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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Bookly Gabbing: Girls On Covers

Bookly Gabbing is just a feature here where I ramble about book-related subjects. And sometimes other-related subjects :)

Girls On Covers

I'll be the first to admit--I do judge books by their covers. I'm not at all ashamed. For me, they are an essential part of choosing a new book to read, and I know a lot of others feel the same way. So, being the complete cover whore I am, I am easily peeved by overrated trends. Lately, there is one thing I have noticed (everyone has, because it is IMPOSSIBLE to miss) and that is the excessive use of pretty girls on covers...


And especially girls in gorgeous dresses that flow in the wind or whatever.


I'm not saying these covers aren't gorgeous--because they totally are! But, uh, excuse me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure these books involve more than just...girls. I mean, Firelight is about dragons. Sure, they put some shimmery gold scales on the side of the girl's face, but really? THIS BOOK IS ABOUT DRAGONS AND THAT'S ALL YOU DO!? And The Calling? Were-cat things. There is absolutely no indication of that  in the cover. There's a girl. With some earrings. I could continue with the examples with just the books above. And that is just a very itsy-bitsy portion of these kinds of covers.

Now, I'm not saying that all covers with pretty girls on them (even if they're in dresses) are obnoxious or irrelevant.


I feel that these covers are absolutely fabulous for the books. When I see Nightshade and Scarlet I see the essence of both books captured perfectly in one picture. With Struck and Partials, I'm too busy looking at the background to even pay attention to the girls. All these covers are great because they do a fantastic job of expressing the inner contents of the books.

Another problem I have with this trend is that everyone is all, "Let's get guys to read more!" but how do publishers expect to do that if their books are screaming, "THIS IS A BOOK FOR GIRLS. LOOK HOW PRETTY I AM ON THE FRONT COVER WIFF MY PURDDY DRESS THAT I LIKE TO TWIRL IN!"

Look at City of Lost Souls, for example. The girl's hair is wind-blown, her dress is cascading behind her and the sexy guy is grasping her and they are staring into each other's eyes...Completely deceiving! We all know that The Mortal Instruments is perfect for both male and female audiences, but it doesn't appear that way. I would never guess the action that exists inside of those pages.

I love the covers that are based on the text or a symbol in the book (but not a symbol that no one understands unless they go on the author's website and find out what it means).



Like, I think the cover for Gravity is stunning and fresh and it always, always, always catches my eyes. Beautiful Redemption is, well, beautiful and mysterious.

That's my rant. As I said before, all of these covers are gorgeous, but the concept has been milked to a point where I am just agitated now.

So tell me, what do you think about these different covers? Do you think the idea has been overdone? Let's discuss ;D Feel free to disagree.

2 comments:

  1. I totally agree! And my biggest pet peeve was when they brought out a bunch of Jane Austen novels that were "Twilight-esque" (http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Pride-And-Prejudice-Jane-Austen/9780061964367-item.html?ikwid=pride+and+prejudice&ikwsec=Books) What the heck do these flowers have to do with Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hate to break it but I totally disagree. The flowing hair, the foot with a red shoe.. those turn me off

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and comment on my blog! I love to hear from my readers, whether they agree or disagree with my opinion :) I do my best to get back to every commenter, though I am not always successful. Heh...Anyway, I look forward to hearing what you have to say! :D

~ Gabbi
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