Matthew, I am likeminded! I will not even pick up a book with an ugly cover when I'm browsing in a bookstore. For many years now, I have made the observation (and I am not alone) that British book covers are usually more attractive to me than American ones. For example, when The Mirror and the Light was published, I ordered the three volume hardcover set of the Wolf Hall trilogy from England because I liked the design better than the American version. Also, I ordered the paperback of A Place of Greater Safety from Blackstone's recently for the same reason.
Glad to know I'm not alone, Katy! I have been known to pay more for a cover I find more attractive, so I guess I'm a marketing department's dream come true...
I'm guessing you're in the US? I'm in the UK and I very often prefer US covers. Perhaps it's a greener-grass-over-there phenomenon, and taste can be swayed by boredom with the familiar.
I notice how much I like the strange book sizes when they come from the US, an attraction that undoubtedly has much to do with the mere fact that they're different to the uniform size I've grown used to here in England. No doubt if I lived over there I'd be agreeing with you and ordering my books from old Blighty!
Beautifully written and totally absorbing. The reading world needed to know this! For many years I have been a bookcover admirer and have been known to buy a book just because of the cover design. My pet hate is incorrect artwork, e.g. the dog was black but illustrated brown, the house was green but illustrated white. No accounting for design tastes but for me it lowers the authenticity.
Thank you so much, Gretchen. It seems all book-lovers have, if not ardent then deeply intuitive, opinions on book covers. It's been interesting to me over the last few weeks, since sitting to write this essay, questioning my own tastes and trying to better understand what sits beneath those preferences. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for such kind words! This was a wonderful dissection of a wonderful book. I am thrilled that someone else read and wrote about it thanks in part to my influence :) I really appreciate the examples you pulled from outside of the text.
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the blurb on the Chabon cover—I'm not sure it works, but I love how different it is. Honestly surprised that got approved!
Thanks, Nathaniel! I'm very gad to have stumbled on your substack recently; I really meant it when I wrote here about being inspired to look more closely at book covers because of your writing. That Chabon cover really is something. You don't see many covers quite that busy, so it definitely stands out, but then it also demonstrates why you don't see covers that busy. It's kind of an information overload. Anyway, looking forward to reading more of yours soon.
Matthew, I am likeminded! I will not even pick up a book with an ugly cover when I'm browsing in a bookstore. For many years now, I have made the observation (and I am not alone) that British book covers are usually more attractive to me than American ones. For example, when The Mirror and the Light was published, I ordered the three volume hardcover set of the Wolf Hall trilogy from England because I liked the design better than the American version. Also, I ordered the paperback of A Place of Greater Safety from Blackstone's recently for the same reason.
Glad to know I'm not alone, Katy! I have been known to pay more for a cover I find more attractive, so I guess I'm a marketing department's dream come true...
I'm guessing you're in the US? I'm in the UK and I very often prefer US covers. Perhaps it's a greener-grass-over-there phenomenon, and taste can be swayed by boredom with the familiar.
I notice how much I like the strange book sizes when they come from the US, an attraction that undoubtedly has much to do with the mere fact that they're different to the uniform size I've grown used to here in England. No doubt if I lived over there I'd be agreeing with you and ordering my books from old Blighty!
Beautifully written and totally absorbing. The reading world needed to know this! For many years I have been a bookcover admirer and have been known to buy a book just because of the cover design. My pet hate is incorrect artwork, e.g. the dog was black but illustrated brown, the house was green but illustrated white. No accounting for design tastes but for me it lowers the authenticity.
Thank you so much, Gretchen. It seems all book-lovers have, if not ardent then deeply intuitive, opinions on book covers. It's been interesting to me over the last few weeks, since sitting to write this essay, questioning my own tastes and trying to better understand what sits beneath those preferences. Thanks for reading!
Thank you for such kind words! This was a wonderful dissection of a wonderful book. I am thrilled that someone else read and wrote about it thanks in part to my influence :) I really appreciate the examples you pulled from outside of the text.
I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment of the blurb on the Chabon cover—I'm not sure it works, but I love how different it is. Honestly surprised that got approved!
Thanks, Nathaniel! I'm very gad to have stumbled on your substack recently; I really meant it when I wrote here about being inspired to look more closely at book covers because of your writing. That Chabon cover really is something. You don't see many covers quite that busy, so it definitely stands out, but then it also demonstrates why you don't see covers that busy. It's kind of an information overload. Anyway, looking forward to reading more of yours soon.