Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
... one of my lines is "your cover is clickbait." To me, that's the simplest, easiest, most accurate way to describe the job of a cover.
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This ↑↑↑
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hitch
... Humans are sight-hounds on two legs and we are moved, in various ways, by what we see--including book covers.
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And this ↑↑↑
If I see a cover, I have an impression. I can't help it. If I see something, my brain reacts and forms an impression, fair or unfair (I've read some great books with terrible covers and awful books with great covers).
If I am looking for a specific title (e.g., recommendation from a friend or review) or looking for an author that I like, then the impression the cover makes carries less or little weight.
But if I'm just browsing online for something new and unknown to me, then my impression will be formed by the title, author and cover. One of those things, or a combination of those things, has to be strong enough to prompt me to read the blurb. If the blurb keeps my attention, I will check out the first few pages; if not, I will pass and move on.
When browsing in a brick-and-mortar library or bookstore, where most books are presented spine-out, my first impression will be title, author, and spine-design. But when browsing online, where you are presented with thumbnails, the cover makes a much bigger impression.
I've never read a book based on the cover alone without also considering the title, author and blurb. But I also have never read a book without at least glimpsing the cover, and once glimpsed, my brain forms an impression.
Also, given all the talk on the Kindle forums about getting cover thumbnails on sideloaded books, the angst about having to choose between covers and WhisperSync, the desire for ereader screensavers to show the book cover, and talk in general about changing covers and getting covers to show the way you want them to, I think a lot of people value covers.