Bitchery reader Tracie is getting her Master’s degree in Publishing, and she’s writing a paper on book covers and sales, and wrote to ask for our help. It’s a different kind of HaBO request – one that asks you to take a quick survey and perhaps write a small bit on how covers affect your book buying habits. To quote Tracie:
My topic is “book covers and sales,” so I have a lot of room to maneuver. In general, I want to find out major trends that attract people to books. And I want to prove that while covers may not ultimately make someone buy a book, they can definitely be the reason someone doesn’t buy a book.
[M]y professor suggested that I go stand in a bookstore one afternoon and interview random customers. As much as the idea of flying-squirrel-tackling people into taking a survey appeals, it’s just not going to happen. This is really an exploratory survey. Because I used a free survey system and could only ask 10 questions, I’d also love to see what people say in the comments. Do they worry about what people will think about them based on the covers of books they are reading? Have they ever bought a book based on the cover alone? And in an internet age, do covers even matter that much anymore? The first in that list of questions really intrigues me. I think of it as the “train factor.” If you’re embarrassed to read it on the subway, are you going to buy it? If that’s the case, then maybe bodice-ripping, werewolf-humping covers are good for quick reads and ebooks, where you don’t have to face your shame out to the world, but are a bad idea for longer books that will take more than a lonely Saturday afternoon to finish.
If you’re interested in helping Tracie out, her survey can be found here, but her thesis is really intriguing me, especially after the discussion about the Seattle weekly cover.
Updated to add:
Tracie has added two more survey links since the first one maxed out.
Tracie’s thesis, that “covers may not ultimately make someone buy a book, [but] they can definitely be the reason someone doesn’t buy a book” gives me a lot to chew on mentally. I’m trying to think of the books that most embarrassed me when I carried them in public, and really, Cassie Edwards’ Savage Moon is the hands-down winner, or hands-up, because I did try to cover it as much as my dainty hands would allow. Because DAMN. That’s embarrassment.
But of the books on my shelf, are there covers I prefer to blanket with something bland before I go out in public? Are there books I’d avoid buying because the cover is just too awful for words? I’m probably not the target audience for this type of questioning because I’d go out of my way to get my hands on a fugass cover so I can scan it in and snark on it. But if I weren’t Smartly Bitching about cover art, would I buy a copy of, say, Big Spankable Asses or The Essence of Magic because the art or the title was something I’d avoid being seen with?
Nah.
I find a good bit of romance cover art profoundly regrettable, and I wish it weren’t so easy to dismiss the genre based on the bodacious mantitty found on the covers, but am I ashamed of what I read? Nah. I know I’m smart, even if everyone on the subway thinks I’m an imbecile and a perv who reads about men in shit-brown granny pants. That’s the nice thing about the subway – I pay over a dollar to frequently find myself up close and personal with people I never have to see again.
Worst cover of a book I’ve read (that was actually a good book despite the cover)? “Heather and Velvet” by Teresa Medeiros. Talk about embarassing! Trying to read romance novels on public transportation is tough. Makes me want to buy cover covers which defeats the purpose of the book cover in the first place. I totally agree with those of you who don’t like pictures of people on book covers. Designs, animals, fangs…fine by me. Fabio? NO. NO. NO. NOOO.
Brandi: I think that’s called a step-back cover.
That’s it. Thanks!
I took the survey. But as soon as I finished it I thought of a few things I meant to add but didn’t. So I’ll add them here for Tracie to see rather than go through the survey again.
I started reading romance novels in the 1980s when I was a teenager. Back then I was embarrassed to be seen buying them in the bookstore and would hide them in a pile of age appropriate books. Now, as an adult and knowing a ton of intelligent women who read them…well I don’t hide them or feel embarrassed to be seen buying them anymore. The internet has taken the stigma out of reading romance for me.
