Do you judge a book by its cover (literally)?

[padfoot]

Generally the blurb or title will do more for me but the cover will probably make me pick it up in the first place. Mind you I was very tempted to buy a book yesterday just because the pages had sparkly gold edges

[Sacred_Path]

No, not with books. I guess with most books from a big publisher, the author won't have much influence on what the cover will be, and I don't want to serve as a guinea pig going for a cover that was chosen solely on what is likely to go over best with consumers.

 

Music is a different matter. I've bought a number of CD's in my time judging by the cover alone, well sometimes slightly guided by a review. I listen to what would mostly qualify as indie music, and on that level, the artists usually choose and sometimes even design the cover. So you can usually tell what direction the music takes and how serious someone is about their art.

[Elena]

I remember I was 8 and I kept staring at these three books all children stories, and I picked one It was the third in the right,

because the hans chr. andersen characters were all blended together on the cover(it's an illustration but I didn't know back then). Now that I'm a graphic designer I do the same sometimes, I find expensive books have ugly covers and I will seek the cheap.

 

I agree with Sacred_Path about music cd's, the covers could make me buy it alicia key's element of freedom for example, that album has one of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen. So yes the cover matters to me, depends on the book and writer too.

[Jade]

I never used to until majority of the books I brought with bad covers were bad. Then I did. I judge a book by it's cover every now and then and read the back.

[Arie]

I am currently an art student. Once you begin art school it is hard not to judge everything from an artistic standpoint. I judge every book's cover. My judgement does not have an affect on whether or not I actually by the book.

[130671]

No I don't, I tend to carefully research (as far as possible) any book I want to buy, so when I finally make my decision, the cover is really not important.

[hobbitses]

^^ Same here. I always research the book before I buy it. So the cover doesn't matter.

[Nephilim]

No I don't, I tend to carefully research (as far as possible) any book I want to buy, so when I finally make my decision, the cover is really not important.

 

 

^^ Same here. I always research the book before I buy it. So the cover doesn't matter.

 

i agree with these two i never judge a book by its cover, i read the summery before i buy a book

[relevancy]

If I've done research or a friend recommends the book, then generally no. Books tend to have different covers anyway so it doesn't really matter. However, if I happen to just be walking through the book store looking for something spontaneously, then yes I will judge the book by the cover. I feel like it's just something we all do, judge something by the appearance. You are more prone to read/buy a book when you are attracted to the appeal.

[Badab]

It happens. When the cover is bad i don´t want to read it that much or if i know the cover dosen´t represents the topic. But the other side is also possible. As i saw the cover of the name of the wind i know i have to read it. i looked so gorgeus, like adventure like a story you could get in an forget where you are, what time it is and was comes when you wake. And it was^^

And others i don´t juge at all because they are so ordinary. for exmaple the books of Berhard hennen, they look all very similar if you just look on the cover.

 

But mostly i judge a book by the name of it´s author. And if i knew him or not. 

[Lady Deadpool]

Nope, not at all, I only judge the content. But I have a big thing for covers, if there's a book I love and already have and I see it again with a different cover, specifically a leather cover or a hard cover I get this urge to re-purchase it

[Badab]

lol i know what you mean. i sold "The Elfs" from Bernhard Hennen twice. once years ago and then for two years as a new nice version came out, with some extra content.

Edited April 15, 2013 by Badab

[Carlyn]

I don't discriminate between an ugly or pretty cover. However, a front cover is what first attracts me to a book, I then look at the blurb and flick through the book. If I like the text then I buy the book.  

[Dax]

A book shouldn't be judged by its cover, but many times it is. It's literally the first thing you see, it's the first hook. If the cover draws you in you might read the short summary on the back, maybe glance at a few pages. The cover has more to do with marketing and selling a book rather than the actual content of the book.

[ling]

I usually research the book or have it recommended to me. That's when the designer part of me takes over and tries to seek out the version of the book with the cover I find most aesthetically pleasing. I recently popped into a book shop to grab a new copy of Pride & Prejudice and agonized over which cover I liked most for quite a while (since it's a 200 year old book and in the public domain there are a shocking amount of publishers and therefore many variations to choose from). 

 

When buying books on a whim, again I am definitely attracted to books of a certain style, but this style changes. A few years ago I was into really bold colours, graphics and geometric shapes. Now I favour more ornate design, florals, creamy colours and cool blues. So I suppose that influences the kinds of things I have been reading recently since the aesthetics of the two styles I've described usually contain very different stories.

[Tiffany]

I won't buy a book just because a cover is pretty, but if it's ugly than I won't buy.  I read a lot so that is one way to weed them out, though now I don't do that as much because I am always reading on my kindle and the cover really doesn't matter.