From an early age we are warned not to judge a book by its cover, but now that I am an adult, I question this advice. Why can’t we judge a book by the cover? Isn’t that why new books are displayed face out, to capture one’s attention? Why are book designers and illustrators paid good money to create attractive covers if they don’t matter? Now there are certain books I will buy no matter what the cover is, but with undiscovered authors when I am wandering aimlessly through a bookstore? Something needs to catch my eye, and an ugly or boring cover isn’t going to do it.
So let’s conduct a little experiment here. Following are four covers for the same book, Chinua Achebe’s seminal Things Fall Apart.
Pretty different, aren’t they? Now let’s assume you had never heard of this book. If you saw these lined up on a shelf, would you stop to investigate any of them? Personally I am attracted to the anniversary edition cover. I would buy that book for the cover! The red and orange one? Not so much, but then, that is the cover sported by the school-copy edition I read.
A captivating cover leads me to anticipate what kind of magic is on the pages within and inspires me to take a chance on that book. Call it superficial if you want, but if you’re the publisher who produced that book, you win.
