Judge a book by its cover?

This week's Stylist was one of those best kind of surprises: the awesome but unexpected kind. This week is Stylist's literary week and the magazine is appropriately stuffed full of bookish things - from Gatsby fashion to Kindle debates, from book clubs to bookshelves. I'm not about to steal its content though because you can have a look right here: http://www.stylist.co.uk/in-this-weeks-issue/


Instead, I've used it as inspiration and for that I didn't need to look any further than its front cover. "Judge a book by its cover". This phrase is one known all over the world and used in ways that have absolutely no relation to books and its nearly always considered a bad thing. The thing is, everyone does it! One of the best things about working in the book industry is realising that you aren't the only one doing it... and guess what... the publishers know you're doing it too.

At our last book club meeting it was announced that we would read Arundhati Roy's God of Small Things. Regardless of the book itself, I can't explain my disappointment when I found out that there was only one edition available and that the cover was SO disappointing. It looks like one of those covers you get on the academic editions at school.

In publishing, what you want is a cover that is "sexy". Now, please take a moment to applaud my use of the word. I have cringed for much of my first year in the industry because that word keeps coming up and, ironically, as a word, it really couldn't be any less sexy! Anyway... I've rambled. Today I thought I'd take a look at some of my favourite covers.

So on the left hand side you have some of my favourite special edition hardbacks. I'm not going to pretend I read them, I don't - far too bulky and I wouldn't want to ruin them. I do like having them, though. In fact I have 3 editions of The Great Gatsby, including a beautiful red and gold one that I received as a present a few years ago.

My copy of Atonement is one of many beautiful modern classics sold exclusively by Waterstones. Some great novels have all been given these beautiful and unique covers including Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, Restoration by Rose Tremain, The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes.

Now to the paperbacks. I've always been a big fan of Vintage classics and their covers and when I got to do work experience there, I was lucky enough to take home a mountain of them. My shelves are now dotted with bright red spines and beautiful photographic, illustrated and intricately designed covers for some of the world's most celebrated stories. Wuthering Heights is one of my favourites of the Vintage collection. There's something so evocative and crisp about it. The matt covers of the books as well just give it that sleek final touch, which kind of makes me want to eat them...

Now everyone knows the cover for One Day by David Nicholls but all his books have had the same treatment. I hate it when book covers are so busy or 'clever' that it takes you ages to find the title and when you have found it you realise actually that's the author's name, not the title etc etc. This couldn't be further from complicated and I like it that way. Plus I'm a sucker for series...

At the end of the day, in a board room somewhere publishers, production and design teams are coming up with book covers that will make you pick them up off the shelf. The best covers are the ones that don't just reflect the novel but the reader, specifically catering the buyer's aesthetic tastes in order to ensure they pick up a book they will actually enjoy. Sometimes you get put off by covers and you think badly of yourself for judging it so quickly but I think, sometimes, that may not mean the book is bad but that it might be a sign that the book just isn't meant for you! What do you think?