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How do you judge whether or not to read a book? By its
cover? By its author? By the back-cover blurb?
I think new readers—those who haven’t read either a
particular genre or a particular author before—make their first judgment by the
cover. That’s why cover design is so important and so stressful to authors. We
fill out the artist’s form, answering questions about the book, the characters
and our own preferences. We agonize over whether the artist’s vision matches
our own. We know that the cover is one of the first things a potential reader
is going to notice.
My dad wanted to try reading a vampire book. He’s a True
Blood fan, so he went to the bookstore, found one and started to read it. Yes,
I glossed over his process on purpose, because frankly, I don’ think he had
one. After a few chapters, he decided he didn’t like the book and stopped
reading. When he showed it to me, I immediately understood why. The cover was a
cartoonish drawing of a 19th century woman with her dress half open
in the front, boobs showing, fangs dripping blood. I don’t remember what the
title was, but it must have said “vampire” because that’s why my dad grabbed
it. Had I been with him, I could have told him it wasn’t his style book. But I
wasn’t and he learned his lesson.
Repeat readers—those who have read a particular genre or
author—often pick their books by the authors they’ve read before. I keep a list
of my favorite authors’ books, and sometimes even keep track of release dates
so that I can be sure to read their latest books.
But what about the roamers? The readers who walk the aisles
of a bookstore, or sift through book sites online looking for the perfect book.
What about the readers who ask friends for recommendations? They’re the ones
who read the back cover blurb. Those 50 or so words can be the most important
words the author writes, because it has to whet the reader’s appetite, create
character impressions and give just enough hint of a conflict to make the
reader buy the book.
I know a lot of authors who struggle with this. I do too,
although I happen to like writing blurbs. My background is in PR and some of
the most fun things to do was to create marketing hooks for our products. The
back cover blurb is like a mini-commercial and they can be a lot of fun to write—I,
for one, love to channel my inner “deep-voiced, slightly cheesy spokesperson!"
So, how do you judge a book?
By the back cover blurb. Definitely. I may also read the first page or two.
ReplyDeleteA cover may put me off - especially if it has bare over-muscled/tattooed chest(s)- but I would never buy on the basis of the cover. It's always the blurb that pulls me in (or not!)
ReplyDeleteMost reading that I do is by tried and true authors. Those must reads for when a new book of theirs comes out. I'll also try out different books based on genre or subject matter...I too am a vampire fan!
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say, for me in most cases it's the blurb that gets me. If an author posts a snippet or teaser on his/her blog, that's what gets me hooked.
It's been a long time since I've just randomly browsed for books. I guess in that case, I'd look at the cover first, and if that and the title were catching, I'd check out the blurb to see if I was interested in reading the book.
So, I guess for me as a reader...the blurb is most important.
For a hard-copy book: cover first, then back-of-book-blurb,then first page of the actual story.
ReplyDeleteFor a Kindle edition, the cover is less important and I would look at the blurb, the first page and then reader's reviews.
I agree about having to ache over the cover, though. Phew! I create my own, but I do have a friend who is a professional illustrator who comments on my efforts.
So, pretty much, everything has to be appealing! :) Thanks everyone!
ReplyDelete