Do bad book covers influence you

[Damiynn]

The question is in the title, Do bad book covers influence your decision in buying a book? Sometimes I find myself looking at a lesser known publishers book covers and it makes me think maybe I shouldnt buy this book. Has anyone else out there ever had this happen to you, or do you just stick with what is in the book stores or on the shelves as established. Meaning they have all the money to make the good covers?

[Jerico]

I think for me Damiynn book covers do influence me slightly, not as much as the authors name does though.

If the cover picture is not that great I don't normally even pick it up to look any further. Though the title sometimes can win me over I'll grab it to read the back page and see what it's about.

However if the picture is good then I don't think anyone would deny that you'd look at that book, even if was only to admire the great artwork.

So in answer, my opinion is 'Yes'. A bad book cover/picture will stop some delving any further into that book or maybe even noticing it, unless of course the authors name carries some weight.

[Ragnar]

Not at all (unless you count the blurb on the back cover). You shouldn't judge a book and all that...

[elvet]

I'm at the point in my familiarity with the genre that I look mostly at the authors. However, there are some book covers that catch my eye, and I find myself picking them up only to find that I've read the blurb before and was not interested. So I can definitely say a good cover attracks me to a book. I'm pretty sure a bad cover would not deter me from an author/title/blurb that interests me, but if I'm on the fence about the book, it may.
Good covers for me - detailed, colorful renderings of landscapes or deisigns.
Bad covers - cheesy musclebound heros with flaxen haired heroines. Any graphic violence or allusion to horror.

[kaneda]

With new authors, yes it does. Its quite shallow, but when browsing, I make certain assumptions about the book based on its title and it's cover. If neither appeal, then its unlikely that I'll pick it up. If a cover does appeal, then I read the blurb, read the first page or 2 and then maybe buy it.

This is why I find this forum so useful - I've been introduced to books that I love that I would never have picked up because I was anti the title and the cover.

[Lucien21]

If it was an author I know then the cover art wouldn't bother me (Well apart from when they change the style half way through a series - Damn annoying)

However while browsing in the bookstore, if the book doesn't catch my eye I would probably ignore it. So a bad cover could influence whether I even read the blurb at the back.

[Damiynn]

The reason I ask this is that I have one of those horrible covers and cant get my publisher to change it till my second book A King's Task comes out. I have gotten some great reviews but because my publisher didnt go with my idea I think it has hurt the book

[Montero]

Small thing regarding cover style, which you probably already know - you need to make sure the spine is interesting as well as the front cover.

Other than that, sometimes, a bit, but not a lot. Tends to be more at the "ooh whats that!" level to get me to take it off the shelf. Main thing tacky covers influence me on is being embarrassed to be seen reading the book in public but tend to do it anyway. (Most stick I ever got on a book I was reading in public - works coffee room - was for reading Ellis Peters "The Virgin in the Ice" - one of the Brother Cadfael series. A colleague reacted to the title like it was the tackiest piece of literature they'd ever heard of.)

Back cover blurb, title, first page is what I go most on. I do nearly all my shopping on Amazon anyway, and it tends to be either

authors I already know
reviews from SFF
"if you like this then you'll like that" sort of links on Amazon.

I concentrate on the Amazon review and the readers' review and barely look at the book cover picture.

[Nesacat]

Have a bad habit of not looking at the covers sometimes and just reading the blurb on the back. This explains some of the doubles I have; the second book arriving when I do look at the cover and it's often a different edition and a different blurb and the first is still on the to-read pile. On other occasions I've picked up a book because of the cover art.

I don't however remember ever being put off by the design on the cover, especially if the title is eye-catching and the blurb is intriguing. Some covers hardly seem to have anything to do with what goes on in the book.

[lathark]

Hi
I don't log on often, but this particular thread is close to my heart.

Covers are exceptionally important.

I think there is need to establish what is a bad cover in a particular range, for a particular audiance, and then if everyone went for the 'same' type the uniqueness wears off very quickly, and then publishers dash for the next thing. Me, I wouldn't want to give up the cover I designed for my book(s), and was in the happy position of self-publishing to be able to dictate it. We did a good job on the Changeling.

So, as the next book will be published through a mainstream, what's your best experience in keeping the cover under my control??

[Parson]

Lathark "Master of Understatement!" -- 2 posts in 2 years, indeed!

I have to say that it is very hard for me to get past a bad cover, and almost impossible with an unknown author.

I know better, there are even many books whose cover has precious little to do with the story itself. So it shouldn't but it does.

i.e. I just finished "The Hidden Worlds" a romantic SF tale, which I don't normally read because the cover (especially the art) seemed to hint at the kind of military SF that I really enjoy. The young woman on the cover was carrying a gun of some kind. She is pictured as a strong lead. The truth was she never handled a gun in the story. Her strength was a hidden one, which was largely kept under wraps because of her inability to find ways of dealing with the world around her.

A pretty good read after all, but I think the book ended just where I would have been really interested. The couple has found and committed to each other, and now together will go to battle the menace to humanity. THE END

GRRRRR!

[Connavar]

The only time i care about a cover is ONLY when i know which book to get and have to choose beteween two versions of the same book. If its a favorit author and i can get the cooler cover of the same book then i get the better cover.

Otherwise i dont care about covers, i dont even look at covers. Usually i order or buy books without ever looking at the cover.

In books its truly what's inside that counts and not the outside ie the cover

When i try new authors its cause i have decided they are worth trying, not cause their covers look good or bad or they are from famous publisher or a lesser known publisher .

[Razorback]

Almost all of my purchases are based upon authors I know or recommendations or reviews from here or other sources. I keep a specific hunting list for use when visiting bookstores. Occasionally, an unknown book with a cool cover and/or catchy title will catch my eye. If the cover blurbs also intrigue me, I sometimes take a flyer on it. While a good cover may influence me to try an unknown book, a bad or mediocre cover will not dissuade me from a book that’s by an author I like or otherwise on my hunting list. In short, good cover occasionally help, but bad or mediocre covers have no impact.

[Talysia]

Admittedly, I don't look at the covers much when I pick up a new book, although I do look at the blurb on the back (especially if it's an author I'm not too familiar with.)

[Jerico]

Originally Posted by Damiynn

The reason I ask this is that I have one of those horrible covers and cant get my publisher to change it till my second book A King's Task comes out. I have gotten some great reviews but because my publisher didnt go with my idea I think it has hurt the book

That sounds a bit unfortunate Damiynn. What is the cover like, can you show it? If not describe it to us, I would be interested to know what it looks like.

If you can't decide what the front cover is like do you have any influence over the design of the spine??