I agree with the commentor above who mentioned how memorable covers used to be versus with they have become now. I take a Johanna Lindsey from the 1980s off my shelf and based on Elaine’s cover art I instantly can remember what the story was about. If I take a recent Julia Quinn or Lisa Kleypas or Mary Balogh off my shelf from two years ago and look at the cover I’m lucky if I remember when I read it last let alone who the hero or heroine were. The later all have classy covers. But they are bland and unspecific to the book and unmemorable.
95% of the time, when I buy a book, it is because of previous experience with the author or the fact that it has been blogged about or recommended by friends online. The remaining 5% of the books I buy are the books I bought because of the cover…which means it spoke to me from the bookshelf and invited me to pick it up.
I agree with the summaries being a turn off. If the summary sucks, I’m likely to just ignore the book. I want to know if I’ll like the story, not if the hero is hot.
I definitely agree that if the book cover is awful I’ll ignore it for know authors, but I’ll usually breeze right by it if I don’t already know it will be good.
In addition, I have bought books based solely on the cover art. I have a few cover artists I really love, and if they did the art, it does make me buy the book. If a cover is too simple, or too abstract, it turns me off the book, even sometimes by authors I know.
I have never in my life gone into a bookshop, seen a bodice ripper cover, and picked the book up to see what it was about.
Thanks for the really cool survey! What an interesting topic.
I agree totally with “Peaches” that a cover won’t keep me from buying a book I really want but will keep me from taking it out in public. In fact, I have a collection of cloth book covers from when I used to take public transportation to work and that I still use on occasion, which really defeats the point of the actual cover.
I really would prefer it if they didn’t include people on the covers. I much perfer to fill in the blanks myself. Plus, I end up reading those book sooner if I can tote them around to the gym, on errands, at lunch, etc. My office has a very strict sexual harassment policy and I don’t want to tempt fate by carrying in some of my Blaze or Ellora’s Cave books.
Someone else mentioned the cartoon covers and I HATED those. It made me feel too YA-ish and like the books were too young for me (I’m only 36). But I also didn’t like those books either so I think that could be where my distaste came from.
I will never forget the mocking I endured one Thanksgiving when I was about 16 or so and my cousins found my Fabio book stash. Those covers are just too mortifying to a 16 year old!
Overall, I prefer the tasteful covers.
I prefer covers that don’t have people on the front. When asked for suggestions from my publisher we collaborated on a clean, simple design and I think it looks very nice. At least it prompts compliments from the two booksellers I’ve approached so far.
My daughter says she is drawn to covers that contain a dominant light blue colour. She doesn’t know why, they just attract her.
I tried to do it but it was closed 🙁
Surveys were all maxed out, so I couldnt take them…
I know that personally, I’m very self conscious about what books I read. People always want to know what I’m reading, and what is it about, and OMG is that gay pirates! (Yes, it was.) So I’m overly aware of the fact that if the wrong person finds out I’m ready gay pirate menage BDSM erotica, that might screw around with my social status within school a bit…
Judgmental is my grade.
Even beyond that, I’m very big on trying to earn the respect of people who I myself respect. For example, this year I am trying to work myself up in my English teacher’s esteem, because he’s a tough grader and I want to prove that I can do well in his class. And I read a lot in his class. And yesterday he made a few disparaging remarks about romance novels, basically saying that I could read anything I wanted for an extra credit project, but it had to be something of substance that has actual value, not anything like a romance.
So if Mr T catches me reading Slave to Sensation like my History teacher did last year, I doubt that passing the book off as Slaveto Sensation, its about dancing, is going to work. And in Mr Ts eyes, I know that whether he acknowledges it or not, his estimation of me will drop because I’m reading a romance.
So what the cover looks like plays in hugely with whether or not I’ll read the book in public. Not so much whether I’ll buy it, because the majority of my purchases are done through Amazon so I’m not interacting with an actual person who’s going to start making judgments. But it is hugely unlikely that I’m going to be running around school reading a book with a passionate, love struck, groping, making out, bodice spilling couple on the cover. Because its a bit embarrassing, fielding all those sideways glances, and I get tired of defending the fact that yeah, I actually like reading this and no, its not all like the library’s give away pile.
