Do you judge a book by its cover?

[andrew935]

Does the cover of the book decides whether you buy the book or not?

I have decided to buy a few books because of the intruiging covers. I like those Richard Laymon artwork covers, which convinced me to get one of his books. What about you?

 

[sanyuja]

To some extent. I am more influenced by the title than the cover.
May be you should add a 'To some extent' to your poll options?

 

[Jazzman]

I bought Terry Goodkind's Wizard's First Rule about 8 years ago because I liked the cover. Turned out I should do that more often.

 

[jaycee]

Sure I try out books because of pretty covers!!! I don't do much buyin but I read em lol.

 

[Halo]

I never go by the cover. I'll consider the author, the title (to some extent), the blurb and recommendations/reviews, but never the cover. Some excellent books are lumbered with appalling covers.

 

[hay82]

I don't really give the cover a lot of thought and I rarely buy books I haven't heard about somewhere but if I do, I don't do so based on the cover.

 

[Wolhay]

For me the cover of the book can definitely decide whether I buy the book or not. If it's a cover of a movie adaption which promotes the work with celebrity actors, I would definitely not buy the book.

 

[Ice]

No, the cover rarely infuences my decision on whether or not to purchase a particular book. However, like Wolhay, I will avoid books where the cover is from the movie adaption and has 'now a major movie' written all across it

Hay - your new avater is rather creepy

 

[lorrekarloff]

I never go by the cover. I'll consider the author, the title (to some extent), the blurb and recommendations/reviews, but never the cover. Some excellent books are lumbered with appalling covers.

That's what I do.

Sometimes I pick up a book because the cover looks interesting but then I read the blurb and put it back down. Also, the covers change over the years on many books, so its just someone else's interpretation of some aspect of the story.

I like the covers of old sci-fi and horror books, where they really tried hard to make it look futuristic and/or scary.

 

[Joshua]

I'll pick up books that have cool covers first, but I won't buy them because of the cool covers. I'll read the inside cover or the back of the book to find out what the book is about first. Then I'll move on to the other books and do the same as the above.

 

[Rigana]

The cover may draw my attention to a book, but I wouldn't buy it just because I like the cover illustration. It's interesting to have a look in my book shelf, because English, German and French books have all very different covers.
The cover of the German edition of 'The time traveller's wife' made me read it, other covers nearly put me off reading a book. Worst cover was an old edition of Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath', really a shame I can't find a picture.

 

[Kookamoor]

Seems I go along the same lines as most people - a cover may grab my attention and make me read the blurb, but I won't by the book just because of its cover. On the other hand, if I *don't* like the cover I may not purchase a book - especially the case of books that have been converted to movies. I often read books that have become movies, because I can't STAND to watch a book-based movie without having read the book (the reason I have yet to see Snow Falling on Cedars). But a 'movie cover' will put me right off.

To be quite honest, the font of a book's words is more likely to influence my decision than the cover of the book. Some fonts, particularly in Wordsworth Classics (I think that's the right name), really put me off.

 

[mehastings]

If I can't decide between two books I usually just go with the one with the better cover art. It's just an easier way for me to make a choice and not take home two books when I can only afford the one.

 

[Shaun]

The cover doesn't make me buy a book, but it certainly makes me pick it up if it's striking - then it's a matter of turn the book over and read the back summary to see whether it sounds like something I'd like to read.

 

[7hm]

If there's absolutely no interest in the book on my part, I won't buy because of a cover. However, there is no question that if there are two versions of a books I would like to buy priced at around the same value, I will choose based on which one has the nicer cover (well, I would also consider any additional text that might come into play, such as intros or explanatory pieces). I've definitely spent a couple extra bucks here and there for essentially nothing more than a nicer cover than the competitors could come up with.

 

[callatiger]

When I just browsing the bookstore, library what have you I tend to look at the covers more than anything. After all I'm just browsing...looking around seeing what I haven't seen or read.
I will than of course read the title, author and blah blah blah before I buy the book. But the initial grab for the book could be very well thanks to the cover. Now I haven't ever not bought a book because of a cover.

But a good cover never hurt a book's chance of being bought or look at.

 

[unabellasera]

I won't by a book merely because of a cover, but I do find that it helps to bring my attention to certain books that I might otherwise pass by. It also adds to the whole... "physical" (shall we say) experience of reading a book. The texture of the cover, how it fits in your hand as you turn the pages can certainly make for a pleasurable experience.

 

[Wabbit]

A cover can draw me in and make me interested in the novel. A cover could never make me buy it or not! I normally read the blurb on the back of the book. If I like the sound of that then I will normally read the first page to see if I like the writing style or the story hooks me!

 

[hianda]

Cover Artists

Can anyone direct me to where I can find information on who designed the covers of mass market young adult horror/thriller paperbacks of the 1980s and 1990s?
Or even just plain teen fiction of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly those part of a series.

Thanks

 

[mehastings]

Can anyone direct me to where I can find information on who designed the covers of mass market young adult horror/thriller paperbacks of the 1980s and 1990s?
Or even just plain teen fiction of the 1980s and 1990s, particularly those part of a series.

Thanks

I'd contact the publishers you are interested in and ask them.