We’ve heard the cliche, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” True. But you do “Buy a Book by its Cover.” We all do. That colorful billboard attracts the eye, disseminates information, and sells the content. Even when the billboard is the size of a postage stamp on Amazon.com, BN.com or iTunes…you make a judgement on the quality of the book based on its cover.
It is hard to find just the right image, texture, font and copy to make a book cover work. Mix in the fact that everyone has different tastes and you have a recipe for controversy. Back in my days at Bethany House there was one person on the cover design committee that didn’t like the color orange…so the head designer tried to work around that to avoid getting work voted down in those meetings!
Today I’d like you to take a quiz of the following books and vote A, B, or C as to which cover design you like best. Try not to peek at the one in print before you vote. Think like a marketer and not just your personal taste. Think about the book itself and which image reflects the content in a way that you might buy it. These are actual cover designs I have seen for the same book in the past. I’m sorry, the thumbnails are small and cannot be clicked to enlarge. That is part of the point of this exercise…teaches you to view a cover just like they are viewed online. And when you finish voting, watch the embedded video below to see that extraordinary cover variations for a recent general market novel published by Penguin Random House. (FYI, a couple of the images are a little more racy than I would like.) I cannot imagine the time and cost it took to create the final design.
A |
B |
C |
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Place your vote below!
A,B,C,A,B,A,C
My choices are AAAACBB It’s interesting to read others’ thoughts. Now to the video…
I’d say, I’d have to know a bit more about the content of each book in order to judge better (I mean is “Wings of Mercy” fiction or non-fiction…. one of the designs looks suitable for an ornithology book). I’d also want to know how much of a brand the author has developed (determines how the author name is positioned).
Anyway here goes:
1. C
2. B
3. A (or C — it’s close)
4. C
5. B
6. C
I would have gone with CACABBB
A, A, C, B, C, B, C I tend to go with ease of reading the title as well as a graphic element that is intriguing. This was fun!
Great exercise, thanks Steve!
I chose B, A, A, C, C, B, B.
Looking forward to hearing the explanations.
I vote:
B – Color appealing, easy to read.
A – Single Bird more impactful, blue bird pretty, cover simple as is mercy
C – Wording clear; Martin and Ravi are biggest = draws to Xians.
B – Price tag fits Price and Sales. Cover C, pig is too small to see detail
C – Only clear title, Can’t tell what red splotch is in others.
B – Funny, illustrates the title. A = Sci Fi and C is too much blank space at top.
C – Image of runner fits title. A = too ominous, B = Cliche churchey.
I’m guessing that the publishers made their final decision based on the book’s genre, and whether the primary reader is male or female. So my guesses will be based on those two factors.
Fifth Man: A (sans serif title font is currently in vogue for suspense novels.
Wings: A (uncluttered, soothing one dominant image to appeal to female readers)
Kingdom: C (most readable, but I’m guessing this one’s audience skews male, in which case, they’d likely prefer “A” — the green cover)
Half-Price: A (bold; will attract coupon-clippers)
Justifies : C (is that a blob of blood in A & B? I get the reference, but it’s kind of creepy)
Stand-Up: B (intriguing, funny, unique)
God-Chaser: C (if I had to choose; they’re all indecipherable)
Well, that was fun! (and what writer is not looking for a distraction 😉
Here are my picks:
C, A, C, C, C, B?, A? (I wasn’t excited about any in the last two groups)
Now to watch the video…
CAAAABA
Amazing how much of a difference a simple change of colour or font can make to the appeal!
Vote:
A, A, A, A, A, C, A.
A, A, A, B, B, A, A
The Answers to Today’s Quiz
B-A-C-A-C-B-A
Not one person of the 50+ quiz takers got them all! That is amazing. A few got all but one right.
Imagine all of you in a cover design meeting giving your opinions and trying to convince the others that you are right. !!!???
FIFTH MAN – Cover B
Chosen because it is a science fiction novel and reflected the genre. Cover A was far too literal and had nothing to do with the genre.
WINGS OF MERCY – Cover A
Meant to be a devotional for bird-lovers/watchers. Cover A is clean crisp and easy on the eyes. Unfortunately in retrospect I think the title was wrong. Some of you did not know it was about birds which is a problem! It is a lesson all authors should learn: if your title has to be explained, the consumer has moved on to the next book.
KINGDOM OF THE CULTS – Cover C
It is bold and dynamic and easy to read. Note that this book is about the Cults, not the Occult. In fact there is another book by Walter Martin called THE KINGDOM OF THE OCCULT. There was also a concern in design A that the general editors name, Ravi Zacharias, was too prominent and might give the consumer the wrong impression as to the author, which is Walter Martin.
HALF-PRICE LIVING – Cover A
As one of you mentioned, the bold price tag look is visually arresting. And the colors stand out dramatically by comparison with the others. One early design idea was to actually hole-punch the front cover, just like a real price tag. But then the publisher thought better of it due to the manual costs and the danger of a machine missing the target on hundreds of copies!
THE GOD WHO JUSTIFIES – Cover C
Authoritative. Easy to grasp. The colors divide the title perfectly to emphasize the topic of the book, “Justification.” This was a hardcover in its first edition which lent even more gravitas to the presentation. The other idea is clever, but there is an “ick” factor with the blood stain that we wanted to avoid. This was a close decision between B & C. Note the font or text does not really change, only the coloring. There is more “weight” in the title font in B, but that is about it.
STAND UP GUY – Cover B
No competition here. The novel is about a stand up comedian. Thus cover B is perfect. The publisher originally showed us cover C as the final with no other choices. If you could see it enlarged you would know why the author and I objected vociferously. The cartoon man looks stoned. “Perfect” for our Christian readership? Cover A is weird because of the surveillance camera in the upper left. Not sure what that has to do with anything in the book or the concept.
PRAYER OF A GOD CHASER – Cover A
I actually have at least 12 different cover designs we went through on this one. It was tough to pick. Cover C is too literal with the running feet and at that time this was a common visual. In defense of its being hard to see, this book was published years before ebooks were on the market and the Amazon thumbnail cover had much influence. In hardcover this cover was gorgeous because they used a treated foil to create a shimmer effect on the jacket. It was rather beautiful as a piece of art.
Today this would not have worked for the reasons many of you stated. It breaks the rules of current covers with a very busy background with a font placed on top of it. There should always be a good contrast with a drop-shadow behind the font if you do use this type of photography in your cover.
It is fascinating to look at books published in the 90s, 2000s, and this decade to see how both non-fiction and fiction cover designs have changed. That could be an interesting blog for another day.
Thanks for this quiz, Steve. It was fun and got me thinking. My company’s graphic designer took the quiz, too, and we independently agreed on all but one cover. This is good, since we’re now offering book cover design services!
See you next week at Mount Hermon.
B,A,C.A,C,B,C
All personal preference, I’m afraid.
It’s impossible to choose without including personal preferences and personal factors like which is the easiest for me to read.
I chose A C C C C A A. I look forward to reading the results.
These are my choices: B, A, C, B, B, B, B.
BACBBBA
In each case I chose impact, even if not most attractive, as you need to attract the reader’s attention.
Agree that NONE of the covers for the God Chaser book are good.
My choices are BACCBBA.
I choose: A A C A B B C