Judging a book by it's cover...?

Question

This might sound strange, but I've always been an avid reader. And yet, I've always found that I DO judge books by their cover. What I mean is, there are a number of aesthetic factors that contribut to me purchasing a book. I like books with elegant, simple covers and smooth velvety pages. And I won't buy a book that's less than 250 pages because I like them to be long and thick. In other words, I guess I hate the look and feel of genre paperbacks (like John Grisham novels). Even if they're good books, I won't buy them. Or if there are two versions of a classic book, I always get the elegant more expensive one. I've always wondered if it's just me who does this or if other people feel this way too. ???

Answer 1

Yep. I'm the same way. I just picked up a book the other day because the cover design was very beautiful and the book was long and it wouldn't do that spine-creasing thing that bugs me. I hate it when you can see the crease in a book's spine. Plus, like you said it had velvety pages that don't have a permanent wave horizontally. You know what I mean, when a paperback has been badly covered and the pages all have waves in them. Almost as if it got water on the whole thing. I definitely know what you mean. Sometimes it's hard not to.

I'm not sure if this pertains to what you're talking about, but I also hate it when authors don't put a summary on the back cover. On the inside cover is fine, but when well known authors don't do it anywhere, it bugs me.

Happy reading!

♥ Peace

Answer 2

I might be attracted by the artwork or design on a cover but would not spend extra money for an upscale edition of a book. I buy most of my books second-hand and could care less about the quality of the paper or binding as long as its readable and doesn't fall apart in my hands. I do have a couple of pet peeves-- I hate when the type is too small or when the inner margins are too narrow to read the words easily.

Answer 3

Nope. I have my taste in bookcovers too. I prefer a lovely embossed cover, preferably with some gold on it somewhere. I spent years in the printing business and I know what goes into an expensive cover like that. If a publisher puts an expensive cover on a book, it tells me they have some kind of faith in the book and are going the extra mile for it. It shows that the author has "arrived" in a sense. They have graduated from cheesy trade paperbacks and are actually putting out BOOKS that belong on shelves in people's libraries. Add deckled edges to the pages and I am very impressed. Pax - C

Answer 4

I agree with you completely. Even i am influenced by book covers. I love to feel the covers on my fingers. Though I dont by books by just looking at the covers and I look into the material before buying it, but I do look for good covers. Actually before buying a book i see what the story is about(in novels) on sites like Wikipedia. But even then the cover is an important factor for me. For books with acrid covers, my feelings remain grim at leat till I dont finish them and then decide.

TW K

Answer 5

Because people are visually stimulated, it is impossible to not judge a book by its cover on some level. That is why the people who make them try to make their product look interesting in the first place. Everyone picks some book over another simply because of appearance. It's human nature. ;)

Answer 6

I find myself being more concerned about the cover than the actual story line of a book. I'm sure there are plenty of great books I've past up only because the cover made it look stupid.

Answer 7

You're the equivalent of the pop music fan, devoted to whichever Pop Tart is best looking.

Buying a book based on it's cover, about like picking amusic to listen to based on how cute the singer is.