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View Poll Results: Will you check out or buy a book with an anime-style or similarly stylistic cover? | |||
Yes | 19 | 33.93% | |
No | 37 | 66.07% | |
Voters: 56. You may not vote on this poll |
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01-26-2013, 04:39 PM | #16 |
Padawan Learner
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As a reader, I would assume that a Anime/Manga-style cover would suggest fiction that has that same "general feel" as the comics that are representative of the style.
Naked elf boys...not so much for me personally. Starship Yamato, Speed Racer, Dirty Pair, Robotech, aliens and rayguns and starships and alien landscapes...I'm there in a heartbeat. I also enjoy a lot of the DC2 covers over on Feedbooks...the authors are using comic book style art and writing superhero prose stories. Some of those stories get a TON of downloads. If your audience is people who enjoy Anime/Manga style work, I would think this would be a good way to get their attention...the problem is distinguishing that this is a prose work and not a comic. |
01-26-2013, 05:22 PM | #17 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Depends. Depends. Depends.
Is the book billing itself as a gritty murder mystery? No.Way! Is the book billing itself as a light-hearted action romp, rom-com, or zany fantasy?? Hail, yay-ahh! Covers always tell you something about the book and the publisher and what kind of customer they are aimed at. An anime-style cover tells me they're aiming at folks that are familiar with manga and anime tropes and themes. And console gamers. Just like this upcoming live action movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf-KCPFmc0o Among all the anime cues in that trailer there is one dead-giveaway of the movie's genre credibility: the computer voice in the trailer is instantly recognizable to anybody exposed to current-generation video games. Spoiler:
Yeah, I'll be there on opening day. They had me at GUILLERMO DEL TORO + Giant MECHA. Anyway, covers are *marketing* tools. Just like blurbs, back-cover text, and titles. (And movie posters and trailers.) Done right, they'll help the right customers find the right book; done wrong they'll annoy the browser and cost a sale. Last edited by fjtorres; 01-26-2013 at 05:28 PM. |
01-26-2013, 07:31 PM | #18 |
eBookworm
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I would not even give it another glance, and right know, I can't get rid of shrill music and flashing imagery in my head, because that's what I associate with Anime.
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01-27-2013, 07:04 AM | #19 | |
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Quote:
There's the brooding loner on the motorcycle, the whiney emo-boy hero, the spikey haired kid with over-sized sword, the, uhm, "healthy" young lady in the school girl outfit... Anime is very formalized with its own styles and approaches to (very subtly) discuss meaning themes. (Sometimes. Other times it's just about blowing things up. Like a Michael Bay movie. ) John Ringo and Travis Taylor did a fun riff on anime tropes in THE CLAWS THAT CATCH. Best part is when the series' nominal protagonist discovered he's not "the hero" and found out *who* had turned into the spikey-haired kid. Like everything out there, there's good anime and there's attrocious anime. Sturgeon's Law applies to anime, too. For every Witch Hunter Robin or RahXephon there will be a dozen Lensmen disasters. Not unlike western TV. |
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01-27-2013, 11:22 AM | #20 |
eBookworm
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^ The problem is that many book readers will not know the difference between good quality and bad, because they don't watch it or read manga, so their opinion about it is based on channel surfing - therefore my immediate shrill and flashy impression. Gosh, it's back in my head now.
And: " healthy", that's right |
01-27-2013, 11:52 AM | #21 |
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01-27-2013, 01:36 PM | #22 |
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The ones posted by the OP would turn me off almost instantly. Those posted by Alucarda would not.
On the whole, though, my attitude towards anime or manga style covers is slightly but not entirely negative. I don't follow either myself, but there are people in the household who follow both. In my own experience, most of the tropes I've seen do not appeal to me, and since I would expect those covers to appeal to a crossover market, I would not have high expectations. |
01-27-2013, 07:36 PM | #23 |
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If a book has an anime-style cover, it's likely to affect reader expectations. People would reasonably expect it to be like a manga or anime story. For some, that will mean they will pass on the book. Others might be drawn to the book because of the cover, but they might be disappointed if it isn't like an anime or manga cover. For me, manga-style cover would make me less likely to consider the book.
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01-27-2013, 10:09 PM | #24 |
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Sure. It's not like an artsy cover changes the stuff inside the book.
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01-27-2013, 11:04 PM | #25 | |
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01-28-2013, 08:40 AM | #26 | |
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01-28-2013, 12:26 PM | #27 | ||
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Quote:
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I have read and enjoyed books whose covers didn't appeal to me (notably, bodice-ripper covers on historicals) but only after reviews assured me the story wasn't as stereotypical as the cover...Not that I don't appreciate a good Johanna Lindsey romp for dessert now and then... |
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01-28-2013, 06:41 PM | #28 | |
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Quote:
Last edited by banjobama; 01-28-2013 at 06:49 PM. Reason: grammar |
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01-28-2013, 07:11 PM | #29 |
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After thinking about this some more beyond the knee-jerk response I posted earlier, I realized that when shopping for ebooks (or library ebooks) I am usually shopping by category, so I already know the books I'm browsing are books I'm likely to be interested in. Therefore, I barely notice the covers.
However, if I were wandering among a display of paper books, I would notice the cover. Usually, covers convey something about the type of book. If the cover shows a couple in a passionate embrace, it's a romance; if the covers shows a picture of a gun, it's a mystery/thriller; etc. So if I saw an anime-style cover, I would likely assume the story was anime and pass it by. |
01-28-2013, 09:13 PM | #30 |
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I don't judge books by covers, so, yes
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