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What Interests You In A Cover?

Bruce McKnight

Troubadour
It seems a lot of people are drawn into books initially by the cover. This begs the question: what type of covers make you look?

Does it need to have a figure on it? Landscape? Action? Does it need to be painted? Does it need big words? Good color palette? Scantily clad women?
 
Scantily clad women generally indicate to me that the book is not the type I normally read. But, being a girl who likes guys, it makes sense that scantily clad women don't do it for me. Scantily clad men don't entice me to buy a book either. To be honest, semi-naked people on a cover generally cause me to gloss right over that title and on to the next one.

Really, the quality of the art is what draws me, regardless of the subject matter. I prefer an ethereal look or impressionism, but I also have a weakness for charcoal and graphite art. Chiaroscuro is really cool too.

The reason I like impressionistic art is that it gives me an idea of what's in the book but does not define the characters so much that it interferes with my own ideas of what the characters look like.
 

Lord Ben

Minstrel
If it interests me basically. A landscape or a color blotch don't do it for me. I avoid photoshopped people mostly, as well as anything with a couple on it as I just tend to assume it'll be a romance book.

These were the last two that I added to my wish list of things to eventually read. In both cases the cover is what initially drew my interest. I love ship books and a quite clear picture of a ship on the cover certainly drew my attention. Turns out it was book 3 and I read the first two back when it wasn't out yet. Hooray!

The other one was mostly a "cool looking Japanese castle, wonder if it's a fantasy samurai type book?" interest and the blurb and reviews looked good so it's been added to the list.


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51UhSQNNRdL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA278_PIkin4,BottomRight,-55,22_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg
 

Asterisk

Troubadour
Scantily clad figures? Nope. Never. I am extremely picky about covers that entice me. Top requirements are professional layout, non-cheesy font, and realistic element. I prefer "real" people and "real" landscape instead of those that are drawn by an artist. Unless they look extremely real. Actually, most of the books I buy, if not all, have those elements in the cover. I've read that what draws attention is a simple human element like a face, or ummm, hands holding an apple. Not that I've ever read Twilight. Less is more.

If you want a realistic example (since I'm all about real :D) you can visit this site: Best Teen Books of the Year | Barnes & Noble. These are the books that immediately grab my attention:

Requiem (Delirium Series #3)
Prodigy (Marie Lu's Legend)
The 5th Wave (Fifth Wave Series)
The Elite (Selection Series #2)
Invisibility

And looots more. They all have something cool about the cover (but The Runaway King is the only one that I probably wouldn't read.)

Anywho, hope all this blabber helps you! :D
 

T.Allen.Smith

Staff
Moderator
I don't need a good cover to pick up a book since a lot of what I read comes from personal recommendation.

However, if we're talking about what I like or cover art I find intriguing.... I like an image that hints at something without showing much. For example, if I'm in the mood to read something dark I'd be drawn toward cover art that hints at that darkness without an outright, blatant image of something evil. The mystery is alluring and excites the imagination.
 

Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Here are some awesome covers I've seen. I'll make comments on why I like them as well:

daylight-war-by-peter-v-brett.jpeg


I love this cover because of the flowing red, the beautiful woman's obscured face, and the gem-looking things floating. I wouldn't consider her "scantily-clad" either. The flowing silk is what is attractive here, not what's underneath for instance. It's just eye-catching for me. I haven't read this book, but it would attract my attention.

stormdancer.jpg


Maybe I like red? Red seems to catch my eye very easily. Also the samurai woman with the griffin looming in the background tells me a lot about what I can expect. It just looks cool.

the-way-of-kings-by-brandon-sanderson.png


This series is supposed to be like 10 books and this shows it. An epic cover for an epic series. The stance of the character in the foreground for some reason stands out to me. Much like the stance of some of Frank Frazetta's characters.

The+Witcher+USA.jpg


How can you NOT love these covers?
 
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Philip Overby

Staff
Article Team
Continued...

throne-of-the-crescent-moon.jpg


Reminds me of a comic book more than a typical fantasy cover. You have the heroes surrounded by ghoulish creatures (ghuls) and your eye immediately goes to the old man. Who is he? Due to him looking a little out of place, that initially attracted me to this cover. Also the fact that it doesn't look like typical European-style fantasy helped as well.

Slaine.jpg


This actually IS a comic (or graphic novel) and I remember saying "Wow, what the hell is this?" when I first saw it. I mean the guy has some kind of boar-demon codpiece and hanging goblin/orc heads. The inner 15 year old in me screams "that's awesome." And the real 30-something me would still give it a look.

book3.jpg


Still one of my favorite covers of all time. The close up of the boy's face with all the jungle-like stuff and insects really evokes a certain kind of emotion. I remember when being assigned this book in school I thought "Wow, now this looks like something that could be cool." I wasn't wrong.

So common themes on why I like these particular covers:

1. Close-ups of characters. Sometimes it's cool to see a detailed picture of a character looking back at you. I used to love the old Larry Elmore Dragonlance covers as well. They had characters standing there as if posing for a picture. I always thought that was cool.

2. Colors. Red seems to attract my eye and I'm sure there's some kind of scientific reason for that or something.

3. Cool stuff happening. If the characters are fighting or doing other cool stuff, I can get an idea that "Oh, this novel's going to have some action in it." Since I enjoy more action-packed fantasy, this appeals to my sensibilities. If I was looking for a more poetic kind of fantasy story I may pick up one of Guy Gavriel Kay's books as they have a subtler vibe to them. No screaming barbarians cleaving people in half. Although I would like to see Kay's take on that. :)

4. Weapons. Weapons are cool The cooler the weapon, the more likely I may be attracted to a cover. This doesn't necessarily I only like novels with lots of cool weapons. But it certainly doesn't hurt.

Notice I didn't say scantily-clad figures. Some of the covers I liked could be interpreted as such, but that's not even what attracted me to the covers. It could be the presentation or the art style.

So those are my thoughts. Hope that helps in some way.
 
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Evilyn

Scribe
I tend to like book covers that are vibrant shelf candy that give a little bit of insight and intrigue to the story.
 
The artwork has to be top notch, the font professional and the title something that makes me wonder. Other than that it's really all about picking something that's relevant to the story.
 
C

Chessie

Guest
It could be either art or a realistic person or landscape. I also like close ups of characters because I like seeing what perhaps the author had in mind when writing the character. I also like landscape or something in the background showing off the world.
 
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