For a little while now, I've been trying to up my game when it comes…
Book Covers, Judging, and Opinions
You know what they say, right? Opinions are like, well, I always substitute “noses” — everyone has one and they all smell. I think this applies, almost across the board, to Book Covers (I say almost, because there are a tiny few I think everyone would agree are fabulous, whether they read that genre or not, and there are a same tiny few I think everyone would agree are horrid. So there are outliers, which makes using broad words like “all across the board” a tricky wicket.)
On a lark, I submitted my cover for Kinsale Kisses to The Book Designer for his monthly critique. Since I adore the cover, I figured he’d probably at least think it was tolerable (honestly, he’s pretty harsh across the board, so I wasn’t expecting anything glowing. I’m not sure he really does glowing.) Well, he wasn’t glowing, but he wasn’t horrible. He feels it’s awkward, but that’s his opinion. He gave awards to some that I am completely “meh” about. So, we return to the whole thing about opinions and noses.
And it made me wonder – why do we feel like it’s okay to judge books by their covers when we’re so adamant about how we should never judge people by how they dress or their features? (And let me be clear – I totally agree with the last part. A person’s surface appearance says nothing about their heart, and it’s the heart that we need to care about.)
With something so subjective as cover art, why would we base the entirety of our reading decision on that? Especially when, at least for traditionally published novels, the artist behind the cover isn’t the same as the artist behind the words on the pages. So few authors get input into their covers – or they get to fill out a one-page design sheet, then they get a cover, and their expected response is, “Oh, I love it.” Because if you say anything other than that to your big 5 publisher, well, I’ve heard stories of it really not going over well. (In rare occurrences, your agent can go to bat and get something glaring changed, but most agent blogs caution you about asking for changes because it gets you a reputation you don’t want.) I’m thrilled that with my small press I get a ton of input – but I don’t think that’s even the norm across small presses.
I considered showing you examples of covers I think are just dreadful that hide incredibly good books, but, well, see previous comment about noses. My point is, whenever you’re tempted to turn up your nose at a book because of a cover, ask yourself, “What if this was someone new at church? Wouldn’t I at least go and say hello?” So do that. Read the blurb. Look inside. Take a chance on the ugly duckling. You might just be surprised.
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A book cover is a form of marketing for that book. It’s the first thing a reader sees. It must catch his/her eye and entice him/her to pick up the book, to flip open the pages, and read. You want it to give a hint to the theme inside. A good cover is a good indication of the dedication that went into the novel. Not everyone will find every cover exceptional, but when applying the balance of light and shadow, graphics, and word formatting, a good cover makes for good marketing.
Obviously it’s marketing – I don’t think my post implied that it wasn’t, or that people shouldn’t always strive for the best cover they can come up with. My point, however, is that what one person loves another very well may hate – which means that as far as cover art goes, as a reader, I would encourage other readers not to base all their thoughts on that art. Because while it may certainly indicate what’s inside, taking the extra two seconds to open the book to the “look inside” on Amazon and reading a page or two is a better indicator. And hey, you may still not like something, but at least it’s based on the actual book rather than a cover that the author may or may not have had much say in.