By Tori
When Covers Go Bad
I’ll admit I’m a cover ho. I see a pretty cover and I’m all over it like a unwatched plate of bacon. And vice versa. Ugly cover? I pass it by quick. But when the cover doesn’t match the storyline or misrepresents the characters, I get a little put out. Will I stop reading the story? Probably not. But some of the magic has faded for me.
Exhibit A:
Under Wraps by Hannah Jayne
Now, when you look at this cover you see a bad arse Urban Fantasy chick ready to take on the world with that sword right? Well, I’m here to tell you THAT chick on the cover isn’t our heroine. Am I saying the book is bad? Nope. Not at all. But this is not a dark kick arse Urban Fantasy. This is more of a humorous chick lit UF.
Exhibit B:
Trail Of Tudor Blue by Gwen Roman
I almost didn’t read this book because of the cover. The cover depicts a youngish man-boy. A mechanic perhaps? I honestly thought this was a cougar story. Older woman seduces younger man or vice versa. After reading the book, I honestly can’t see wth this cover came from. The story is fab by the way. Loved it. But if Dear Author hadn’t given it an A review, I would never have looked at it twice. (Review at Smexy coming soon)
Here are a couple others that left me feeling a little out of sorts.
The Missing by Shiloh Walker. Our protag is portrayed as being of African American descent with curly hair. The cover shows a girl of white persuasion with straight hair. It didn’t stop me from reading it-which was a FABULOSO story by the way-but I kept looking at the cover wondering why they did that? Did they think I wouldn’t notice? Or hoped I wouldn’t?
The Darkest Pleasure by Gena Showalter is another cover that looks yummy until you read the story and realize the “hero with the skin of chocolate” is NOT the hero on the cover.
All I can say is we as readers aren’t stupid. We notice the minute little details and regardless of their importance in the great scheme of things…it matters.
Well, at least to me it does.
~Tori
Totally agree with you. I like a pretty cover, or a hot cover, but can't they at least match the hair colors?
I agree – it's distracting, misleading and annoying. I have to wonder how many great books I've missed because the cover sucked or was inappropriate for the story.
oh i so agree with many of your assements of the above covers! and this all really just reminds me of the dark ages, before i read book blogs, twitter, or any type of reviews or thoughts from other lusty readers. i would ONLY buy a book off the shelf based on the summary blurb on the back and based on the cover.
which are do often misleading or straight up lies, as you pointed out! god i bought so many horrible books back in the day *shudders in remembrance* so i love your story about how DA's A review made you buy a book you never would have!
I hate it when a cover does not reflect the story. It's so disappointing.
I'm with you on the cover-whoreness. Love pretty covers, and have ended up buying many books because the cover caught my eye.
I attended a program a while back given by a publisher about covers. Covers are marketing tools. They should reflect the feel of the book, but she insisted that readers don't know the physical details of a character when they make a decision to buy a book. Personally, I'm with you on models who don't look anything like the h/h. The cover image sticks in my brain when I start to read a book, and when it's really off from the h/h, it's distracting. But I now understand why sometimes models don't look anything like the h/h. I will add that some publishers are really great at getting models/using stock images that look like the characters, others…not so much.
I agree too…covers are so important. But sometimes if the story is good enough, I do get sucked in and lost and I kinda forget about the cover, especially now with owning an eReader which is not a Nook color, so I only really see the cover when I buy the book online.
I agree with you 100%. I am so guilty of being drawn to a book because of it's sexy cover. I've even purchased a few and been surprised or disappointed. I'm getting better at the "buying by the cover"…but I still pick them up and read the back blurb just in case!
Aurian-LOL Something somewhere should match.
aromagik-Exactly. Some cover make me want to shake my head.
lustyreader-*sob* I never want those days to return. Yea, If it weren't for Jane at DA-I wouldn't have taken a chance and I;m really glad I did.
Ava March-Thank you. :) I understand to an extent why it's done-I just get really put off when it's extremely blatant.
FV-It's heartbreaking. And since I gave bacon up for lent, it's doubly heartbreaking.
Stephanie-I have a little bw sony so any covers I see as ebooks are smooched messes anyways. lol
Lisa-We need a cover ho's anonymous club. :)
Totally agreed!!!! They say to not judge a book by a cover, but honestly, yea right. lol. The covers I've been admiring lately are the Chicagoland Vampire ones by Chloe Neill. And the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep. Now THOSE are some badass covers that match the stories!! :)