just so boring, and often times the back cover sounds like just another cliche tale, which I think is a disservice to the authors who are writing more complex tales than the synopsis presents.

As for science fiction, I am a big fan of Martiniere's covers. His artwork is brilliant. I also really like covers that look like they are done in watercolor. There was a Sci-Fi Essential for John Scalzi's Old Man's War and it was that cover that made me go "whoa, that's cool" and eventually buy it. I'm glad I did, because Old Man's War is one of the best sci-fi books I had read in a while (at that time, which was a few years ago now). When it comes to sci-fi, I'm more interested in covers that let me know "this is science fiction".

Covers that are ambiguous or just don't look like anything "sci-fi" tend to fail to draw my interest. Stuff like Martiniere or watercolorish things almost always grab my attention. I've bought many books with that style on the cover, and will continue to do so.

The only thing about a spine that can get me to pick up the book is if I know the author or if the title is particularly catchy. I generally don't pick up titles that sound ridiculous or too "genre". I like the unusual title, such as some of Connie Willis' titles and what not.

Mostly, though, I rely on author familiarity, which really sucks for new authors. But let's be honest here: who has the time to pick up every book to see what it's about when browsing for new books?

Thankfully we have the lovely Internet to help us find new books we might not have heard of before. All you unknown folks should bug us blogger folks. That's my opinion though.

Heather @ The Galaxy Express: Covers that scream "sex sells" attract my attention because of blatant attempts by marketing conglomerates to incite me to orgasm right there in the bookstore. (Well, it only happened a few times, but still....)

Cheap and/or poorly executed covers attract my attention. When I encounter a homely or slapdash cover, I don't know whether to laugh or cry--or I'm laughing so hard I cry.

Pretentious-looking covers attract my attention, but then I try and pretend they don't exist.

Repetitive covers, especially those using stock footage attract my attention because even within a genre/subgenre, each story is unique and stock footage degrades the art.

Now for the Big Reveal! My personal bookshelf contains all sorts of covers: ugly, sexy, highbrow, stock footage city, you name it. And man titty. Though I may harbor a preference for certain covers, I'm up the creek without a paddle if I want to read certain books regardless of my reaction to the window dressing. Covers are a subjective business, except when it comes to the business side of publishing. I understand and accept that. It comes part and parcel with the necessary evils of marketing.

Most of the time I already know a little about the story before entering the bookstore or making an online purchase. In the end, it's all about the story. I appreciate an artistically intriguing cover, but if I allowed covers or spines to dictate my buying choices,I'd miss out on some pretty great books.

Mark @ Walker of Worlds: Cover art is something that I have a love/hate relationship with. Some I love, some I hate. The differences between the two though are very blurred as some covers that I adore can be very similar in style to ones that I hate, including covers from the same artist. I go against the saying and usually judge a book by its cover - if I like the cover the chances of me picking up the book increase dramatically. I usually make up my mind of whether or not I'll buy a book within seconds of seeing the cover. Of course, I will make exceptions if I hear good things about it and it sounds like it would be right up my street, but it won't be put out on display. Hell no. My 'public' bookshelf only consists of books with relatively good looking covers (with a couple of exceptions) - I don't want crap looking stuff on there. I'm sure some will disagree with me, some might agree, but at the end of the day I have books that I want on the shelf and in view to visitors.

There is a fine line between what looks good and what looks tacky when it comes to science fiction and fantasy. From personal experience, a lot of books in these genres take a scene from the book and immortalise it as the cover. In my opinion this can either make or break my decision to look further into that book. I'm sure there are some truly great books out there that I have picked up, seen the cover and just put back down because of this very reason. The other killer, at least from my point of view, is when a book has got a cover that doesn't give any indication to what it actually is (like that god awful future classic series by Gollancz). Reading the blurb is all well and good in these cases, but when there is no sort of indication of the genre I find it annoying. To make it even clearer, I want a cover that wouldn't look out of place as a print hung on my wall.

