Smart Bitches Trashy Books | All of the romance, none of the bullshit.

Hi,

I will be defiantly taking the survey. Thanks for the info.

One thing that Tracie may want to consider ... although I shudder to say it ... is creating a my space group and use that.

you may have to filter through some crap and blinking shit on the page but you can get a lot of feedback.

Or start a blog and have the comments need to be approved...that way it can still be blind.

Thanks for lett ing us know about the survey, Sarah! I took it, and it was very interesting. I hope Tracie can share with us some of the findings.

Taking the survey actually made me realize that I prefer covers that don’t depict people, either in paintings or in photographs. Not only does it interfere with my creation of a mental image for the character(s) depicted, but I prefer a cleaner, more modern look to covers.

As I’ve said before, I abhor clinch covers; I don’t buy them new or used, and I don’t check them out of the library. I find them demeaning to the genre, and an easy target for people outside the genre to make fun of romance. Why do we keep setting ourselves up for it?

I’ll go answer the survey, too.

Just want to point out that I don’t shy away from covers because of what people at the check-out or in public might think of my reading material.  I’m a writer and I’m rarely in public.  I worry more about the covers I leave around the house.  There are quite a few books I might have bought if the covers didn’t look like they belonged on porno flicks.

I love me some sexy covers...but subtlety is nice, too.

I took that survey.

I think covers and catchy blurbs are highly important. Packaging is everything and quality starts at the first impression.

A wonderful story can overcome these things but rarely will it sell well without them.

I took the survey as well. While I’ll read anything, I will not buy a book with an explicit cover (unless I down load it) because of the kids. Vampire Queen’s Servant was about as far as I was willing to go.

I took it too.

Unless there is naked people on the cover, I don’t care. It’s what’s inside that counts (*gag* Did I just say that? I really am a Mom.)

the bodacious mantitty found on the covers

I think the old Johanna Lindsey or Catherine Coulter original covers you have shown on the blog here gave those books a specific character.

I see some of those covers and I can immediately remember the storyline and what I thought of the hero/heroine etc etc. It’s like they are embedded in my memory. It makes me sad to see them repackaged without the lurid covers.

The same is true for the original covers of the fantasy books I have read like J.R. Tolkien, Andre Norton or Ursula K. Le Guin.

They may look classier in the new fangled cover but they are not as memorable to me. I think packaging goes hand in hand with the experience of reading the story and is very important.

I took the survey too.

I would tend to agree with Tracie’s thesis.  There are books I won’t buy (at the brick and mortar store anyway LOL) b/c of the cover.

While I don’t mind a good looking man on the cover, I won’t take certain covers out in public or to work to read on break (I’m a elementary substitute teacher!!). 

Through the survey I found that I’m not really picky about my covers. I can really handle anything except what I call TMI covers.  I don’t think we need half naked people or people practically having sex on the covers for people to know what’s inside. I don’t like covers that scream “there be sex in here” LOL

I guess I’m more about the subtle cover.

While I don’t tend to leave them out in the public spaces in the house when we’re expecting company, in general the riskier covers don’t bug me.

It’s the hideous covers that do.  If they are dreadful, I don’t buy the book, just not gonna happen, well, with one exception, and I’m mortified to admit it, but hey, you bitches are like family.

<<=== hangs head down in shame

I bought those two self-published Dara Joy books—remember That Familiar Touch, with the weird dayglow pink cover and the strange colored spaghetti hair? 

My only excuse was I was desperate to find out what happened to Traed.  DH saw the cover & couldn’t stop laughing.  I didn’t have the heart to sell it on E-bay (but probably should’ve when the price was over $100), so now it languishes hidden upside down on the very bottom of my bookshelf.

My security word is school78—& boy are we learning a lot today.  :-)

I tried to take the survey, but got an error that it’s currently closed.  :-(

And in the ultimate irony, my spam word is closed21

I got the message that the survey was closed too.  :/

I don’t necessarily ban the clinch covers from my buying list.  But they are the dead last ones I look at in the store.  I’m not entirely sure why that is.  I think maybe I associate them with the old school Alpha=asshole books, which I don’t really like much.  However, if I get ‘em free, or really cheap, or if the reviews are out of sight, I don’t balk at carrying them around on my break either.

The survey says it’s closed- Tracie, you may want to move it to somewhere where it doesn’t have a limit on the number of responses.

Will covers make me not buy a book? In a way. If the book has a cover that I look at and shudder, I’m not likely to pick it up and read the back blurb.

As the people before me have said, it’s currently closed, but I’ll take it if it does come up again. :)

About the subject: I know it’s one of those things you’re not supposed to do, but I really judge a book by its cover.

If it looks all neutral and well, dull, I would wait until I had nothing else to read or reread before actually buying it and reading it. Bright and colourful book covers really appeal to me. The book might turn out to be complete crap, but so be it. Most often it’s been the other way around.

However… being only 20 years old, I’ve often had to hide the more graphic book covers from my parents ("er, no, I think I’ll stay in my room reading instead of reading in the livingroom with everyone else"), and if I’m going to take a book with me outside/in public, it’s one that hasn’t got a half naked couple making out on the covers, not one that has. =P

Less explaining needed from my side then, and therefore more time to actually read and enjoy the book.

