What would make you pick up a book?

EileenG

If you were wandering around a bookshop, what sort of cover would make you pick up the book and consider buying it?

What would make you decide you definitely would not buy it?

pickarooney

Bright colours or slightly unusual shapes will usually catch my eye which is the first step towards me picking one up and considering if I'll buy it. I'm not gone on photos on covers; I'd gravitate more towards illustrations or calligraphy. This is all notwithstanding obvious things like the title or author's name, assuming I'd not heard of either.

Put a big picture of a spaceship on a book and I'll run away from it.

FewFew

Something classy will always reel me in. I love a simple icon on the cover, like with the Song of Ice and Fire series where each book is a different colour with a different object. Same goes with those Wheel of Time books.

I'd avoid computer generated looking graphics, your current cover is just on the right side of the line but it could easily have strayed into looking really cheap.

Pastels are a no no.

Literal representations of the title also strike me as off-putting.

EileenG

I chose my current cover because I thought it would be easy to see and understand when thumbnail size. Not sure if it's right for a paperback, or what would work better.

Mr. Presentable

Non-fiction:The subject matter is paramount when deciding to buy a book. No "Glamour" style covers are going to win me over.

For fiction I would never consider a book by a female author.

Mr E

I've noticed more and more books doing it these days - tag lines on big round stickers like "Buy this if you like Jack Reacher", or "If you like Kathy Reichs, you'll love this".
Its a bit cheeky, but it does grab my attention if a new author/character is being compared to one I know/like.

Similarly, quotes from other authors on the cover *might* sway me. Things like:
"Stayed up all night to read it" - Harlan Coben.

The cynic in me knows its probably the same publishing house, 'you scratch my back' etc. etc. but at the very least, it makes me pick it up and read the back cover, and that's half the battle.

CD.

interesting covers for me are generally ones that have contrasting colours that make them pop -black/white and so on. if i cannot see the cover as i am going along the books i read teh spines and if a title catches my interest i'll pick it up and read the back.

Then sometimes, if i like the back and i'm unsure i'll open at a random page and read a few lines then read the first page, just to give me an idea of writer's style and if it is consistent.

If the back is amazing, i'll buy it.
but then there are words and phrases that instantly make me put it back, but thats generally for crime/thriller.

the cover of your book is neither here nor there for me, It doesn't really stand out amazingly, but it doesn't fade into the backround either, i generally scan titles as well as covers and i quite like your title, so that would entice me to pick it up.

The Mad Hatter

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

For fiction I would never consider a book by a female author.

???

Anyways, for me it's got to be unusual and distinctive. Something that stands out from the rest of the books on the shelf. I rarely pick up books based on the cover, but if I do it's because the cover creates a sense of mystery, and often that it's artistic in itself.

I suppose my personal preference is for minimalism in book cover design. Having just had a quick scan of the books I have here, the only two that I bought based on the cover are these:



which I loved, and



which I didn't.

Mr. Presentable

The Mad Hatter wrote: »

???

Anyways, for me it's got to be unusual and distinctive. Something that stands out from the rest of the books on the shelf. I rarely pick up books based on the cover, but if I do it's because the cover creates a sense of mystery, and often that it's artistic in itself.

I suppose my personal preference is for minimalism in book cover design. Having just had a quick scan of the books I have here, the only two that I bought based on the cover are these:



which I loved, and



which I didn't.

Yeah, I know. It seems mad. It's a bit like female comedians I think. All in all for me there's always been something missing.

coffee_cake

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

Yeah, I know. It seems mad. It's a bit like female comedians I think. All in all for me there's always been something missing.

Who have you read...?

Kinski

I'd echo what a previous poster said about CG imagery on book covers; it can look a bit cheap. Are you thinking of going with what you have now? I think the image is good, but the book's title is in a bit of a strange place - if it's going to be in a corner, shouldn't it be either top left or bottom right? (Though I appreciate that whoever designed it was probably just trying to work it in around the image). And the use of different fonts for the title looks silly, imo. Still, pretty girl, large boobs - not a bad place to be starting from.