So, after my moaning about what I do and don't like I'll go on to some examples. I'll use a couple of my favourite authors for this, seeing as they can represent what I love and what I hate about cover art. Firstly, Peter F Hamilton whose UK covers are done by Jim Burns. These are great pieces of art and suit the book they adorn - I know I'm getting something sci-fi when I pick them up. I love most of the covers as they are everything I said I liked above: it's a piece of art, is a snapshot of a scene in the book and it gives and idea of what to expect. There are a couple which could be better, but I'm quite happy to see all of these on my shelf and would love to have a couple up on my wall.

As for another example: Neal Asher. Neal's UK books have some great digital style art from Steve Rawlings and are some great pieces of art that suit Neal's writing. The first few of Neal's books had one style, which weren't bad, but needed improving upon. Since Voyage of the Sable Keech his books have had another style, one that makes them look stunning when you look at the front, side or back. They stand out from other books on the shelf and although they are all different, they are all very much the same, which I like.

I'm going to use The Skinner, one of Neal's books, as my main example of what is great, good and just butt ugly about book covers. The original release in the UK had a cover from Steve Rawlings done in the same style as his first book (http://www.panmacmillan.com/images/frontCovers/pdf/9780330484343-01.jpg). The Skinner is probably the nicest of all Neal's books released in this style, although you have to read the book to fully appreciate it. This is on the better side of being a good cover. When The Skinner was released in the US by Tor it was with a cover by Jim Burns. It sucks (http://www.alisoneldred.com/imageJimBurns-Illustration-0-26.html[Editor's Note: This is the cover on your right.]). Wait - didn't I say earlier how much I love Jim Burns' covers for Hamilton's work? Yep, but this one just sucks. It looks bad and when you get closer it just gets worse. I won't complain any more, it just sucks, although thankfully the publisher has hit the nail on the head with the other covers for Neal's books. The third cover is one that was for the French release of The Skinner and done by Stephan Martiniere (http://www.martiniere.com/imagepages/skinner.htm). This cover is the dogs bollocks and gives a superb example of how one scene can be so different (between this and Jim Burns') and rock so much.

No matter how good a book can be, if it's given the wrong cover it's already facing an uphill struggle, and that's what I hate the most about covers. It's the first thing you see and publishers really should take that extra time to get the right one for the book - and if that's what they've been doing for some of the vomit inducing stuff on the market, sack the person in charge of the cover and hire someone who has got taste. I'm sure the extra they'll fork out to have a better one done will more than pay for itself in extra sales.

Neth @ Nethspace: I've blogged extensively in the past about cover art, but it eventually bored me since I found myself saying more or less the same thing over and over again. Count me as a person who generally dislikes 'traditional SFF covers'. I don't want to see dragons, elves, etc. Or silly space battles, or scantily clad women in a subservient position to some macho man. In short, I don't want a cover I feel like I need to hide if I'm reading in public.

I've argued in the past that I think book covers are becoming less relevant in the internet age. Sure book buyers may still rely on them, but I think they are somewhat behind the times. Larger and larger percentages of books are sold on the internet - no cover art is making someone pick a book on the internet. It's much more likely to be an author's name, the book title, an author blurb, or something similar that brings attention to a book on-line. I rarely find myself browsing in a bookstore and if I do, the vast majority of books I'm looking at are shelved in a way that hides the cover art. So, the two most important things to catch my eye on a shelf or on the internet are the author's name and the title of the book. One pet peeve that I've developed is when the book title font on the spine of the book is so fancy or colored in a way to make it very difficult to read. If I can't read it or if I have to go out of my way to read, you can be assured that I won't be picking it up.

Click the blogger's name to be taken to their awesome blog.

If you would like to join us for a future discussion, email me or drop a comment below.

Posted by: John on September 15, 2008 9:48 AM |
Categories: Inside the Blogosphere