I started typing a long reply to Brian in the comments section on the previous entry and decided that a quiet Saturday morning, 10 days out from publication, is as good a day as any to start the annual tour blog.
Brian made some interesting observations about covers, and I found myself writing:
Covers matter. It may be true that one can’t judge a book by its cover, yet people do, all the time. I know I do. And I firmly believe that it was the cover of WHAT THE DEAD KNOW that helped that book break out. It managed to be mysterious enough for my primary audience, crime fiction readers, yet it also appealed to people who don’t generally read mysteries.
And in the case of LIFE SENTENCES — the cover rescued a title that was going to be jettisoned. I had been asked to try to find something a little more poetic. I never mind such requests. Titles, like covers, are part of the book’s marketing and publishers are well within their rights to fuss over those. Besides, I suck at titles. At any rate, I was dutifully trying to find a new title for the book when the cover art arrived. I loved it from the start. Good girl that I am, I quickly shot my editor an e-mail saying I loved it and I would try to come up with the new title soon. Although, I added, I couldn’t help noticing that the cover worked with the title I believed to be a placeholder. (The cover’s at www.lauralippman.com, which the “My Website” link above will take you, if you’re curious.) Because while, on first glance, it’s a somewhat melancholy picture of a young girl, it also feels a little like a mug shot.
John Irving, via T.S. Garp, said famously*: We are all terminal cases. LIFE SENTENCES isn’t about prison terms but about all those stories we accrue over a lifetime, the polished anecdotes in which we explain ourselves to others — and ourselves. But those stories can become traps, too, glib little prisons that gloss over pain and ambiguity and nuance. For example, I love to tell the story about how a boyfriend broke up with me — over chicken fried steak, a food I detested, and the first solid food I had since dental surgery days earlier — by announcing he was moving to Guatemala. It’s a funny story and it’s essentially accurate. But I’m not sure how true it is. Let’s put it this way: I think he did the right thing. He needed to get away from me and that meant getting far away, to a place where I couldn’t/wouldn’t follow.
Meanwhile, ‘fess up: How many people here do, in fact, find that covers matter when buying books. And who among us has a glib anecdote or two, a story buffed to such glossy perfection that it’s a little less true than it should be?
*In the spirit of The Memory Project, I relied on my memory in quoting this. Now I’m going to see if I was right.
Two of us were sitting in a hospital waiting room reading Patricia Cornwell’s latest, SCARPETTA. The covers differed somewhat. Turns out both of us were reading because we knew the author and character. However, why would something this new not be exactly alike?
Wow, you remember the last line of GARP, a book i could not get into. at ALL. I do’t think I lasted ten pages.
Covers. Seldom if ever do they get my attention. (Trying to remember back when books were a regular part of my budget, pre-reviewing.) I don’t believe i’ve ever bought a book because of the cover art. I look for the author. I hate punny titles, hate them, but occasional will express interest in the title (I know too many authors, so I’ve heard too many “they made me change my title” stories.*) On occasion, after I’ve received a book or Stu’s gotten one, we will comment on the really cool cover – how they used an evocative, say, font for a book about a period that evokes the period or the rare instance when a cover arts just GETS it, or say, books from Hard Case Crime (which you gotta admire). i tend to dislike when they decide to award Anthonys for “best cover” since that doesn’t award the author. Yes it awards the publisher but since *, I think it’s not a good idea.)
Have I bought a book because of a title? Possibly. Probably even. I don’t remember, but for example, I LOVED Janet Dawson’s DON’T TURN YOUR BACK ON THE OCEAN which her publisher said was too long and wanted to cut.
I am currently reading a library copy of DEFIANCE, which does have a movie tie-in cover with Daniel Craig, I guess I don’t object to those. The idea that someone <i>might</i> say “oh, hey, it was a book? Maybe I could read the book” makes me happy.
So no, but most of us here are not typical readers, I’m guessing, and know how to spot books we would want to read. I suspect cover art matters far more than i think, because huge numbers of people don’t know how to find books they’d like so they rely on cover art and blurbs.
The security code I just entered was “f2nun”. comments?
I never thought I was affected by covers, but in another online discussion about this very subject, I read someone’s comment on Harlan Coben’s TELL NO ONE. It’s an orange crossed with hot pink, and truthfully one of the gaudiest colors I’ve ever seen in real life, but I found I couldn’t turn away.
There’s a great anecdote that I heard from a co-worker that I adapted and used, with his permission, in my current WIP. In the process, I took out some of the hemming and hawing, and moved the payoff a crucial foot closer to the setup. Now, I have noticed that when my co-worker tells the same anecdote, he uses MY version.
Well, and – there’s the other side of the coin to consider: books with covers that actually discourage you from owning them.
There is an author who lives in Maryland and who has spent 20 years or more meticulously researching the Booth conspiracy to murder President Lincoln.
Memory Project effort: I recall his name reminded me of coffins….I think it is Kaufmann – and don’t ask me what his FIRST name is – but his book is called American Brutus.
