Judging Books (& their readers)By Their Covers

 You’re listening to Brayzen Bookwyrm’s Unrighteous Reading Rebellion. A reformed booksnob’s journey and musings through all things Romance. Some language may not be safe for all ears. Frequent usage of sarcasm may occur. 

So, how likely are you to judge a book by its cover? What about the person reading that book?

I’m very much a “You do you” type of person. And I’ve noticed that applies to both the authors who choose the covers for their books and the people who choose which covers to buy.

Now, I know a lot of people have that confused dog head tilt going on right now. So let me explain:

There’s been a lot of chatter and discussion on the socials lately about what are being called discreet covers for romance novels. discreet covers are covers that don’t advertise the book as a romance novel. No mancandy cover. They’re often just a title, or title with artwork that doesn’t represent what the book is about. And I 100% understand why people who love them, love them.  

Now, I’m a Kindle reader, so unless you’re reading over my shoulder, or I choose to tell you what I’m reading, you’ll have no clue what I’m reading just by looking at me. And if you do ask, and I don’t want you to know, I could just lie and tell you I’m reading Dickens. Although, I might get judged harsher for voluntarily reading Dickens than a romance novel. But when I first started reading romance novels, if I did read paperbacks, there was a time I would not have brought one with me out in public. Because, yeah, I was terrified of being judged. 

Part of my recovering book snob process was owning what I was reading in public. And to friends and family. But there were still places i read that might not have been appropriate for a suggestive eye candy cover. Like the front desk at the dojo. Because I really didn’t need the young ones asking what I was reading. And in that professional capacity it’s not really appropriate convo.

I honestly wasn’t even really aware of discreet covers until recently. Now, I knew about alternate covers, and maybe they fall into the same category? And I really was only made aware of those because of an author I started to follow.  If you’re not familiar with A.M. Johnson, well, 1- you should acquaint yourself with her books. She writes a variety of contemporary, new adult, and male male romance novels.  I’ve only read her MM books (so far) and she quickly became one of my faves. Her books are poetic. Really beautifully written. And she has alternate illustrated covers for the books in her For Him series. And they are stunning. But I don’t really think of them as discreet covers because they very clearly depict two men and allude to a relationship between the two. They’re not available on Amazon.  The amazon covers for those books are beautiful photographic eyecandy covers. So I guess the illustrated covers are a little less obvious than the mancandy cover, but they are not hiding the fact that the person is reading a romance novel.

Like I said, I’m a you do you type of person. So I won’t judge someone for purchasing a discreet cover. Read what you want how you want.  But wow, there have been some very- exuberant- opinions in some on-line discussions about people who do.  One interesting point brought up was the discreet covers continue the book shaming attitude that romance novels and their readers should be keep behind closed doors.  Whoa. Um, ok. That’s definitely interesting. It did give me food for thought. And here are my thoughts….   If reading a romance novel with a discreet cover allows someone to read a romance novel where they normally wouldn’t read it at all, I count that as a plus. Because if that cover wasn’t available, they may not have bought the book at all. And then the author loses a reader. Plus, I think it’s up to each person to find their comfort level and zone in what they read, and where.  Maybe that reader is new to reading romance and isn’t confident defending themselves against judgy busy bodies yet. Or maybe they want to be able to read somewhere that a romance novel cover may not be professionally or situationally appropriate (I know a bunch of preschool teachers who read during their students’ naptimes).  

Oh oh— maybe they want someone to ask what they’re reading instead of just getting the info from the cover. Maybe they’re a bookstrovert- and their goal is getting someone to start a conversation by asking what they’re reading so they can tell them all about it. I might be curious enough to ask if I saw an intriguing title and the cover didn’t give away what type of book it was.

But, then again, if I see someone reading a book that is obviously a romance novel, I consider them an instant friend and will just interrupt to tell them how much I love romance novels. And if I know the book or author they’re reading, we’re already book besties and I will inadvertently monopolize their time talking about the book or author until they either give in or walk away.  Now how’s that a big step forward in my book snob reformation.  Seriously, for as introverted as I am in public, the only way to get me talking to a stranger is for them to be reading a book I’ve read, or an author I love, or any random romance novel.

