Monday, August 13, 2012

"I Hate This Cover of the Month", August

The Vincent Boys (The Vincent Boys, #1)The Vincent Brothers (The Vincent Boys, #2)

I don't have to say it, right? You're thinking or have thought the same thing? No? I guess I'm dirty minded because this doesn't look like a YA book cover, it looks vaguely like porn. In case you think I"m imagining it...EXHIBIT ONE:
Ron Jeremy: The Hardest (Working) Man in Showbiz
Yes, remarkably similar to Ron Jeremy's book cover. (Link is safe, just goes to his GR's page) Yes, he's a pornstar. Now, if your book cover is almost the same as a pornstar's autobiography, you've gone to a bad, dark place.

EXHIBIT TWO: (Content advisory, lyrics)
There's actually a song called "Lollipop Porn". I don't have the heart to do an EXHIBIT THREE. I really don't. I really don't want to know if there's a subcategory/fetish for actual Lollipop Pornography. But, I'm pretty sure there is given, you know, the world. Those are the reasons why Abbi Glines' Vincent Brothers series is my "I Hate This Cover of the Month" for August.

Runner up:

 Otherkin (Otherkin, #1)

Can you sense a theme for August? I saw this bookcover and dismissed it. I thought it was some kind of shifter erotica. I mean, it looks like she's naked behind the, um, bushes and hair. And her expression...I'm going to let you  insert your own inappropriate thoughts. Therefore, erotica, right? No, it's a YA book. Imagine my surprise when I read someone's review.

Edit: Final thoughts...just in case. I don't mean this feature to be mean. I would say that in pretty much all of the cases, so far, I've actually gone on to read either the book or a book by the author. But that the "I Hate This Cover" books were all books that I initially dismissed and decided not to read- based on the cover. I mean there are hundreds, thousands of books that come out every month. I can't read the summaries of every one of them- that would be like a whole book's worth of summaries. So if I haven't heard of a book or author, I often eliminate by cover until I start seeing (positive) reviews. So far, all of the "winners" are books that, if they had a better cover, I probably would have read the summary. And, reading the summary, I probably would have added the books. And I hope that by featuring them, that if other people had dismissed them, they take a second look. Maybe read the summary or a review and then decide.

4 comments:

  1. I also don't like the Vincent covers. They're not books I'd want to put on my shelves. >_< I believe that when you display a book on your shelf, you're basically displaying a type of art, just like any home decor. Those covers look really dirty, I agree.

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    1. I didn't really think about it that way, but you're right. Book covers are a type of art. So, what follows is that it's kind of a reflection of your taste. I know that one of the things I do when I go to someone's house is look at their bookshelves and see what's on it. (Or I notice when they have no books, too) And, I guess, you can't help but trying to see what those books say about a person's character, interest, opinions, etc. And, you're right again, I'd never put these books on my shelf. I probably will try one of these books, but it's going on my ereader. (Kind of the 50 Shades effect of reading something you're semi-embarrassed about on your ereader because no one can see what you're reading.)

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  2. I actually started laughing while reading this, you are absolutely right. If your book cover is mimicking a porn star's bio, you've gone wrong somewhere down the line. As for the tiger woman cover....... worst YA book cover ever.

    -Sarah

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    1. Yes, Otherkin is one of the worst YA covers ever. If your cover actually drives people away from reading the book, it's not doing its job. The function of a cover is to make people want to read the summary, and then the book. The Otherkin cover does something exceptionally bad- which is that it turns off its target audience- YA readers. When you can't even tell a YA book is a YA book and not erotica, that's a sign to design another cover. I wonder who- in the publishing side- is responsible for this. It's embarrassing, but I've actually had a few authors contact me when they've "won" the I Hate This Cover of the Month and say that they have very little control over this. That it's considered a marketing decision.

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