They say you can’t judge a book by its cover.

I can’t lie. I’m one of those people that will pick a book up if it has an interesting cover. Yes, I am a cover-judger. I will read the blurb on the back once I pick the book up, though. I have often put them right back down if the blurb on the back doesn’t make the book sound interesting, but it makes me a little sad to think about all the books I’ve missed out on because their covers aren’t interesting.

A few (of many) books that I’ve picked up solely based on their covers:

• “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer
• “The Next Best Thing” by Kristan Higgins
• “Broken” by Megan Hart
• “Confessions of a Shopaholic” by Sophie Kinsella
• “The Sex Was Great But…” by Tyne O’Connell*
• “Something Borrowed” by Emily Giffin
• “We need to talk about Kevin” by Lionel Shriver
• “My Sister’s Keeper” by Jodi Picoult

As cover art gets progressively better (remember the bodice ripping Harlequin books from the 80s?), it’s easy to see why so many sales are based on the images on the book jacket. Let’s face it: covers contribute a great deal to book sales. If they didn’t, there wouldn’t be nearly as much time and effort put into creating these covers, and this blog entry (or any others like it) wouldn’t exist.

I’ve noticed a trend among some eBooks that have these horrible computer-generated covers that literally make me cringe. I have no idea what on earth the artist was thinking or why it was cleared by the editor/publisher in the first place, but I think they should be strung up by their toes and slapped in the face with the hideous covers. I get time constraints. I get financial constraints. But if you’re so strapped for time and/or cash, why not grab some of the DeviantArt kids who’d kill for exposure like that? I’m sure that you could get some of their work for a pretty good price. And with that beautiful artwork, you’d probably sell a lot more books – because I know I’m not the only one who judges a book by its cover.

Do you judge books by their covers too? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you think!

*Still on my TBR pile

Mama Kitty

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