Maybe a fan of an author wants to buy books for a friend or family member who they know is not quite comfy reading romance in public.  Bam- discreet cover! Problem solved! They can open that gift at their holiday celebration in front of their judgy relatives and not have to justify or explain a damn thing. And who doesn’t want books as a gift?  Right?  I mean, I’m not turning down the gift of a good book. Ever. Never ever ever.

Either way- it’s kinda the reader’s choice, right? If they want to read a book with a discreet cover, that’s absolutely none of my business.

Now all of this got me thinking about the financial side as well.  If an author can gain more readers, sell more paperbacks, if they have discreet covers, that’s a good thing. I know a shit ton of work goes into cover design. Whether it’s a photographic cover or an illustrated cover- there’s a lot of time and money involved in that process. Even photographic covers need graphic design expertise for titling, spacing, and sometimes ever adding or removing backgrounds to make the model & pose match the theme of the book. And a discreet cover is one more option that an author has to consider in that cover’s budget. If it’s worth it to them to design, market, and print it to increase readership, then it’s worth it. Period. 

Okay- here come the brain squirrels.  Illustrated vs mancandy/photographic vs discreet.  Do you have a preference?  I love them all! As long as it’s a well made cover. Which was another discussion recently. How much of an influence in your purchase is the cover to begin with?  I gotta admit, it was important to me, then it wasn’t then it was again.  Ok, I know- explain:

When I first started reading, eye catching covers drew me in. Didn’t matter if it was eye candy, artistic photographic, illustrated… I was drawn to a book by its cover because I was new and those ads were, well, eye catching.  Once I started reading books based on other reader & author recommendations, I didn’t really look at the covers too much at all. You know when that changed? When I started posting reviews on social media with a graphic containing the book cover.  Yeah, I know, right? That became advertising for what I was reading and recommending to others. And some covers naturally drew the eye and attention more than other. I even did a blog post on covers and posted a poll in several groups. And the interesting part was, even though a bunch of people posted they rarely looked at covers since they read on Kindle, those who did look at covers had very specific opinions- and it came down to the book’s genre. Interesting, I know.  A male model eyecandy cover sold hard in romantic suspense, paranormal, and bdsm.  Illustrated covers were favored for rom-coms. Regency readers liked either a woman on the cover or a couple.  And it was a split group on contemporary between artistic photography (think a picture of a farmhouse idyllic setting, or a mountainscape), male cover model (actually typically in a shirt/suit), and illustrated covers.

Ok wrap it up, right?  So, here’s my thoughts on the whole cover conversation.  Authors spend a crapton of time designing and choosing covers that best represent their work.  The vast majority of people looking for books on Amazon, in bookstores, and in the library are still attracted by visual cues and a good or bad cover can make or break a book. Ads are still important to authors who market on-line, and flash (and sometimes flesh) sells. But, building readership is also important to authors, and if they can accomplish that by offering a discreet cover, that’s pretty important too. And with today’s world of social media outlets (heck a book can go viral on TT without the cover ever being shown), then having multiple options for readers becomes a true selling point. 

So, I’m still waiting on older spawn’s help with a nifty intro with all my info on it. But for now, just know you can find the blog at brayzensblog.com and now you can also access my rambling notes on each podcast there as well. You’ll find me on Facebook at Brayzen Bookwyrm’s Unrighteous Reading Rebellion, on Instagram and Tiktok as Brayzen Bookwyrm, and remember it’s B-R-A-Y-Z-E-N B-O-O-K-W-Y-R-M   Yeah, I like the Y’s. I’m wyrd.

And let me know what you’d like to hear me ramble about. You can message me on FB or IG or email me at brayzenbookwyrm@gmailcom .

So that’s it for today. I’m so glad you’ve decided to pop in and join me on my first adventure in podcasting.  Can’t wait to connect with y’all again!