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Writer and editor Home > Blogs > Brain Droppings > Archives > 2008 > April > 13 > Entry
Telling a book by its cover
I’ve never really thought that you could, conventional wisdom aside. Tell a book by its cover, that is. Presuming that they have the correct cover on the correct book, in fact you can often tell a lot about what’s going to happen inside the book from what the publishers have decided to put on the front of it.
This is especially true in genre fiction, don’t you think? I mean, don’t those pulpy paintings of busty dames with guns and cigarettes that they put on the covers of Mickey Spillane and his ilk pretty well reflect the stories they illustrated and sold? And sold pretty well, at that?
Don’t most bodice-rippers souund and feel a lot like the cover art? In fact, what came first? Where the covers illustrating the bodice-ripping, or did they name the type of story after the covers that seemed to so perfectly match the contents? Dunno.
Look, I’m not saying that the cover tells you everything … of course not. But admit it… it’s important enough to help you decide whether to read or not, right? To that end, here’s a blog from an editor at Penguin that gives some insights into the thoughts that go into cover art and design, particularly interesting since it’s for a book we’ve all read. Or should have, anyway.
Tell me what you think. I Iike what they came up with.
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