Do We Really Judge Books by Their Covers?
The term “never judge a book by its cover” has been preached to us since we were kids, but no matter the warnings, that’s still exactly what we do, isn’t it? When our fingers drift over spines in bookstores, they don’t stop to pull out the bland books. Instead, they curl around the bright ones, the artistic ones, the pretty ones – the ones with the sprayed edges or gold foiling. In the age of Bookstagram and BookTok, a book's visual appearance and aesthetics are now more important than ever and, in turn, strongly influence how modern publishers market and sell their books.
As readers, we now have certain expectations when we pick up a book, making covers a design choice and a marketing tool. The softer, pastel cover with the cartoon illustration is going to be a romance; the one with the gold foil, serif title, and dark and moody background is going to be a fantasy. It only takes a quick look to know what genre the book is and whether you’re going to be interested in its contents. And sometimes, a quick look is all you get, so a book’s cover has an important job: convince the reader to give it a chance in only seconds. A survey run by The Book Smugglers shows that for over 79% of the survey takers, book covers matter to them, with 48% of people saying it plays a major role in their decision to buy a book. The importance placed on a book’s cover is also demonstrated by the trend of cover reveals on social media platforms, where authors have a count down and build up hype simply for the reveal of a book’s cover. If it’s “pretty?” Fans go wild. If it’s “ugly?” Next!
The rise in popularity of Bookstagram and BookTok, and the aesthetic imagery showcased on those platforms, has made visually appealing books more desirable in today’s book market. Publishers have even taken to redesigning old book covers to fit in with current trends, as seen by Penguin Random House’s newest editions of Jane Austen’s works. They have been given covers that match the modern consensus of what a romance book should look like, namely with the use of a bright colour palette and illustrative artwork.
These days, people are even willing to spend an extortionate amount on books just for their cover, with subscription boxes like Illumicrate and FairyLoot capitalising on book aesthetics by releasing limited edition, exclusive cover designs for popular books. These are often highly sought after and are sold on eBay for incredibly high prices, as seen by Illumicrate’s limited edition Bridgerton series, which has a resale price of over $1,000 despite reviews for the books on Goodreads remaining around the three-star mark.
Likewise, special editions of books, which have taken advantage of the sudden interest in gold foiling, sprayed edges and exclusive covers, are released by bookstores and publishers on a routine basis. People are more than happy to pay more for a book with a special, pretty cover, even if they already own a copy. Perhaps it is a direct reflection of today’s capitalistic society and overconsumption habits, or simply readers collecting things they find joy in. After all, I own a few copies of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women (one of my favourite books) just because I thought their covers were pretty!
But do pretty covers always equal quality books? And do we risk becoming an era of cover-driven publishing if we continue to pursue overhyping books based on their pretty designs? While this notion isn’t necessarily bad – as humans, I think we’re naturally driven to pretty things – it’s important that, as readers, we continue to value the substance of a book and not just its aesthetics. Maybe the book in the bookstore with the bland, uninteresting cover might actually be your new favourite book if you give it a chance… or maybe its contents are just as bland as the cover… you’ll never know unless you try it!
Tammie Watts
Marketing & Digital Associate