Question: Pretty Covers Versus Awesome Titles
I took the liberty today of asking tilly-and-her-books what attracted her attention most, a pretty cover or a clever title. I iterated that’s more or less a snap decision, something many of us do without thinking. She replied ‘Cover, I’m a sucker for a book with a beautiful cover’. She then posed the same question to me, and I decided to reply formally.
My answer?
Clever titles always catch my attention before a cover does. I was raised (literally, by a bibliomaniac mother) to ‘never judge a book by the cover’. I’ve read everything from classics to Teen to YA, and back again. My tastes are as various as the fears in a fear landscape from Divergent, and probably make about as much sense to other people. But I always sort for information first, color second, and shape third. I’m logical.
Just today, I made a hasty library run after Other Half picked me up from work. I saw a spine with pretty gold letters that read ‘The Dark Lantern’ on it, and immediately made an intuitive decision: this book is about Victorian England and gas lamps are a thematic device. Turns out I was right. I saw the words, the color, and then was delighted by a spooky cover.
Oddly enough, this seems to be how my mind always selects books...