Is the Book Cover Dead?

[flipreads]

It still matters, although the aesthetics are different.

But there's also less dependence on the cover art to attract the reader, as there's other factors that's just as readily apparent to the prospective consumer, like metadata.

[JoeD]

eBooks still need covers just as much as paper books do imo. When I browse an online store I scan covers, I know that isn't a fair way to judge the content of the book, but that's what I do

The cover plays an important part in whether I'll buy a book. After buying though, I like seeing covers when I browse my book library and decide what to read next.

I find it annoying when ebooks have a cover on the store yet the download comes with a dull "title" only generic cover. Thankfully calibre downloads new cover art easily enough that it's not really an issue.

[elemenoP]

Oh no, I think I see the new "scannable thumbnail covers." Check out the covers on the upcoming Michael Crichton ebook releases:

http://www.amazon.com/Sphere-ebook/d...5186848&sr=1-1

Be sure to scroll down to "Customers Also Viewed" for more thumbnails.

Nice big type so you can read the name in thumbnail format.

I HATE THEM!

(Not that the original Michael Crichton covers were all that great, but still....)

eP

[JoeD]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I HATE THEM!

(Not that the original Michael Crichton covers were all that great, but still....)

eP

They're just, well, ugly!

As it happens, if I'd not already read most of his books, I wouldn't be too put off since I know I like his work. I'd have to replace the covers in calibre though, they look like a 60's hallucination. If it were an unknown author though, I'd probably pass straight on to the next nicer looking set of books :P

[HarryT]

They do look kind of "60's tie-die", don't they?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Oh no, I think I see the new "scannable thumbnail covers." Check out the covers on the upcoming Michael Crichton ebook releases:

http://www.amazon.com/Sphere-ebook/d...5186848&sr=1-1

Be sure to scroll down to "Customers Also Viewed" for more thumbnails.

Nice big type so you can read the name in thumbnail format.

I HATE THEM!

(Not that the original Michael Crichton covers were all that great, but still....)

eP

A good way to save money on the cover, actually.
A gradient background, oversized text in a generic PD font, and you're good to go.

Mind you, for that particular title, I would've just photographed a ball bearing.

[JSWolf]

Since the publisher is giving us crappy generic covers, don't charge like we have a proper cover.

[xg4bx]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

Oh no, I think I see the new "scannable thumbnail covers." Check out the covers on the upcoming Michael Crichton ebook releases:

http://www.amazon.com/Sphere-ebook/d...5186848&sr=1-1

Be sure to scroll down to "Customers Also Viewed" for more thumbnails.

Nice big type so you can read the name in thumbnail format.

I HATE THEM!

(Not that the original Michael Crichton covers were all that great, but still....)

eP

pardon my french but those are ass. they look like cotton candy vomit.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Since the publisher is giving us crappy generic covers, don't charge like we have a proper cover.

I gotta agree with this. They used to pay artists to do original artwork. Then they paid artists to work with photoshopped photos to sometimes-not-always- get original looking artwork. Now? I wonder if they sometimes pay some poor editor to throw together a few power point slides and hope the colors don't clash...

[laughingdragons]

Originally Posted by JoeD

eBooks still need covers just as much as paper books do imo. When I browse an online store I scan covers, I know that isn't a fair way to judge the content of the book, but that's what I do

I do the same thing there are so many to look at that I scan through them and when a cover catches my attention I look further into it to see if I want to read it.

[LovesMacs]

I hope book covers aren't dead. Despite the old saying, I can and do choose not to buy books if their covers look as if all of five minutes were spent on designing them.

Book covers may not make much of a visual impact on eInk devices, but they are nice to have for reading apps on phones, tablets and the like. I'm sure many of us read on more than one device.

[Jed Fisher]

Digital book covers are fine with me. However, I do enjoy the cover art of trade paperbacks and the dust covers of hardbound books. But the printed word, in the form of pBooks, has survived the advent of chalk boards, radio, television, and the internet. There is no reason to think pbooks will now dry up and blow away.
The recent success of ebooks came from their ability to more closely mimic pbooks. The Amazon kindle with its ‘page’ that looked enough like a printed page to be read outdoors in sunlight, that’s what boosted the popularity of ebooks.
As things develop, the ebooks will be better able to imitate, or more closely reproduce, the experience of reading a printed book.
And that means giving a better facsimile of the cover.
I say no, the book cover is not dead. It’s about to be re-born, and the sooner the better.

[Namekuseijin]

Don't judge a book by its cover, indeed.

Good grief, it's finally a mortuary mask for dead trees...

[MobileRush]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

I, too, still judge a book by its cover. It's not the ONLY thing I judge by, but an indie book with a crappy cover is a big turn-off for me, and conversely, a really nice cover will make me want to see what the book is about.

Some readers will display the book cover as the sleep image. My reader doesn't do this automatically, but I take great pains (ok, little tedious pains) to make it happen myself. I find my reader to be so much more "book-like" when it's displaying the cover image when I "close" the book. Of course it would be nicer in color, but ironically the color readers such as Kindle Fire can't display anything when sleeping, of course!

I do agree with the article that book cover design needs to change in the age of buying books online (your first experience with the cover is going to be a thumbnail, whether you are shopping for ebooks for pbooks online). Could you still make a great, iconic cover? I think so. Are we going to lose richness in the design? Definitely. Like the change from LPs to CDs, where the size of the art changed.

AND: I love Chip Kidd!!!

eP

I got your point there the cover picture paints a thousand words, and so it thus explains the content of the book. Huge iconic cover is a brilliant idea!

[elemenoP]

Here's a nice article on the topic of "is the book cover dead?" but it takes a positive, "where do we go from here?" spin:

http://craigmod.com/journal/hack_the_cover/

eP