January 13, 2013

Horrible Book Covers #1

I was looking through the bookstore the other day and I was thinking how some books have such amazing, gorgeous, pick-me-up-you-have-to-read-me covers, and other books have horrible, dreadful, pass-me-over-my-story-will-suck covers.  I truly believe a cover can make or break whether someone picks up a book.  Not always, but especially when the story is not well-known.   Here are some book covers that had me wondering, what was the publisher thinking?

Note: This list has nothing to do with the story inside, just the covers.



      


      


      


      


   

    



What do YOU think?  Which do you think are the worst?  Any that you think aren't so bad?  

20 comments:

  1. Some of those covers made me laugh! I agree a cover can make or break a book, especially for a new author.

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  2. What a fun collection! Some of those are REALLY bad, and look like they're put out by major publishing companies, which surprises me.

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  3. I know that we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but it isn't easy! The cover for Tears of a Clown really creeped me out! And some of the covers for self published books are really bad! :o

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  4. While I do not think a few of them are that bad, some of them are distracting! As much as a book cover shouldn't matter, in reality when there are millions of books to choose from, the book cover it what usually entices people to take a closer look.

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  5. I don't think Walking Disaster's cover is bad. I'll admit that it's not a cover that I'm like OHHH, I have to read that right now, but since it's a sequel, it's already going to have readers.

    The others though...Hmmm...I don't even know. I don't understand the God is in the Pancakes one. It seems very...randomly placed. Weird.

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  6. Covers absolutely make a difference. One of my favorite things to do is to walk through the bookstore without looking for anything specific, but just looking for whatever catches my eye. In other words, the cover has to grab me.

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  7. Haha, the clown one. That's p r e t t y bad.


    I actually have that copy of The Queen of Attolia! Not the best cover, but it does make sense if you read the book.

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  8. The worst of these might be Underneath -- a hazy girl with a bunch of little, wobbly people falling on her head? Either that is a really weird story or just a weird cover.

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  9. Of all of these, the clown one is the worst!!

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  10. That clown one is freaky. Agree, these are not good.

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  11. Yea, I wonder if it has anything to do with a story line, too, or just a really bad art concept.

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  12. Well, that is good to know on that one. I could not figure out what that cover was supposed to represent!

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  13. I do the exact same thing! A good cover can inspire me to pick up a book I otherwise would have passed by.

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  14. I agree it is one of the 2 I wasn't sure whether I should include, but in the end I just threw it in there. I didn't know it was a sequel, so that does help it. I thought it looked a little jumbly.


    God is in the Pancakes was one of the weirdest to me, too!

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  15. I don't think a book should be judged solely on its cover, but it is much easier to get to the point you enjoy the story if it starts by grabbing your eye with a cover. I think, unfortunately, it is like having a pretty face or wearing an eye-popping accessory. It has nothing to do with how awesome the inside is, but it gets you interested in finding out.

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  16. I try to be open minded about self-pubs, but there is something to be said for plain covers over bad visual covers.

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  17. Yes, I think there is a good mix in there with pubs. I would be upset if I was an author who was going through a major pub and my cover ended up looking like one of these!

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