Discussion How much the cover page of novels influence you to read or not to read?

Discussion in 'Novel General' started by Rubyspecs, Apr 30, 2022.

  1. Rubyspecs

    Rubyspecs Well-Known Member

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    Like in my case, I guess I really felt that.
    There are like thosecover pages with distinct cartoonish art that give off the vibe that yup this is yet another brainless, cringy and overdramatic storyline or plot with over 300 chapters I guess.

    And then there are those cover pages with beautiful art like that of the historical bl like Dinghai Funsheng Records, or thousand autumns that Mere glimpse is enough to read that novel as soon as possible.

    And then are those cover page with light hues like pink, Blue light green and yellow, be it clouds or garden, or flowers or simply text written on a light colorful yet warm hues. They are novels with settings close to reality and either are fluffy or cute or sorrowful and melancholic story line. They are mostly good reads.

    Like I realized this when I actually avoided a novel like plague just due to the fact that cover page character gave off vibes of a dumb and childish Mc. And when I finally tried reading it, the very first couple of chapters proved my instincts right! And then I happily dropped it.

    Ps I usually read Chinese novels
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2022
  2. seemanta

    seemanta ţɦɛ ʏօʊռɢɛsţ ɮʀѧţ ɨռ ţɦɛ ɦօʊsɛ

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    I get it. Covers are very important for me. Sometimes I even read shitty novels just cause the cover is beautiful. Especially in korean novels. It hurts my heart to see bad covers for good novels or good covers for bad novels. It feels so unfair!
     
  3. Senros

    Senros Well-Known Member

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    The cover does influence me somewhat. If there is a character that I find attractive, I'll be more likely to read it. Same if the art looks interesting or is simply really good. But there are also times when I just want to read a particular kind of story with not too many chapters and when that happens, I do a mass search, pick titles that seems somewhat interesting, skim through the summary and look at the amount of chapters and then decide if I'll read at least one chapter or not.

    But I guess good art means the author put more effort into the novel as a complete package (or they stole good art from somewhere...) so novels with appealing covers, can be good. But looks can also be deceiving. A person that knows people are drawn to eye candy might just write a piece of turd (maybe even willingly, as an experiment) and give the novel an absurdly good cover just to watch people be like moths to a flame, 'cause the novel will make their eyes bleed...
     
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  4. Rubyspecs

    Rubyspecs Well-Known Member

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    True. Regardless of storyline all the Korean novels cover page make you want to save the image in your gallery and use it as wallpaper :p
     
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  5. seemanta

    seemanta ţɦɛ ʏօʊռɢɛsţ ɮʀѧţ ɨռ ţɦɛ ɦօʊsɛ

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    IKRRR!!!
     
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  6. ragingphoenix

    ragingphoenix Well-Known Member

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    Covers influence whether or not I'll read the story's description. If a cover is particularly bad I will skip reading the desc.

    The summary is where a lot of novels lose me. Chinese novels are especially guilty of this, where they have a little script involving the main characters that's supposed to describe their dynamic but doesn't actually tell you anything about what the story is about and isn't actually accurate to the cast's personality.

    Korean novels with beautiful covers do tend to get my interest more than other stories.
     
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  7. BooklessBookworm

    BooklessBookworm Sensible Little Sister ꒰ঌ(⃔ ⌯' '⌯)⃕໒꒱

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    I tend to rely more on the synopsis than page covers. Although at times I’ll feel attracted to a novel by its cover, if it shows any signs of angst or tragedy I’ll be miles away. I’ve grown not to mind the covers too much since, there are actually a lot of works that have simple covers but I personally really liked.
     
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  8. vithc

    vithc eternity's nerd

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    I love how there's basically a universal understanding of the three types of CN novel covers lmao I feel the same way about those, but yes, they influence me a lot. The default, light colors + flowers with text covers that I've read are pretty much hit or misses tho.

    Oh but Korean covers are just a different breed, man. Legit top tier, dk how they do it ´ ᯅ `
     
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  9. Walter vi Britannia

    Walter vi Britannia Well-Known Member

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    Yea, but covers and titles usually determine whether I'll read the description and tags...and the description and tags are what determine if I'll read it.

    Also I understand what you're saying. I've read so many gender benders at one point that I somehow can instantly tell a manga or novel is gender bender just by the cover. Which is super weird honestly. Like, how does that even happen? Are the artists so good they can even portray that through their covers?
     
