“Thoughtful Ramblings” is a feature where we discuss bookish subjects. These posts are just our own thoughts about certain topics that may get us hot under the collar and we need a good rant or just things we want to share with fellow bloggers and readers.
Why Do Covers Matter?
There’s been a lot of hoo-hah about covers recently, mainly Bloomsbury’s embarrassing blunders with thier covers for Liar by Justine Larbalestier in 2009 and more recently Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore.
I must admit I’m baffled at how Bloomsbury could make such a mistake a second time. After the outcry with Liar and forcing a cover retraction, why would they make the same mistake again? And why change the colour of the protagonist for the front cover at all? Is it because they think that a caucasian model will sell more books? I can’t believe that they would be so narrow minded, surely?
For me covers are a very important factor in whether I notice a book or not. I will admit that I am a cover whore and a gorgeous looking cover will turn my head. But not once did the colour of a persons skin ever deter me from buying a book. It has more to do with the quality of the art.
I also wonder, when the cover is so different from the content why the author doesn’t step up and say so? And if they do why don’t the publishing companies listen?
So, why do covers matter? Do you think it’s important that the cover accurately reflects the characters of a book?
15 Comments
Covers are ridiculously important in getting me to actually pick up a book I've not heard of. I know one should never judge by covers but they do play a part in the whole transaction.
It's always annoying when a heroine is meant to have brown hair but the pictured woman is red haired or blond. If it's beautiful to look at I can forgive it and shakes my head at authors not having any say in their own covers. However, it DOES irritate me when they're not as dark skinned as they should be, the guys are almost always tanned but the heroines are usually pale or obviously caucasian when let's say, the heroine is of middle-eastern or Asian descent.
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Covers are amazingly important. A cover is the best means a book has of advertising itself, really.
Bloomsbury has really failed through their refusal to learn after Liar. If it's not overt racism, then it's certainly offensive if only because they didn't care enough to figure out why everyone was so upset.
Maybe, they'll consider the "three stikes and you're out" rule and learn this time.
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Covers are important. So if the publishing companies aren't going to get it right, perhaps they should look at doing covers without people on them. There are plenty of such covers that are very, very cool.
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Cover is a marketing strategy. You can't lie by saying that when you look for books the cover isn't the first thing that catches your eyes.
Why they do things with skin color, I do not know. Maybe because, even though we like to believe & how much has change in the last 10 years, the world is still a very racist place. Who knows!!
I actually admit that when I saw the UK & USA cover of Magic Under Glass, I immediately wanted to buy the USA cover.
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I think covers really do matter in the grand scheme of things. It's the difference between walking right past the book or the cover catches your eye and you want to see what it's about. I am annoyed when covers generally have very little to do with the contents of the novel since in many cases it was why I picked up the thing in the first place.
However, when people get all up in arms about skin color being changed, I think it's just a bit over the top. There is really no indication that the reason behind the change is racism and many covers are different from what the actual characters look like. I'm not saying it's right, just that it doesn't just happen there or just in cases of darker skinned protagonists. I think the author should actually have a say in what the cover looks like so fiascos like this don't happen or just have covers made to look like the characters.
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Covers are what catch my eye first (which THEN lead me to read the synopsis). So the images are pretty important for me as a customer. I'm not going to say that Bloomsbury DIDN'T make any mistakes but I have to wonder who's in charge of creating the images for the books. Did they even read the story so they know to get it right the first time? And why don't those that KNOW what the characters are supposed to look like say anything? Hopefully Bloomsbury will LEARN their lesson this time and be much more careful before they have a mutiny on their hands. :/
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Covers catch my eye but to be honest I don't pay attention to the people on the front. More than anything the pictures without people at all are my favourite because people just aren't too good for the imagination. I also, think it's a bit ridiculous that people are making POC challenges because in a way isn't that just saying that you identify that people are different races and you feel guilty about being a bit racist. Honestly, at the end of the day, no covers don't bother me.