I remember attending a Lincoln Colloquium in Springfield Illinois a few years ago, and being actually repelled by the cover of the Booth book – which features an all-too complimentary image of John Wilkes Booth (who indeed was a rakishly handsome stage actor). It sort of angered me to see Booth’s visage on a stack of books on a table, right alongside stacks of other books featuring images of the American icon that he sidled right up to and shot at point-blank range. (an eternal usurper)
It seemed such an injustice.
Anyway – at some point after that, the author came to Fort Wayne, to speak at the (since closed) Fort Wayne Lincoln Museum, and being a member, I attended. He gave a tremendously interesting talk, and so I bought his book – and it is richly worth seeking out and reading….but owning that book presented a small problem; I STILL hate the idea of displaying a book on any bookshelf of mine that features a picture of Booth! (they thoughtfully put Booth’s visage on the spine as well as the cover)
To be honest, despite enjoying the book very much, it is tucked away somewhere – probably behind other books displayed on one of the bookshelves (very much as porno would be!)
AMERICAN BRUTUS is an excellent book.
Interesting digression: AB argues persuasively that Booth did not break his leg leaping to the stage; but James Swanson, who wrote MANHUNT, makes just as strong a case for it happening.
I agree that he didn’t break it in the jump. Or else – how could he have dramatically declared “Sic Semper Tyrannus” (spelling and quote are questionable!) and then quickly strode out of the theater – before any of the crowd could come after him?
I buy that at some point, the horse rolled on him.
Another interesting thing in that book was some of the details about the trial: capture, arrest, trial, conviction, and execution within 6 weeks! and if the accused couldn’t afford a lawyer – the Judge Advocate General presiding (Holt) would act as his attorney!
I think Olbermann would object to all of this!!
having once checked a book out of the library b/c its cover sported a gorgeous palomino–indeed, the book was titled “Palomino”–I believe covers do matter in grabbing the eye and complementing the title. However, had I paid attention to the author’s name in ths case, I would have realized this was a sappy RO-mance novel, not a celebration of horses as my 12-year-old brain believed. I’ve become slightly more discerning.
Nailed it! The last line of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP IS:
“But in the world according to Garp, we are all terminal cases.”
The thing that draws me to a book is the author’s name and I don’t care how wonderful, or terrible the cover might be.
Then it’s the title. I must confess a love for clever titles, or even punny titles. Then I look at the synopsis and the blurbers.
It’s a rare thing to be disappointed by a favorite author, but titles, summaries and blurbers can be fallible. But I am happy when a good author of a great book gets an outstanding cover.
And there are always going to be different covers as the books are reprinted.
I agree with Doris Ann–if it’s an author I already like, I don’t are about titles or synopses or anything, I’m buying it the second I can.
Then I look at titles and then the summary. If the summary sounds good, I read the first couple sentences.
I agree that covers matter. I certainly wouldn’t be dissuaded by a bad cover from buying a book that I was already interested in, and a cover wouldn’t affect my judgement of the text within once I’d read a book. But I’m a bookstore browser, and there’s no question that an arresting cover will prompt me to pick up a book I might otherwise never have noticed. I’ve made some excellent discoveries that way (George Steiner’s “My Unwritten Books” being one recent example). I have also bought new editions of books I already own when sufficiently taken with the new cover art (I’m not even going to admit how many different editions of “Anne of Green Gables” I own!). On the flip side, I refuse to buy any book with a movie tie-in cover. I know they boost sales and I’m glad to see movie fans thus drawn back to the source, but I don’t want the movie version of the story (even if it did the book credit) given prominence on my shelves!
I once bought a book titled The Art of Spelling by Marilyn vos Savant because I loved the cover and the way the book felt in my hands. Never read it, might have even given it away by now. No, I didn’t think her IQ qualified her to be an expert on spelling, but boy was that cover special. I tend not to buy paperbacks that have a glossy cover of what looks like a photograph. If the cover is cheesy then maybe the story is too. Oh, I know that is unfair, but this is my bias.
I was once retelling one of many tales about my ex-husband when in a flash I realized I wasn’t telling the whole, balanced truth. I was long-suffering and he was an idiot who didn’t deserve God’s grace and suddenly I realized I had to either tell the whole truth or drop this story from my repertoire. It was a startling revelation.
Oh and not just covers, but the paper the book is printed on matters. I find it hard to take seriously any book that is printed on bright white paper. I am sure there is a term for paper that I don’t know.
I love cutesy covers and punny titles. If a cover catches my eye, I always pick up the book for a closer look. But, I also buy wine thr same way, if the label grabs my eye…….
I’m with the others in that if it’s an author I like, the cover art and title don’t matter.
Yes – for better or worse, a cover can draw attention to a book you might otherwise not notice. I can think of several that led me to books I very much enjoyed — 1) A Walk in the Woods, 2) Guns, Germs and Steel, 3) Water for Elephants
As far as trying new books or authors–the cover is the only thing that actaches my eye in the bookstore. But, if the descriptive copy or the randomly read interior page disappoints, it doesn’t matter if the jacket can vacuum my carpets, I won’t buy it.
Oh, and I embellish stories all the time. How else do you get people to laugh?