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  10. Deleted member 445404

    Deleted member 445404 Guest

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    It's true! covers have a huge impact
    if I were to read some novels,
    I prefer covers with art that are beautifully drawn...:aww::aww::aww:
     
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  11. xuexxi

    xuexxi Well-Known Member

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    i definitely do get art-baited by these covers! always would love to know what the protagonists look like too :3

    I'm a tler so it also influences what novel I would pick up bc i know other people are also like me lolol

    on another note, can i know where ur pfp is from?
     
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  12. aShinyVaporeon

    aShinyVaporeon Well-Known Member

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    I get easily attracted to stories with interesting titles and descriptions. Like those CN novels with skit descriptions that don't actually ever happen? I fall for those all the time.

    I've been desensitized to pretty KR light novel covers. I read one too many with a pretty cover that I didn't like.

    Meanwhile, CN novel cover art typically wasn't made for that specific novel (it's even just stolen art sometimes). And sometimes it doesn't have cover art, it's just the title in a fancy font or a handmade meme made in MS paint or something. But when there is a pretty cover for a CN novel that looks like it was actually commissioned for the novel, it's a sign that that novel is at least pretty popular, so I try a lot of those out.
    A lot of the CN covers that are kind of cartoonish-looking are actually the covers of the manhua adaptations, which I've found isn't much of an indicator of quality, since tons of terrible CN novels have manhua adaptations.

    As for JP, well, I just don't read a lot JP novels. :p

    What I do judge with covers very heavily is comics, since the cover tells me the general art style. Which is why I hate when sites use the novel cover for the comic adaptation, since they're drawn by different artists.

    Side note, but has anyone seen the cover of LOTM's KR translation? xD
     
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  13. bethatcat

    bethatcat Well-Known Member

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    Years of experience have taught me that the cover, when it comes to online published content, means NOTHING to indicate the quality of the writing. Some of the best novels I've ever read have covers that look like they were created in Microsoft paint. Some of the worst look like the author spent ££££ on a professional artist. I really, really, just ignore it. It's probably the least reliable indicator of content, next to positive reviews.
     
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  14. Rubyspecs

    Rubyspecs Well-Known Member

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    I am just talking about the first impression it gives off the moment you open the page. Its obvious that you will go through the reviews or check out the rating or synopsis before deciding whether to read or not. And after reading so many novels I gradually found a pattern or similarities in covers of novels in accordance to the type of story. That's it.
     
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  15. ToastedRossi

    ToastedRossi Well-Known Member

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    I would have said that I find that covers mostly don't do anything for me other than grab a bit of attention. But on closer examination of when I look at lists of books, I find that I don't even look at the covers. And looking back on the books I've read, there's no correlation between the quality of the covers and the quality of the books within. It's literally a case of not judging a book by its cover!
     
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  16. Nimroth

    Nimroth Someone

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    For mangas and comics I tend to find them important, but for novels I tend to not even bother looking at the cover art as most of the time it tells me nothing about the actual story.
    I'm honestly more likely to check out the cover art out of curiosity after I'm already invested in a story than I am when first checking out the story.
    The title alone probably influence me 10 times more than the cover art, and the plot description many times more than the title.
     
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  17. Esha07

    Esha07 ☄your favorite meanie࿐ྂ

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    It would be me lying , if I say that I don't feel looking forward to a novel because of a pretty cover~ but it's sometimes the Synopsis make me want to read it ( both can be disappointing tho )
    Meh it's a 40-60 ratio.

    For Mangas or manhwas, it's prolly 70-30 ratio for me.
     
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  18. Kaylee

    Kaylee Well-Known Member

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    But of course, cover art is also one reason to read or not.
    When you have so many novels to choose, you tend to be picky.
    I tend to ignore those with fanservice cover or children type of drawing, usually they are Jpn Ln.
     
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  19. AliceShiki

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

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    Cover definitely has a big influence on me.

    For example, Male Protagonist novel whose cover features only a Female Lead is an instant no to me. My experience with those novels makes me know that I'll hate them 90% of the time, and I don't mind missing out on the last 10%.

    Also, just the style of the cover in general can be a turn off to me. If the cover screams "Generic Shounen", then I won't read the novel... OTOH, if the cover screams "Generic Shoujo", then it can easily enter my reading list.

    So yeah, I care a lot about covers~
     
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  20. A_G_V

    A_G_V Well-Known Member

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    I think that when I pick something new to read the first thing that i watch is the cover, if that doesn't pick my interest I hardly ever try to read