When you're browsing through the bookstore, or really anyplace with a large collection of books to purchase/borrow, how do you know which one you want to buy/borrow? And does the cover REALLY help judge the book?

Usually I pick up books that are in a series I've started, are by an author I like, or that I've heard other people recommend. I admit that sometimes I get turned off if a cover looks dumb, but if I've heard it's a good book, I'll get it. Otherwise I usually don't just randomly pick up books, so I don't really take covers into much consideration. I usually go to a bookstore with a goal in mind, so it cuts a lot of the excess browsing. =p.

I think I have more issues with deciding to buy a video game by the way it looks on the outside than a book, to be honest. >.o.

Covers do help though. If they're appealing, people will at least pick up the book and look at them (this especially helps when they're first published and whatnot.). Otherwise they (author) rely on word-of-mouth for people to say it's a good book. Most people just skim and look at the covers otherwise; if the art on the front isn't desirable, or the short synopsis on the back isn't gripping, people will probably ignore the book unless they look up reviews for it or hear from a friend that it's good...

A book is a product, so the illustration on the cover is sort of a lie most of the time. I often read the synopsis in the back. While it's not anything special, it's a much better guide than some eye-candy illustration.

I stumble upon it on the internet.

Otherwise, I do, and will judge the book by its cover. Srsly if I had to judge a book by its contents, I'd never leave the ##### library.

LOLS I'm the same as Den. When I'm flipping through all the massive amounts of books, I usually judge a book by its cover, then I read the summary to see what it's like. To be honest, the edgier and interesting the cover is, the more likely I am to give it a chance.

I also judge books by their length. The longer the better for me, since I tend to read fast I want to make sure I buy a book that will be able to keep me occupied for a while

What makes me pick up a book:

1. Author - If I see a familiar author who I know I enjoy, I will automatically pause over their name if I spot it and read the summary.

2. Size - I don't like small books, I want something that I can read for more then just a few days as I tend to read fast when given the time.

3. Cover - The cover is last for me. I see alot of flashy or interesting covers that often dissapoint so it's not that big of a deal for me. Although if it's a cover that depicts something that looks like my preferred genre (adventure, fantasy etc.) then I'll probably pick it up.

Titles do not sway me very much at all as I quickly forget what alot of books are called if they're not very well known, even if I really liked it But it's the information of the summary that makes me actually get the book.

I have issues when it comes to reading (as sometimes I don't find the right kind of book to snag me into the story and feel, or, I just get tired of it like it's homework), but covers are not too much of a judging thing. Only book I can think of that I did judge by the cover is Eragon. .....that dragon looked like a sea cow or something X/

I am far more likely to judge a book on it's title than on it's cover... A cover says very little, but a (good) title says a lot about what's inside... Although... come to think of it, that would make a terrible analogy, 'don't judge a book by it's title' ... you kinda loose some of the meaning... well... all of the meaning.

*watch as I ramble*

Its the people who read books fast that make me worrisome of wanting to publish a novel. Especially fast readers like my mother. She reads on average 350~450 page books in three days. Some odd three years to write something meaningful and fairly long, three days to read through it and go, "Well, it was alright." Hergh. XD

Anyway, I never really get many recommendations from people since I never really knew anybody who loved books all that much. And the ones who did, only recommended me Dragonlance and Eragon. I am SO tired of dragon fantasy books, or the kind that have characters speaking in psuedo old language. I like fantasy, but it seems a lot of it is drowned in those type of books. I've ended up kind of losing faith in the genre. I look for something more edgy and different, but I think I've ended up too irritated to dig that far.

Anyway, sorry about that mini rant. Covers. To a truly epic book with so many different variables and things in it, I find that the back cover doesn't do much justice and the cover really is only good to see if you can get a visual of characters when they are physically described in the book and then you can match the character on the cover. I used to do that with a couple Robert Jordan books. With fantasy books I think I'm more inclined to like younger authors than older ones. Older ones, especially in the fantasy genre, seem more long winded sometimes. I get really tired of getting the comment from people, "You have to force your way through the first hundred or so pages, but it gets better after that!" They should be good and exciting mostly the whole way through, I feel. I don't need to read five pages on how green the ##### grass is. Kill some trolls or something. Gawd.

I'm doing it again. The edgier the cover, the more likely I would be to buy it. But I tend to like the darker type of storyline anyway. I'm also mostly talking about fantasy, I don't get much of a kick out of horror or thrillers. What thriller cover doesn't look dark? There's usually a knife or pools of blood on the cover somewhere XD. But overall, I'm not that judging of covers. Still, if it looks kind of dumb or crappy, I probably won't look very much into that particular book. The illustration does matter, but just as a face value to catch your attention to pick up the book.

LOLS, I don't think you should worry about it too much. I do agree it must be shattering to have someone quickly read through your work and deem it as merely "satisfactory", but for those who read it and find it meaningful and influential.....I would say it's worth it. :D Besides, it's not everyday that just anyone can affect others in such a massive scale.

Btw, I do agree on your stance with dragon fantasy. :\ I used to really enjoy reading dragon fantasy when I was younger. There was a particular author that I thought was especially talented at it, although I forgot her name. D: But series like Eragon kind of makes me want to shoot myself. .___. (sorry if you like it, lols. :D )

I usually just glance through the titles on the back until I see something that catches my eye.
take it down, check the genre and the cover.

still interested, then I borrow it!

