A while ago while I was perusing through some books online, I came across two different covers of the same book. On seeing the first cover I immediately scrolled past it, passing it off as something not really for me. But, as soon as I came to the second cover it caught my eye and had me ready to drop my pennies.
We all know that old chestnut of not judging a book by its cover but actually (as we all know) cover art serves a very important part in the books we choose to pick up and in making an all important first impression. It's also something that marketing teams and publishing houses spend quite a bit of time developing in order to appeal to the right niche.
So, the book in question? Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty. When I saw the first cover with it had an exploding candy lollipop on the front which made me automatically think it was too much of a chick-lit book for my taste. When I saw the cover art for the second cover, of a full moon over an ocean I was intrigued (I've also noticed I have a thing for calm yet mysterious looking book covers.) I went back to explore Moriarty's books and editions most of them (like many books) had several versions of cover art available and there was always one version over the others that caught my eye and would have influenced whether I picked it up or not.
Up until now I didn't realise how much the covers actually influenced me. Since then I've come to regard Liane Moriarty as one of my favourite newly discovered authors and this got me thinking about how potentially I might be missing out on lots of good books by judging their covers in such a way.
The next time I see cover art that immediately turns me off I've decided to make a mental note not to be put off by them, as who knows? They could be my next favourite read. I'd love to know what makes a good/bad impression on you when picking up books?
I think we are all very much swayed by covers, and I admit to being a terrible cover snob. Images and colours I think have a lot of power and reach us in ways we probably don't understand. I really gravitate to certain covers but am trying to also balance that with liking the blurb about what I'll be reading though there's just no knowing until you get in there. Thanks for writing about this topic!
ReplyDeleteYes there's a lot of thought that goes into designing that cover art. I think I need to get better at still reading the blurb even if I don't like the cover and then making my mind up.
DeleteI think we are all very much swayed by covers, and I admit to being a terrible cover snob. Images and colours I think have a lot of power and reach us in ways we probably don't understand. I really gravitate to certain covers but am trying to also balance that with liking the blurb about what I'll be reading though there's just no knowing until you get in there. Thanks for writing about this topic!
ReplyDelete