Quote:
Originally Posted by LovesMacs
This got me thinking: do book covers make a difference, especially with e-books?
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Short answer (in my case): yes
In fact, I'd go on to say that in makes more of a case to me with e-books than with paper books. With most of my e-book libraries, I end up looking at the "front" cover artwork every time I go through my library, as opposed to my physical book shelves, where I'm usually only looking at the binding. Really ugly e-book covers then can be like the proverbial death by a thousand cuts, where each time you access your library you're subjected to the eyesores.
It's funny, but I actually find that cover artwork makes the most difference when going through classic literature. Usually there are numerous versions of the same book with different covers available, and I tend to either choose the 1st edition cover (if available) or the most aesthetically pleasing.
And on another level, e-book covers can enhance the reading experience. My first "purchase" from the Google Play Book Store was their free version of Baum's
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz which had the 1st edition cover art and illustrations. I really felt like I was sitting down to read the "real thing" and found myself envisioning the cowardly lion as an actual quadruped rather than Bert Lahr in a costume. Granted, the original illustrations probably helped more with this than the cover, but it still played a part.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LovesMacs
Despite the saying that "you can't judge a book by its cover", I find myself doing that.
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Until thinking about it just now, I had never thought about the inherent paradox of that old adage. I guess I've always interpreted it with an implied "just" in there. i.e., "you can't judge a book *just* by its cover". Obviously, a lot (if not all) of us do use the cover to judge a book to some extent - even more so if there's no other supporting information to differentiate between books. But ironically, as the article brought out, we also use it to judge what is otherwise the SAME book (e.g., The Great Gatsby) !