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Covers matter because you want the cover to portray the book. You can't have a green bird flying over the moon. If the book is really about a regular pig who likes to sing.
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I too am a cover whore. I sometimes won't pick up a book if the cover art is shabby. However, I don't care what the description of the person on the cover is… I envision the characters how I want to see them. I don't care how the cover artist sees them. Haha.
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Have you ever read a book where the main character is caucasion, but the cover reflects a different toned skin? over and over? It's the feeling that comes across, the message, however subliminal- if all you see is caucasion, then no matter what color you are, you begin to get the feeling that you're colored wrong.
You can bet that if there were book after book featuring caucasion heroines, but picturing darkskinned cover models, there would be an outcry. Would it be easier to understand then?
The simplest and sanest solution is to put covers that represent the story, whether the person has light or dark skin, white or black hair, however. Respect the writer's descriptions and work and portray a little of what the writer has written.
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Authors mind terribly about their covers and do try to get them to 'match' the contents of the book. Publishers are led by what sales and marketing are said and in turn, they are led by what they think will sell, especially to the supermarket buyers. Compared to Tesco or Asda the author's opinion means nothing.
The large print of my most recent book has gone out with the wrong blurb on it – the characters don't match the content – I blogged a couple of days ago about how I feel about it…www.sarahduncansblog.blogspot.com.
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Camille – I agree, covers play a huge part in whether I pick the book up or not
TJ – I hope they do learn this time, it just seems to be such an easy mistake to overt in the first place.
LC – there are lots of fantastic covers without people on them, but it would be nice if publishings companies could just get it right in the first place. Then all this hoo-hah would be avoided. Other pub co's seem to manage it fine.
BM – I agree, the cover is the first thing you see, but I'm saddened to think that there are still people out there who wouldn't buy a book because the model on the cover was black. And even worse if the publishing co is pandering to that.
titania – If you think there is no indication of racism, why, in your opinion, do you think that a publishing co puts a white person on the cover even though the character is black? Is it because they just don't care? Surely Bloomsbury would be more professional than that? Maybe not lol
PP – that's what I was thinking, maybe rather than a racial thing, it was just the unprofessional actions of the person who asked the artist for a drawing and who had the final say before the book went to print just didn't read the story. If that was the case, still pretty terrible though…
Anon – I agree with you that the POC challenge is a bit over the top. I'm not sure I understand where they are coming from. I read all sorts of books, but I don't stand in a book shop thinking 'I must read more books with people of colour in them' I just read books I like.
CI – lol, agreed
RRR – I think we all have a vision of how our characters should look, and that's why I get so annoyed when I go to a movie and so many things have changed. I Am Legend for one. In the book Neville is white and yet they chose Will Smith to play the part. So it happens both ways.
Mardel – I'm not so sure that if the character was white but the cover model black that there would be an outcry… today we are so politically correct that any changes that affect other cultures there's always some ramification.
And to prove my point just read my answer above. With I Am Legend movie there was no outcry that they changed the character from white to black, but it urked me, and not because they changed the character to a black guy but because the director felt he had to change the character at all. I hate change. Why do it? That's my point with all this, not the colour of a persons skin, but the fact that changes are made.
Sarah – thanks for stopping by and giving an authors perspective. Have been by your blog and left comment
Thanks everyone for stopping by and giving your thoughts
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Yes Yes and Yes. Covers should always match the book description. I cannot stand when covers don't match the characters. I was reading one book and the cover hero looked like Rambo, he was described in the book as fit, older, and no comparison to Rambo whatsoever.
I was so dissapointed when I saw the above YA cover wasn't even close to describing an African American young teenager. Absolutely ridiculous.
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I agree with many of these comments. I love reading a book with an interesting cover. However, it does bother me when the character on the cover does not match the author's description of the character. Changing the race or image of a character on the cover is absolutely ridiculous and I hope companies cut it out soon.
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I do believe that the cover of a book should accurately display a hint of the content inside the novel. You said so yourself, we pay attention to covers whether we like it or not. It could be a minimal factor for some but a maximum for for most.
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