Do you judge books by their covers?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by otaku31, Jun 3, 2021.

  1. Greater thunder

    Greater thunder Well-Known Member

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    Speaking of webtoons, Odd Girl Out and Cheese in the Trap covers don't look like much.

    But, I started reading out of boredom and got hooked. If anyone else wants a romance/thriller deal, Cheese in the Trap delivers in spades and is complete.
     
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  2. Mysticant

    Mysticant Active Member

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    For novels, I would say title, synopsis and like 1-3 chapters. Covers do not influence like 99% of anything an author writes and the skills of the author and artist may differ. Though better covers may indicate better novels like in QiDian, I do not believe in any cover for novels. It is only there for the initial spark of attention.

    For manga, cover is the huge selling point for me. Especially if it is a colour cover or colour page, I mean if I wanted plot and bad art I might as well read a novel, no? VNs on another hand is half-half.:blobthinkingsmirk:
     
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  3. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    Can't say I care much about the covers, and in the rare cases when I do it is usually when it is actually an interesting cover, rather than when it is a bad one.
    Regardless of the cover it is mostly the title and description I pay attention to really, exception might be a manga or webtoon where the cover actually reflect the art of the story.
    And when it comes to webnovels I pretty much by default just assume the cover doesn't even belong to the story in the first place most of the time.
     
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  4. Fulminata

    Fulminata Typo-ist | Officer of Heavenly Inc. |

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    I've been betrayed too many times by beautiful book covers, i have trust issues with them now! :blobsob: Covers are now irrelevant to me, i buy based on reviews.
     
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  5. 01

    01 [REDACTED]

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    Sometimes yes, because some fake books have low quality cover. I have experience of buying $100 old book and unfortunately it's fake.
     
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  6. AliceShiki

    AliceShiki 『Ms. Tree』『Magical Girl of Love and Justice』

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    Oh yeah, absolutely. I think I became quite good at judging which titles I'll dislike just from looking at the cover and some basic tags~

    For example, I have disliked almost all Male Protagonist novels that I tried that happened to have only a Woman and nobody else in their covers... There are exceptions, like Sukasuka, but uhn... That's honestly the only exception that I can think of.

    So... After a while I just started instantly filtering out all novels with male protag with girl on cover. I might miss out on some gems like that, but I'm sure I'm filtering out tons of trash novels by doing this as well~
     
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  7. Seigin

    Seigin [Lolicon][GenderBender Banzai!]

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    Partially

    For me to read a novel there are certain prerequisites to check first.

    -The cover (i need it to imagine the characteristics of the characters in novels, for mangas or anime it serves as a guideline about the image quality)
    -Synopsis/summary/even spoiler about it
    -Reviews if it has a good reputation (as I don't wanna waste my time reading trash)
    -Chapter lenght
    But the cover is the huge deciding factor
     
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  8. Nana24

    Nana24 Well-Known Member

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    Well, some novels don't even have a proper cover.
    Yet, I still look at the cover.
    For novels: I look out at the reviews, summary, spoilers.
    For manga, webtoons: look at the cover, the tags & TikTok. TikTok tends to introduced new mangas/webtoon to me. Sometimes, because of the cover, I end up reading a dog-blood drama, or toxic relationships. (Now, I've learnt to read the reviews in finding out the clues)

    One of the manga I've read & was introduced by TikTok was The Horizon. (tag: tragedy) - it's during a war, affects your emotions greatly.
     
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  9. asriu

    asriu fu~ fu~ fu~

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    yes to certain extend~ one of this cat hobby was window shopping on bookstore ya know, so this cat have habit look at the cover then read synopsis on it back~ the serious book have kinda simple design~ young adult romance have cheerful impression unless it have tragedy or sad nuance on story~ documentary or stuff like that the hardcover is nice~ fantasy novel have impression trying to grab your attention~

    cover for manga is hmmm more important than novel MORE SO IF THE GENRE IS ECCHI!
     
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  10. aintg

    aintg Fairy Queen of the Demonic Sect

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    Can't deny that it does. I mean, cover art is intended to attract readers, so if I don't feel attracted by the cover, I probably will reconsider the decision to read the book. On the other hand, I'm aware that the synopsis, or sometimes though rarely, the reviews, may give a different impression, so I don't use cover as the main aspect of consideration.
     
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  11. Raven Evernight

    Raven Evernight But they never just accepted me for the way I was…

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    Yes if the art for the cover is trash the art for the manga will too so obviously judge like the shallow little bitch I am
     
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  12. incaendo

    incaendo Member

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    ABSOLUTELY. YES.

    I do this not only for web novels, but also with physical books. My theory/rationale is that if the author/publisher put in enough effort to design a good book cover, that shows that the book's content itself is also at least of a certain quality and standard. ;)

    (Also, as a graphic designer / artist myself, I love cover art and design so I especially pay attention to that :))
     
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  13. Isaac20

    Isaac20 Dark Lord | RS

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    Most probably. Just think, you go to a bookstore to buy a book. You walk between the bookshelves. But you don't buy the first book or any other book you come across. But if the cover of a book is attractive, it's tempting to pick it up. After that you look at its title. That's nature. If we read an e-book, manga or any other, it's just the same.

    Isn't it the same for humans? If someone is so attractive, do we not want to know more about them?
     
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  14. Hazel00

    Hazel00 Highland Knight | From Karsuk

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    Yep, cover matters.
    But thankfully we have reviews and rating, or i can check somewhere before buying book that im interested in.
     
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  15. dilemma

    dilemma Active Member

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    Oh for sure. I often pick up novels with a good-looking art style regardless of the plot, as stupid as that may sound. I do check the summary though.
     
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