I like all kinds of different covers. Though embossed gold or silver lettering is a total no-no. I found the cover for this edition of Joseph O'Neill's Netherland appealing, but it's probably not a great example for your purposes. SF and Fantasy publishers sometimes seem to be locked in a neverending struggle to see who can come up with the absolute worst cover ever. But I do like this one for China Miéville's Perdido Street Station.

Kinski

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

For fiction I would never consider a book by a female author.

Your loss.

azzeretti

Mr. Presentable wrote: »

For fiction I would never consider a book by a female author.

It's a bit like female comedians I think

Ah, I see what you did. You're female and a comedian, right!!?

Antilles

Assuming I have no prior knowledge of the book or the author, having the phrase "Hugo Award Winner" or similar on the cover will usually get me to pick it up

If you haven't won one of those yet, then the picture on the front is what would draw me in. Don't be too fancy. Use something intriguing but at the same time familiar. Death dancing with a little girl in TMH's example above is really good. That, together with an intriguing title that hints at the plot without giving too much away, and you're on to a winnter.

Memnoch

I read an article in the past about what leads readers to purchase books and I think these rules apply to me also.

Most readers have a genre and they will go into the book store and look at the genre. Of course if they have an author they enjoy they will gravitate towards that writer.

For example, I'm fairly well read in sci-fi, and it's my favorite genre so I usually head there when I'm in a store big enough to actually have a sci-fi section, and usually I browse my favorite authors, Banks, Reynolds et all.

I think cover might cause a reader to pick up a book, but for me it's more the name. Perhaps a combination of the two.

A recommendation from a friend or family member is obviously something that people are going to take into account, but then wouldn't they simply lend the book rather than tell you to buy it?

As for not buying something, it would have to be the blurb at the back as well as the cover. If the book looks like 'women's fiction,' it's unlikely I'm going to enjoy reading it.

The blurb is a major factor in my purchases. If the story doesn't sound interesting from what I read on the back, I'm unlikely to buy it.

Some readers check out the first few pages, but I usually make my decision on name/blurb/cover (genre). Although if I really think about it, truth is I don't pay much attention to the cover. Maybe it's because a lot of the covers in the genre I'm looking at are similar and of equal quality.

That being said, I was in Easons the other day and the cover of 'Consider Phlebas,' by Ian M Banks sent chills down my spine.

Antilles

Oops, yeah I forgot "genre." Obviously if the book is in a section beside lots of other books I like I'm more willing to pick it up too!

Memnoch, was that the same cover for Consider Phlebas that Amazon use?

Memnoch

Weirdly enough, it isn't the same cover ( I think.) It's the older cover. All the books have spiffy, new covers now, though some of the older ones were better, IMO.

EileenG

There is a trend for YA books to have a black cover with a single dramatic image (apple, rose, ribbon etc), but I'm not fond of that, I like covers that give me some idea of what's in the book.

Since I don't have a famous name or a Hugo (though I'm hoping to get a quote from a Hugo winner to use as a strap line), I need a cover that will at least make people pick it up and read the blurb.

I do quite like the picture I've got (weird girl with boobs, space ship) but as mentioned, I think better graphics on all the text.

Blush_01

I like really clean looking covers, or else really aged looking ones. Bright but not garish colours are good too. Whether or not it's been recommended by someone else won't really bother me. The synopsis at the back might influence me, but I'm as likely to peek inside to a midpoint and read a paragraph to see if I'd be interested in the writing style to be honest.

Hence my slight aversion to ebooks. At the moment my reader only has classics on it. (And needs to be charged, but that's an aside.)

EileenG

You can download an excerpt from e-books without buying it, so you can get an idea of what the writing is like before you buy.

Blush_01

Yes, an excerpt someone else has chosen.

EileenG

True, but it's usually a couple of chapters long, which is enough time to know if the author can handle commas or tends to drown herself in adjectives.