Good and Bad Book Cover Design
Welcome back to another stop on the Autumn Hop by Bookish Blog Hops. This time we're discussing the good and bad of book cover design.
In case you missed them, here's a quick recap of the stops so far:
Despite the good intentions of "never judge a book by it's cover", if we're completely honest, most of us do. I've picked up so many books due to the cover pulling me in. I've also passed over others because the cover was a turn off.
Today we're talking about our book cover likes and dislikes. For me, a cover needs to have a clear, readable font. Fancy fonts are OK but they still need to be gentle on the eyes. In most cases, I also find that less is more. Some of my favourite book cover designs are in fact very simple.
Another example of a good book cover design is the Percy Jackson series. It's fairly simple but with subtle details (like the symbols in the letters). The image is also quite simple but the whole thing together gives a feel for the story.
Here's what the rest of the Bookish Blog Hops gang had to say:
Dislike: I would have to say The Paris Orphan by Natasha Lester US cover and title. The Australia title is The French Photographer and the cover is stunning. The book is really not about the orphan, Victorine. It is about Jessica May, a World War II photojournalist. I think the American audience is being robbed. Like: Lilies on Main by J. Lynn Bailey is a simple, yet beautiful, cover. A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kellman. Dark and ominous and makes me feel the atmosphere of WW II.
People say “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, but a lot of times, the cover can make or break a book’s first impression. I can honestly admit that I will probably be more likely to take a book off the shelf and at least check out the blurb if the title and the cover grab my attention!
Some other likes and dislikes:
-Legible Font Choices--If the title is too complex to read, or if the font for the blurb is hard to decipher, it makes it that much harder to decide if I’m going to like a book! That being said, I usually look up a book on Goodreads when I find it, anyway, so there’s the blurb laid out for me in plain text--but come on! If you’re going to pick a font, pick a cool-looking one that we can all still read. Don’t get too carried away with your decorative choices!
-Stunning artwork--A cover stylized to look like leather with metallic embossing is always eye-catching; Something as simple as a pretty composition of an important plot device or some hint to the setting would also draw me in. Shirtless and/or sexually suggestive poses with the face obscured or outside the frame? Not so much. A painting that has nothing to do with the plot, and a cryptic title that is also potentially misleading? Also no. Computer-rendered 3-D graphics that look like the producer paid bottom-dollar for “sexy model in a sexy pose” without considering the actual description of the actual characters in the book? Hard pass. Too many elements going on so it basically looks like a grade-school collage of magazine cutouts? Calm down! Pretty, colorful images for my eyes to explore, and that also help “set the mood” for the story I’m about to discover? Yes please!
One last thing: a wrap-around cover that doesn’t bother putting text on the back cover--much less a blurb. Especially when it’s a paperback. Nothing is more annoying than taking a book with a catchy title off the shelf and flipping it over, only to find:
-A large picture of the author dominating the whole space;
-A continuation of the front cover image, with even less composure and even fewer clues as to what the book is about;
-The author’s bio--like, WE GET IT, this book is by this person, but that’s not the first thing I want to know! I’d like to know if the story’s any good before I’m interested in the feats and accolades of the author!
-editorial reviews; so what if the New York Times enjoyed it? I don’t know them; I don’t base my opinion on theirs. Give me the blurb, let me decide for myself whether I like the premise or not!
I often pick up books just because the cover draws me in, without reading the blurb. Even though I’m an avid Romance reader, I’m not a big fan of the naked male chest on a cover. I usually skip those unless someone recommended the story.
But my absolute pet hate for book covers are badly photoshopped ones that just have all kinds of random cut-outs of things from the story. I feel very strongly that books deserve an aesthetic cover.
I’ve always been horrible about picking up a book based on a cover. I’ve always really liked horror and thrillers so the types of covers that draw me in are ones that tell me a little bit about what the book is going to be about. Because of the genres I like I always like when they are a little bit creepy. I’m a visual person so if the book looks creepy then I will more than likely pick it up.
I think book covers are one thing that let down self-published authors as they are a really super tricky thing to get right. I find especially with self-published romance that the cover tends to feature a super hot guy/couple and in all honesty the repetitive nature of that style of image just makes me switch off from even wanting to read the book. I will always be drawn to a quirky cover and have discovered many wonderful books by judging them this way.
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