My personal favorites seem to be close up type covers, like Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen, or the Raised by Wolves series by W.A. Hoffman, who used reproductions of an artists work that pertained to the time period and story. I seem to lean either toward close up and simple or extremely detailed artistic representations. I apparently like extremes.
Oh god, Darrell K. Sweet. I said something in my survey answers about it counting against a book if the cover was supposed to have humans on it but instead featured squat, half-formed trolls, and I admit I was thinking of him.
(Sorry, Mr. Sweet. You’re a far better artist than I’ll ever be—and a scan of my Xanth books reminds me you’ve done nice things—but why is everyone in your Randland so short and weirdly clay-faced?)
Clearly a popular survey, links are already full again.
I like pretty covers, actual people not totally necessary. One of my pet cover peeves (besides bodice rippers) is the cover featuring the back (usually naked) of the heroine, with a necklace hanging down her back. I absolutely HATE them, and I have yet to actually read such a scene in a book. IMO those covers are like fingernails on a chalkboard.
I’m with DS. My favorite covers are fantasy-based and tend to be by Thomas Canty and Michael Whelan. I collect prints of both. And I also love the pre-Raphaelite work, including the more modern artists influenced by those earlier artists. Kinuko Craft and Amoreno come to mind.
Changeling Press – ick. I mentioned this press as one with the most horrific covers I’d ever seen.
I have a friend, M, who turned me on to romance novels. Her quirk is that she will only buy romances with awesome covers (at least, in terms of a new author. She wouldn’t refuse an ugly covered Crusie or Kenyon). She doesn’t even read the back of the book, or sample a chapter- she buys on the cover and on the cover alone. The thing that gets me- she’s not often wrong. She may miss out on some great books- though if an author later has a great book cover she will often go back and buy the back catalogue- but most of the books she buys are pretty good.
I do most of my reading in private, and I tend to buy romance novels either online or at the used book store, or I borrow them from M, so I never really think about embaressing covers. I did choose carefully the book to leave in my work locker, though, so as not to let my coworkers know too much about what turns my crank, if women indeed have cranks. I wouldn’t care about strangers on the train, though.
My grandpa, interestingly enough, read romance novels, and when they had the bodice-ripping cover, he would use this shiny black book cover thing that wouldn’t let the world know what he was reading.
Liz, I do the exact same thing. I laugh at myself for being such a book snob when it comes to the Oprah stamp while I think nothing of reading romances.
The Oprah thing is an interesting phenomenon to me. For example, from what I understand, her latest thing has been “classic” books – I see them in the store with that little logo and think, “Yes, I loved that book. It’s great that she’s exposing so many people to it.” Yet, I don’t want to buy a book with that little logo on it. (Of course, in the case with these “classics” I already own them so no point buying them anyway.) I suppose I don’t want to give the world the impression that I need that kind of guidance in choosing something to read. Even worse of me is that while I feel “above” it, I appreciate what Oprah has done to help expose so many people to good writing and exquisite storytelling. I don’t think it can be a bad thing for more people to understand the value in these stories and these writers.
[A part of me also wonders if there’s not something in there akin to how a person feels when their favorite obscure little band becomes famous. There’s something in human nature that thrills at the idea that one’s in on a terrific secret in knowing about a fantastic artist that very few others know about. But instead of turning on the artist with the sell out accusation when a larger audience is found, I’m turning on Oprah instead.]
And as for the point I probably should be addressing, I found the survey about book covers very interesting. I had never really thought before about what attracts me in a book cover. I now realize there is a common thread to the covers I’m drawn to that works across all genres (or could work, were romance to give it a try). I now have a better idea of what I’d really like to see as opposed to before when all I could say was that I dislike nearly every romance cover I’ve ever seen.
I’m getting that the surveys are all closed.
Covers. Yep, I think I do not prefer people on my covers when it comes to romance. My least favorite are the bare-chested man-titty covers.
Have I let this influence me in my buying? Possibly. No, make that probably.