Blogger Confidential: Covers

Have you ever been faced with an issue while reading or blogging and thought: I wonder what other bloggers think about this?  No matter what genre or audience you blog for, we all face the same problems.  Are you a publisher or author wondering what goes on in a blogger's (and by extension a reader's) head?

Blogger confidential is a series of 9 questions asked to 10 bloggers about the nitty gritty details of blogging. Everything from what prompts a blogger to pick up a book, to what happens when a book doesn't live up to its hype.  This series was inspired by Wastepaper Prose's Author Insight series.

Does a cover influence your opinion of a book? What types of covers get your attention? Which ones turn you off?

"Sadly, I am one of those people who totally judges books by their covers! I try to counter this by remembering all of the disastrous books I read, which had some of my favorite covers, but it doesn’t always work. I will say that covers with girls in pretty dresses are currently a huge turn-off for me; I’ve seen too many of them. But I am extremely attracted to covers with strong photos (from a photography standpoint) and/or beautiful typography. These are both cover weaknesses of mine." Penelope from The Reading Fever

"The reality is covers do influence people. If you're just browsing it's the first thing that catches your eye and THEN you reach for the book. But in terms of opinion unless the pub got the race of the cover model wrong or something I don't really care about the cover. The only time they may adversely affect me when it comes to reading it is when they're a copycat cover. Oh look! The chick has half a face and a pretty dress! Or she's looking over her shoulder in a pretty dress! Or she's looking over a cliff in a pretty dress! Same covers, same innards is what my brain does. Unless I hear about the book beforehand and it interests me I'll shy away from those copycats. I'm not a gambler and I don't want to have to bet that that book is different from the rest when it looks exactly the same." Donna from Bites

"Of course! Covers can draw us in, especially if we've never seen or heard of the book before. Em tends to like the covers with the 'girls in pretty dresses' and Sash usually likes anything with blues or pinks. We're not big fans of darker (black/grey) covers but we won't not read a book because of it!" Sash and Em from Sash and Em a Tale of Two Bookies

"I'm super picky here, they won't necessarily turn me off from a book, but I am critical. Being part-designer I can usually tell when a cover was done by an amateur. I always wonder about this, especially when there is an indie or small vanity press behind the author. Don't they realize the cover is the FIRST thing people see in regard to the book? You only get once chance to make a first impression. Hire a good cover designer. I know a few ;)" Rachel from Parajunkee

"As much as I hate to admit it, covers definitely have an influence on me. While they don't really influence my opinion after I've read the book, they sometimes determine whether or not I become interested enough to pick the book up in the first place. Personally, I tend to be picky about covers that feature full headshots of the main character, because I usually like to imagine him or her myself. I'm also not the biggest fan of covers where the text is difficult to read or the picture looks like a clipping from a bad '80s cartoon." Natalie from Mindful Musings

"I don’t usually judge a book by its cover but I do pay attention when the books that I read have stand out for me – either because they’re beautiful or they’re ugly. I tend to like covers with original artwork instead of those based on photographs of real people." Chachic from Chachic's Book Nook

"Given the trends in YA publishing, we know better than to let a cover influence our decision on whether or not to read a book. Most young adult novels have terrible covers, and we actually wrote a post about the top five worst cover trends in 2011. Covers with fancy dresses, headless girls or big faces definitely make us roll our eyes, and covers with original art (instead of stock photos) that actually relates to the story always makes us happy." Sarah from Forever Young Adult

"Yes, we admit to being cover whores, lol. Our tastes and opinions on covers vary but we tend to both lean toward artistic and dramatic covers...especially the ones with strong, vibrant colors. We both feel that cover art is a very important factor in the success of a book because although it's the story within the pages that count, it's the cover that says, "Hello, pick me up, look at me, read my blurb." The more professional, artistic and interesting the cover, the more likely it is to end up on our shelves :)" Vanessa and Isalys from Book Soulmates

"To answer your question about a cover's influence, I would say yes and no. Normally I don't judge a book by it's cover, but there's been some awesome MG and YA covers out that have totally caught my attention and made me pick them up. I love covers that are unique, and ones that fit the book they cover. It's such a pet peeve of mine to have a cover that after you finish reading the book wonder how in the heck the cover was made for the book, because it doesn't even match the story. I also love a cover that's unique and not one you see on other books." Katie from Mundie Moms

"They do. I mean, I'm always attracted to a book with a jaw-dropping cover. I like that covers tend say a lot about the genre. Some covers are clearly realistic fiction as well as some are clearly historical, for example. But I never read a book just for it's cover. As for which get my attention, I don't have a "type". I just find some appealing and spark my interest. Like Summer series covers or Grave Mercy's. The ones that are very clearly paranormal turn me off completely. I shy away from this subgenre, unless it's an author I like or a friend recommends it." Sabrina at YA Bliss