Readers of the #Fediverse, I would greatly appreciate your participation in this #Mastodon poll: Do you judge books by their covers?

[lonelyboy1977@mastodon.social]

@mgorny That is interesting. So how do you decide which ebooks to read or which ones not to read?

[melonbusey@mastodon.social]

@lonelyboy1977 The cover influences whether or not I read the synopsis on the back, which is where the conscious decision is made in the choice to read or not read. I don’t think of judgement of the cover as a choice, it’s probably more an instinct that I’m drawn to it or not.

[mgorny@mastodon.com.pl]

@lonelyboy1977, for fiction stuff, I just follow a bunch of series I've started and hadn't needed to figure out anything new yet. For nonfiction, usually a single book gives me one or two pointers to what to read next. Also Fedi.

[mloxton@med-mastodon.com]

@lonelyboy1977
This thread fascinates me.

Firstly, how hard some readers push on the role covers play in their decisions - despite the cover art being the thing LEAST coupled to the content, and also least under the control of the author.

But then also how this is a lid on a whole other can of worms - that the cover art is often going to cost the author more than the book will earn in royalties if they are indie writers. Cover art is $300-$1k a pop.

So are books just a way to sell cover art?

[mcrocker@mstdn.ca]

@lonelyboy1977
Nope. The titles are what grab my interest.

[danlyke@researchbuzz.masto.host]

@lonelyboy1977 I suspect it's more nuanced than that, but... I'm gonna have to step outside to our free library and see what's vibing with me there this morning.

But yeah, if I'm in a bookstore, there's a lot of "that looks intriguing" or "not gonna bother" based on cover design.

Now I wanna go browse the SF/Fantasy shelves at my local bookstore looking for correlations between cover design and author gender...

[lonelyboy1977@mastodon.social]

@mloxton I can’t say I’ve ever understood why people think the cover of a book has any bearing on the actual content of the book.

[paprikotka@mastodon.com.pl]

@lonelyboy1977 if cover strongly signifies genres I don't like then I guess I would be less inclined to check on the book's description. But that applies to small subset of fiction (e.g. specific types of romance).
On the other hand every now and then when a cover catches my eye, book's description and reviews turn out to be interesting enough to add it to my tbr (that's a long way from actually reading it, tho)

[mloxton@med-mastodon.com]

@lonelyboy1977
I guess they think the author had something to do with the cover design and is saying something with it?

I had close to zero choice or involvement in the cover of any of my non-fiction work I did via traditional publishing, and spent about five minutes on the cover art for my latest and indie published book.

I have sweated hours and hours over the cover art for my fiction, and it irks the absolute fuck out of me that every moment was stolen from actual writing. And the cost!!!!

[msiebeneicher@mastodontech.de]

@lonelyboy1977 more important for „normal“ books, less important for e-books

[randallbeggs@mas.to]

@lonelyboy1977 Yes, esp. on pulp fiction covers, eg John D. McDonald's Travis McGee series - I liked many of the series' cover artwork. The covers often hinted about the great action found in the stories. But, on traditional, simple hardback covers - no.

[lonelocust@mastodon.social]

@lonelyboy1977 If I’m not looking for a specific book, absolutely yes. Something has to jump out at me to make me pick up one book over another.

At the bookstore books facing forward where you can see the cover probably more likely to get picked and if they are spine out then it’s gotta have a really catchy title.

[lonelyboy1977@mastodon.social]

@msiebeneicher You are the second person to mention that it's less important with ebooks.

[fulanigirl@mstdn.social]

@lonelyboy1977 The cover is important in the sense it can draw my eye to the book which causes me to pick it up and read the blurb on what the book is about.

[sivar@mastodon.social]

@lonelyboy1977 sure. I also read books based on reviews, recommendations from friends or because it is classic that influenced or created a genre or something worth making opinion on my own instead of public hate or prasie.

But I totally go "This looks cool, I want that one" from time to time, especially at bookshops or online. I sometimes buy new copy of favourite book as well, if it gets new, pretty edition, or to match other books from the series I already have.

[mason@f-t.net.pl]

@lonelyboy1977 - Fifty-fifty. Rarely does a nice cover make me want to buy a book, but quite often an ugly one makes me avoid buying it.

However, ‘ugly’ does not necessarily mean in aesthetic terms.

[ghosttie@mastodon.gamedev.place]

@lonelyboy1977 it's shorthand for genre - a space ship on the cover tells you one thing, and a dude with his shirt off tells you something else

[kanamauna@sauropods.win]

@lonelyboy1977

For a physical book, I would lie if I said it didn't matter to me. I assume publishers know this as they spend an enormous amount of time and money on the covers.

[mattjhayes@techhub.social]

@lonelyboy1977
Yes - just like with food, our perception is affected by visual appearance. Us humans sure are strange!

[sirtao@social.sirtao.it]

A good cover design, combined with a good title, can catch my interest enough to check the book in first place.
A good spine design also, for the same reason. Which I feel it's often ignored.