I’ll be honest. I judge books by their covers. Who doesn’t, really?
First impressions are everything. Being a PR major, I’ve learned this over and over again: whether it’s a first impression at a job interview, a first impression of a brand or in this case, a first impression of a book, it’s important.
Ultimately, if I’m walking through the bookstore, a book originally catches my attention because of it’s cover. If a cover intrigues me, I’ll read the jacket of the book and if that keeps my attention, I’ll consider reading it.
If the cover is ugly though, not a chance. The only reason I’d read it after that is if I saw a really positive review on someone’s blog. But if we’re talking about purely seeing a book on a bookshelf, I’m judging it by the cover.
Here are some covers that really caught my attention and why:
This cover is just super intriguing. You already can see what the conflict is and it makes me want to know more.
This cover has a few different interesting elements. First, the colors and the cute dress catch my eye. Then, I see the two cute babies and the paparazzi in the window. It might me want to read her story.
This cover is just pretty. I’m a sucker for anything pink.
I absolutely judge book by their covers. I actually wrote a blog entry a while back on it (http://quillcafe.blogspot.com/2010/02/judging-book.html) going through all the elements I take into account when judging said book on its cover. A few books I've read recently I've really liked the cover of, such as 'Eyes Like Stars' and its sequel 'Perchance to Dream' as well as 'Hero.' A book that I bought just the other day but haven't started reading yet is 'Hush, Hush' which has an awesome cover.
i too judge a book by its cover. I must say though, older books….their covers are so ugly why did people buy them?! LOL.
I have to admit it: I judge books by their covers especially when its a book I'm purchasing for my personal library. I do take people's opinions of books as my first defense though. If someone recommends a book to me I'm likely to read it even if it does have an unappealing cover. But like you, when I hit the bookstore just to browse, I'm checking out titles with covers that catch my eye.