... I bought maybe 3 books in my life (manga not accounted) borrowed the rest on the library!

I think the cover is quite important, it is one of the first thing one see, and it may affect how one feel about the story!
Especially if the main or other characters are portrayed, it will affect how one uses his/hers imagination when reading.

for example: for a fantasy I prefer a painted or drawed cover while a detective book shoul be some kind of photo!

The cover does have an affect on me since interesting covers makes me want to give the book a chance before deciding to get it or not and then I turn to read the blurb on the back.

Oddly enough, the title doesn't have a huge affect on me since 80% of the time it doesn't really describe what the book is about but I do get the symbolism of them after I finish the book.

I try not to look at the size of the book since it doesn't really tell me anything, I tend to open to book and look at the size of the printed text since sometimes a small book can have small text proving that the book maybe longer than its made out to be and also, overly big text or small text tend to put me off half the time... I'm picky at what type-face I'm reading too since I'm going to be staring at the book for hours, the typeface has to be easy for my eyes.

From that, I end up reading the first paragraph or page of the book to gain an insight of how the book is going to be written though, I might end up reading a random page from the center of the book rather than the beginning since introductions are usually boring for me.

Oh thank God. I've found a new friend! XD I liked reading those dragon fantasy ones a lot when I was younger too. I think for a lot of people, dragons and things like that are the precursor to leading into darker, more inventive fantasy interests. It always starts with the dragons and then slowly moves on into like, vampires or other things haha. I was the kid in junior high who had a ton of JNCO shirts that had nothing but dragons and skulls on them. I blame pokemon. If it wasn't for Charizard this never would have happened.

But yeah, it does get old after awhile. I remember reading a lot of dragons books with a female author. I think some from the Dragonlance series had two female writers or something...its been quite awhile, I don't remember. I'm glad you can understand my pain as well haha. Thanks for the support there, I'm sure my toiling work will be worth it someday, in some way. Well I'll be shutting up now since I don't really have much else to add to book covers.

Yus!! I have to admit that I read a lot less of it nowadays, but I remember the series I used to read a lot! Dragonriders of Pern. *o* It was a little complex for me, since I was around the ages of 7-10, but I remember loving it whenever I was able to really grab a hold of it. I also really liked this novel called Talking to Dragons, which was actually the last in a series by Patricia Wrede, but I wasn't able to read the rest of it.


....now I'm rambling. lols. /spam D:

In a bookstore, covers attract my attentions first. The visual side of me hates not pretty covers, so I do have a tendency to pick new series with nicer covers. But usually, I check who's the author first. If I know the author and I know I'll enjoy it, instantly on my to-buy list. If I don't know the author, then I'll go for the summary at the back. Gosh I hate those stupid books with recs instead of summary, how the f- do I judge like that?! Then if the book is not wrapped, I'll flip through a few pages and see if I like the style.

My buying a book is a complicated process. D:



Exire, I think you'll hate writing for people like me. If you're J.K. Rowling, you're so going to whack me after I sped through book six of Harry Potter in less than half of the day, then went "Meh, I hate this book". xD I just wiki-ed, and it says the book has 600+ pages.

Certain types of fonts on books really put me off. If it has these certain types i will not pick it up at all. Such as:



Nothing against the author, but she always uses this font on her books and because of that I just won't pick it up. Or this one:



My mum loves this author, but again i won't read it because i just hate that type of font. Too many books have it. Its unoriginal, and it comes with too many connotations of a cliched horror story or sickening romance novel. Well at least thats what springs to my mind when i see it.

I dunno Rina (Btw you are making a lot of thread recently eh lawl)

But this is one of the books that I own.



When I saw this book. I cannot get my eyes off it. Its... really too cute for a big man like me to resist. I read the summery of the book. But yeah... I just buy it without thinking much about the Plot lol.

So yes. I am pretty much a sucker for cute stuff lol.

What do you do then if its an E-book?

I've downloaded whole libraries of them, since I'm often away from bookstores and actual libraries and I can't actually go and find something new to read. I've had a lot of fun just picking random authors and diving into their worlds. Here is what I look for:

1. Its new and interesting, and the the characters are fun to read about.

2. The story is constantly changing, hence it doesn't stay and wrap around a single concept or place.

3. There are plenty of sequels, so I won't be left standing in the dark.

4. Its formated in a way that I can get it to read properly, hence not in a .txt document, but a pdf or a .lit file (microsoft reader) I can't stand it when I'm searching for the end of a paragraph and have to scroll sideways to find it, something my wireless mouse doesn't do very well.

I've actually really never had any experience with reading e-books. I suppose the only reason I'd read something online (assuming that I'm far from any library or book store) is if I've had it recommended to me or if it's gotten good reviews (by people/reviewers I can generally trust). Whether or not I'd like the book is up in the air, but I think that's how I'd go about with e-books, personally.

That had actually never occurred to me before, e-books. Most I ever read on the internet as far as novel type pieces go are all on forums as either role-plays or novels, short stories, poetry, etc. Even then, it's usually to give feedback of some sort (unless it's an RP, in which case I'm an actual participant in the writing process, so I'd hope that I read what goes before. >.o.).

I dunno. I'd never thought of that before. That's a good question. =).

yep

Horation Hornblower.