Judge a Book By Its Cover
By Adalyn Lowe
Everyone’s heard the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover”. But with so many options at our fingertips, it becomes inevitable. With so many books, and truly not enough time to read them all, what can we do except to judge them by what they are at face value? I’m not saying that this is inherently a good thing, but it is necessary. This is why it is crucial to have a good cover, knowing that it will either increase or decrease the amount of readers reaching for your story.
Two types of covers that have become personally irking to me are the homogeneous Canva-like romance novels and the ones with real people on the cover.
Romance has taken center stage at many bookstores, with many of their stories trending on social media. You all know the flat colored background, with an image of two people (typically a girl and boy) looking attractive and appropriately infatuated with each other. The title should be written in a handwritten font. Many of them feel as if they have been churned out through selectable Canva templates, then slightly adjusted. Not only do they feel unoriginal, but it also makes it difficult to convey the specifics of what your story will be about.
On the other hand, maybe that’s the point. You typically know what you’re getting with these sorts of books with these covers, which is why some should launch at them and others steer clear. This article isn’t necessarily about the increasingly indistinguishable romance stories, but it becomes relevant anyhow. Should you want another one of these, you might head to these Canva-generated covers.
The other sort of book cover I dislike is the use of real people on covers, which is also typically used for romance. Usually, it will feature a conventionally attractive man or woman. I suppose publishers hope to create some sort of connection with the reader straight away, with that real person. Perhaps it’s just me, but I actually find them quite scary and disingenuous. The appeal of said conventionally attractive individual fails to draw me, and many other readers in.
These sorts of book covers are typically romance, which is not the only genre at fault. It just appears to be prominent for the issues at hand.
Covers become a primary way to identify the sorts of books that catch one’s eye, so it’s silly to disregard them as an important aspect of the book. Think of being in a bookstore, you don’t have infinite amounts of time to peruse the shelves and read the back of every book, looking for the perfect story. You have to look at the covers, and pull out the ones that seem interesting to you, which you must judge from the covers to determine. It’s unreasonable to expect someone to disregard the importance of visual storytelling. The cover is an integral part of the book that helps tell the story.
