I’m sure you’ve all heard the old saying:
You can’t judge a book by the cover.
And I’m equally sure we’ve all judged books by the cover. In fact, savvy authors and publishers go to a lot of effort to design covers that will appeal to their target reader. They know we judge books by the cover, and they expect us to do so.
(I suspect the old saying dates from the time when all books were hardcovers with nothing but the title and perhaps a little gold leaf around the edges.)
If the publisher and cover designer have done their jobs well, readers will look at a cover and want to buy the book. That works in a paper environment like a real-life bookstore where the book cover (or spine) is the first thing you see.
It doesn’t work so well in an online environment which places more emphasis (in terms of space) on the book description and reviews than on the cover.
The result is that yes, I have read books where I didn’t like the cover …
Perhaps because it was already an author I wanted to read, or because I’d already been drawn in by the book description.
The other reason I might read books where I don’t like the cover is when I’m reading an older book. Cover design has trends. The older the book, the less likely the cover will follow the latest design trends … which is why authors and publishers will often republish books with new covers, to capture new readers.
For example, Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers has been topping bestseller charts for close to thirty years. Here are some of the cover designs I found:
The oldest cover does look somewhat dated. The newest cover is the movie tie-in version, and I have to say it’s my least favourite.
But it’s the same book.
So yes, I have (and do) read books where I dislike the book cover … but they are typically books by authors I already know and enjoy, books I find on an online store such as Amazon, or books recommended by a friend.
