Don't Always Judge a Book by its Cover

Do you judge a book by its cover? Don’t lie! I bet you do! It’s natural, we all do it. And publishers know this. But the publishing industry is becoming more and more involved with the marketing side of things and really wanting us to judge even if it has nothing to do with the book.

Let me explain further.

I was reading Scott Westerfeld’s blog http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2010/04/from-russia-with-covers/ (surprise, surprise) and found it quite interesting what his publisher said to him. And I quote from Scott Westerfeld’s page:

Everyone in marketing says that the most important thing a cover can do is sell the book to someone who knows nothing about the novel. In other words, a cover is merely advertising space, and doesn’t need to be true to the text, just eye-catching.

And that is why the third cover release of his Russian Midnighters covers looks like they are about vampires. Observe:

Stupid “creating a new genre” BS

Anyway, so it got me thinking about what I could put on the cover for my journal. Seeing as it’s going to be a different theme every season and therefore a new cover, I would really have to think about what is eye catching, and whether I want to go with the approach of luring my audience in thinking my journal is something it is not.
Which I really feel uncomfortable doing…am I the only person who thinks this is wrong?

Without sounding too biased, I completely agree with Scott Westerfeld. He argued that a cover should connect with the reader AFTER they read the book. The cover should reveal little things about the book, but keep to the idea of what it’s about. For example, symbols that appear in the story, characters and what they look like (not blonde and blue eyed freaks when the character is clearly written to be a red head) which might appear fussy and a bit boring to the publisher, but I believe it will appeal to the audience more.

And being an anal person with my covers (seriously, I paid 15 dollars for a Margaret Atwood book I could easily have gotten for half the price because the cover was my favourite out the lot) I’ve done the leg work. The best covers out there are usually US covers. Sorry Australia! But we’re pussies when it comes to being controversial.
So it’s an overdone example, but we all understand it well so I’m just going to go with it. LIAR by JUSTINE LARBARLESTIER:
When the US first released the cover, there was a white girl on the cover. And the main character is very clearly written as a black African American girl. Shit hit the fan, publishers argued and it slipped through their fingers to the media and told that “people don’t buy books with black people on it”
So, it was exactly what Scott Westerfeld was saying above. Even though it’s not about a white girl, people will pick it up apparently over a black girl on the cover. So it was changed and, oh look, something way cool!
See, US has done it again. It reveals small things about the book in the cover without it being filled with spoilers! See, it’s not that hard to do, so why is it such a hard thing for publishers to do.

Oh and in case everyone forgot, this was Australia’s cover…

So, like, let’s not be controversial and be safe and put nobody on the cover and just have bloody writing. People will like that…and let’s not forget to use the worst colour ever to put on a book jacket, WHITE!
But I shouldn’t bag my country too much, sometimes they do get it right. For example, Nick Caves new release The Death of Bunny Munro. Australia were the only people I have personally found that used an actual person for their front cover. And ok, it was legs spread on a bed, but, ummm isn’t Bunny Munro some kind of womanizer who goes crazy after his wife committed suicide? And not an actual bunny like what every other publishers implied? Just saying…

So, again, I do agree with Scott Westerfeld. Why are we so afraid of covers? Why do we judge so much and why do publishers think they have to lie in order to appeal to our taste? People who read vampire books usually wouldn’t read Midnighters so if you want to keep readers reading and continue to try and get young adults reading, my advice to the publishers is not to deceive us, but to give it to us straight so we know what we are getting into. It’s always nice to know what a books potential can be before turning the pages to find something truly special.

Thoughtfully yours,

Jinx xx