Last week Rachel from Confessions of a Book Geek pointed out something to me that I was fully aware of but never really thought about: a lot of books have embarrassing book covers. I’m not talking those cringey, rubbish covers that make a book look cheap and put you off reading I’m talking those romance novels with the embarrassing covers where a couple is normally in a slightly compromising embrace, or someone is in a state of undress (preferably the man because I do like a good set of abs on my book covers). Those books where you don’t like to remove them from the comfort of your own home for fear of the judgemental looks you’ll get. I’m talking about those books, they normally adorn romance novel covers and they are one of the major things that put off people from reading them. My response was that’s what Kindles were designed for, I’ve read many a book with a cringeworthy cover free from any judgement from others because of my Kindle, Amazon should introduce it into their marketing strategy. When they ask me what I’m reading I don’t need to flash the cover I can simply look at the title and hope they don’t go off and Google what I’m reading.
The thing is, there is that saying about judging books by their covers, but we are all so guilty of ignoring it. I know that it is actually about judging people by their appearance, not literally about books, but does still apply because it is far too easy to judge a book by it’s cover. I’ve read a few books with terrible covers that has excellent writing inside, but then I’ve read books with stunning covers that have left me completely uninspired when it comes to the content, so why do we do it? Why do we allow the cover to influence our opinion on a book? And why do publishers allow these books to go out with these embarrassing covers, do they not know their customers may get out off by them?
I’ve always acknowledged that romance covers are not always the best, often they the clichéd covers of old with a couple on it embracing, or a half-dressed man or a combination of the two. They are terrible covers, yet I know the content inside will be good so never allow myself to be put off by such shallow thing, but then when I’m reviewing some of the books on here you, my lovely readers, may experience the same issue of being put off.
So my question is, how do you deal with these ridiculous covers? I have embraced the ereader to hide all my sins, or silly book covers. I know when reading a hardback there is the option of removing the dust jacket, but what about paperbacks? Anyway, I want to know your thoughts and ideas, how do you deal with those cringeworthy covers, be they romance ones, or just bad book covers any old book? Do you hide it away in shame like me, or are you loud and proud about what you read?
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