Book Covers - do we judge?

[Sasha Distan]

So, book covers. so those of us looking for images to represent our work it's a big deal. even more so if you're looking to self-publish and do the whole deal yourself.

 

We all know you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover (or a pub by it's signs) but I have this sneaking suspicion that we all do. I know i do. I bought Drawn Together almost solely on the awesome cover. i still haven't bought Code of Conduct for the exact same reason. i do not like that cover one bit.

 

Fess up, do we judge?

 

Also, for those of you looking for covers, what do you do? I went to art skill so i have a *small* set of skills with which to create and a starving illustrator friend who will do anything for rent money. I've gone to artists on Etsy for covers and done them myself.

 

getting photos off the web is a no go, and most sites like stockphoto are only good if you're not using the image on a product you are going to re-sell. so no good for us.

 

and as my little aside: fonts. some fonts should never be seen on or in books, hands up for the haters of comic-bloody-sans? *paw in air*

[Ieshwar]

Yes, I think everyone judges a book by it's cover. There's just those who do it knowingly and those who do it unknowingly.

 

I'm talking about "online bookstores." One fine example is Amazon. The way it has designed its "Customers who have bought this have also bought" section, the first thing you see is the bookcover (it's much larger than the name of the book/author). So it does influence your decision on some level. I think.

 

Ah fonts... There are two fonts I never consider when doing some designs- Comic Sans MS and Monotype Corsiva. 

 

Interesting topic. 

 

Cheers

Ieshwar

[Fishwings]

Short answer: YES.

 

Yes we do. Yes we do times a million. We judge books by it's cover art, by its title, by the synopsis, by its length, by the first sentence, everything that may or may not be representative of the story itself. 

[hh5]

spoilers gives some clues unlike trailers for movies ... still can mislead the audience sometimes

[Finn]

I think I do. If it's a badass cover, I'd totally pick up the book. I usually decide whether I'll read something or not from the first paragraph or two; does usually say some of what the rest will deliver. Though, titles, and the little pieces on the back influence whether I'll read or not....

 

/me goes try to think of a better name for his own shizz.

[Cia]

Of course people do. When it comes to covers, it is very important to use something that will draw the reader in and also focuses on your story. I hate misleading covers, like Crossing Borders by ZA Maxfield. It doesn't fit the story or the characters imo. That being said, I'm also not a fan of artistic covers or illustrations for online eBooks. Oddly enough, when going through my personal books, especially the fantasy ones, I notice those are prevalent by comparison and I actually like many of them.

 

We are most often stimulated visually. An intriguing title and a well constructed cover draw the eye, and the reader to the author's work. I use those first to judge when scrolling through eBook stores, then I read the story blub. If that sounds interesting, without telling me the whole damn plot, I will often move to the excerpt to judge the author's writing skills. Then I search the title and/or author if they're unknown so that I can find reviews and/or ratings on various fiction websites. Sometimes I find the story free somewhere that way too.

 

 I can spend hours and hours trying to find just the right image for a character when I create them. The cover I used for Heated Blood (in the eBook store here on GA) was my creation. I have a wide stock of personal photography for nature backgrounds, such as the sunset lit clouds for that background, which is nice, but I also haunt stock websites for free images. I did pay for the photograph of the guy in the picture, but I bought a small pack of credits on 123rf for under $15 so I will be able to download several images for my graphic work.

 

I will be putting some covers here on GA for purchase once I have more created, which is acceptable for 'stock' non-royalty purchases. Cover artists do it all the time. As long as you are not re-selling the image as stock yourself, and it is non-royalty (meaning you don't have to pay a portion to the original owner for each time the image, or eBook cover, is downloaded) you're good to use it once. Most websites cover what kind of product you can and cannot use their stock for based on various purchase levels. Community property images are also fair game, though you have to be VERY careful to follow all the rules of the stock owners. If I get free stock from a private website/gallery, I always take a screen shot so that if questions come in the future I can clearly demonstrate at the time of download, the image was free to use per the owner's own rules/copyright notice.