I'm super excited to have the awesome Faye from A Daydreamer's Thoughts here today, talking all about covers! :D
A Daydreamer’s Thoughts was founded on September 15th 2011. It is a blog that consists of book reviews, film reviews, book articles, film articles, author interviews, guest posts, features, and memes. It is run by Faye who enjoys the task immensely and is always happy to communicate with her followers.
Before I start this post, I just want to thank Megan for
hosting me on The Book Addicted Girl today.
I really enjoyed writing this post and I hope that it is at least slightly
entertaining for you. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the posts for the Fortnight of Guests!
“Don’t judge a book by its cover” is an incredibly famous
phrase but one that I struggle to follow, or even fully understand. The cover
is the first thing you will ever see
of a book and graphic designers can spend weeks, or even months, working on
book jackets to make sure that they are absolutely perfect. So who are we to
ignore that cover that someone has slaved over? Especially when the cover is
supposed to be the first indication of what we should expect to see in the book.
By this, I mean that the cover actually does tell you a lot
about the story it holds. Graphic designers work hard to create covers that are
similar to other books within the
same genre so as to appeal to the right target audience. They work to create a
book that is appealing to the eye and brings people to pick up the book. So
with that in mind, of course we’re
going to judge books by their covers, we’re actually required to as that is how it is supposed to happen.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQg8CB7OfkORvcJuW9RhtbhyphenhyphenqxWm4A0V-oPXv7NaYu_2Ja5wO0yB2uMD0bOinON1kq07wxWF6MOGClT_MaJauFCNcQ6OZcnA_n_3pnlwDlxQ31YqMGpOSIpg_qDTxNJECqodc9UXbihs3Q/s200/Harry_Potter_and_the_Philosopher%2527s_Stone.jpg)
So when I mention that I do
judge books on their covers, I rarely feel guilty about it because in my
opinion, we really should be doing so. But just not in the way that the phrase
has been taken to mean these days. A cover can’t tell you about the quality of
the writing inside the story, it cannot reveal that the plot is slow and bland,
or that actually it deserves a more appealing cover because the story is so
intensely brilliant that the cover doesn’t do the book justice. But a cover is
supposed to tell you something about
the story, or else there would never be a need for covers – and there never
used to be, have you ever seen a leather-bound book? They all simply had the
title and author on the spine.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixVjIosmfl7QbM70Nd00ZHFlxyHF4a9AjVU2CqDESmRs7i2BqjTU9P6zkSIXLhPxK0qSFrwElO9uwpuTPGhjC91aJ-TOOZA2Cqw6Dz0ScB4kyCc47q2sq9dpdc5-JU7QsxdUy-DppuXDGM/s200/41865+(1).jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjivY8hbhDNl8Xxra2ThyphenhyphenNls9WG-zD8Z1vvm8O-grrwJV4ydMl4eyfvdLn5tch1o6Zl9FpPYto9MvwIonN3NAk-p74feK1yswG3n6RYqwi3fFVSq6hUi9fqj9m48MAA9Tk76pW-s_8SM-HT/s200/10818853.jpg)
But perhaps you disagree? Is it wrong to judge a book by its
cover, no matter how you do it? Do you believe there is no such thing as a
trend in covers? Or do you think it reveals something else entirely? I’d love
to hear your thoughts on this matter.
---
Thank you so much for your brilliant post, Faye! I'm with you - covers are important. I'm more likely to pick up a book with an awesome cover than something that's just dull and meh. And, proving the insane childishness of my brain, I really prefer the kid's Harry Potter cover!! ;)
Hope you all enjoyed Faye's post! And don't forget to follow Faye's Blog: A Daydreamer's Thoughts, follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads! :D
And keep up to date with MonthOfGuests on Twitter using #MonthOfGuests2013! And stop by tomorrow for a brilliant post by the wonderful Jenny from Supernatural Snark!! Oh, and Megan from Paperbook Princess the day after - she's listing her fave covers!! :D
2 comments:
I don't think it's wrong to judge a book by it's cover - I think it's very hard not to do so! I know I do it, regardless of whether I want to read the book or not! There's definitely a trend when it comes to book covers, like you pointed out with the Fifty Shades-esque covers. It's not necessarily a bad thing, unless, as you said, the book with a similar cover is nothing like the original best seller. Brilliant post Faye! :)
I don't think it's wrong either . . . keep in mind that a lot of times the author has no or little say in their cover. I happen to LOVE mine, so when the publisher asked if I wanted to switch it up and do a new one with the release of my sequel, I declined. Now, I don't not pick up a book if I don't like the cover if the blurb still interests me, but I may just get the e-book instead of the paperback b/c I don't care to have it on my shelf. Hmmm, is that wrong?
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