I’d like to vote for keeping the cover of “The Essence of Magic” sequestered indefinitely and brought out for the horror factor only under dire circumstances. If I were an evil publisher or editor or anyone else involved in such decisions, this would be my big ass threat for making authors behave as I want them to: Follow my instructions or THIS will be your next cover.

One thing that almost bothers me more than explicit or ridiculous covers is the summary on the back. Over-used exclamation points and italics, hyperbolic and eye-rolling descriptions of characters, their body parts and manliness or beauty, even the word “scorching”: all of these are sometimes more embarrassing than the covers themselves when viewed by a friend or relative standing at my bookshelf. I know the books are smarter than that and that I am as well. I just wish publishers wouldn’t stoop so low.

I second the request that “The Essence of Magic” cover be banished except in case of emergency! I don’t know why I thought I needed to click on the link to see it again - nauseating.

Suddenly19 - I wish I could be 19 again!

If a cover is pretty, shiny, or colorful enough I’ll pick a book up but if the blurb doesn’t interest me it goes back. If I pick it up and it has an Oprah Book Club stamp on it I don’t even read the blurb before it goes back.

I used to hide romance novel covers but as I get older I care less. In high school when other people didn’t read for fun my inclination was even bigger to hide the covers. No sense in being even weirder.

For anyone else that likes to keep their reading selections “private,” I can recommend the following website for beautiful leather covers just right for paperbacks.  The 4 1/2 x 7 x 1 inch will handle most paperbacks; the 4 1/2 x 7 x 1 1/2 size is good for fatter books.  You can even have it embossed with your initials or name.

http://www.renaissance-art.com

(Sorry - I couldn’t get the hotlink to work)

I agree about the blurbs because, well, the awfulness of romance covers is something I’ll never experience since I’m totally blind. But blurbs that either contain a breathless description of how hot and/or badass the hero and heroine are, or those stupid letters from the characters are huge turn-offs for me.

I wanted to take the survey… waaah!

Anyway, I avoid covers that scream “I’m reading a romance!!!” i.e. naked or semi-naked people in a clinch or even just a big bare chested man. If I really want to read it I’ll buy it on Amazon instead of in the bookstore.

I’m definitely attracted to beautiful covers and have bought books in the past just because I liked the cover.

“If I were an evil publisher or editor or anyone else involved in such decisions, this would be my big ass threat for making authors behave as I want them to: Follow my instructions or THIS will be your next cover.” bwahahahahahahahahhaahahaha the ultimate blackmail weapon!

They actually changed The Essence of Magic recently to an entirely new cover.

I’m on an erotic romance kick, and the best place to find them is online.  But some of those e-book covers can be horrid!  I try to dissociate from the image and simply read the blurb, but it’s often difficult.

I am relatively new to reading romance and it isn’t my primary genre, so I generally only read books that have been recommended to me or I’ve read good reviews for. I rarely walk into a store and browse the selection. And when I do, I am generally browsing titles and names for a spark of recognition ‘oh, so and so said I should read her’. Therefore, a cover wouldn’t make a difference to me one way or another in terms of buying. I probably wouldn’t bring a racy cover to work, but I would definately still buy it and read it in non-work public places and at home.

I remember my mom (who buys and reads a TON of romance) saying once that she tried to avoid the Fabio/bodice ripper covers as she called them, but I also remember her handing me books saying ‘ignore the cover’. She recently told me she rarely reads historicals anymore (which would tend to be the ones with the clinch covers) because they tend to be so rediculous and historically inaccurate, she could no longer suspend disbelief. I do remember her reading books with clinch covers back in the early nineties, however.

Of the box ‘o books I got that had passed between her and my aunt (who is also a voracious romance/women’s fiction reader), I see not a single clinch cover. I see a lot of Nora Roberts, Jennifer Crusie, some romantic suspense and paranormal. That could also be a reflection on what she thought I would like.

I don’t shy away from any type of cover if the author is on my fave list, but I do have to hide some of them from my kids, who ask too many unanswerable questions.

In the bookstore, I find myself going for the bright, shinny covers, but also for the covers that resemble ones on books I’ve enjoyed.  For instance, when I was into contemporary romances and cartoon covers were popular, I would pick up any book with this type of cover.  I would read the blurb before I bought it, but the cover would grab my attention.

Ok… does anyone have a link to “The Essence of Magic” book cover.  I have to see it now.

Survey still closed, I’ll check back later.  Good luck Tracie, I hope your paper becomes required reading for all publishing execs. 

For sure my book buying is influenced by the cover, less so for my well known favorite authors.  But impulse buying at the bookstore?  Big time yes.  Ugly or sexually graphic will get passed by.  Later discovered some of these were really good, but just couldn’t bring myself to touch them in public.  If I keep hearing good reviews & recommendations, I will trye them (sometimes months or years later) but I’m much more likely to purchase them used or use the library...less money for author & publisher. 

Bright, pretty covers will def. get me to pick-up and read the blurb, and maybe convince me to try a new author.  This is how I recently discovered Rob Thurman and Faith Hunter.

I take my books everywhere, so often cover them for protection, or more often to save myself and/or others embarrassement.  A few days ago, took the new Lora Leigh to dentist, and forgot it in the restroom.  When I returned for it and hour or so later, the cover was half off.  Someone had been peeking!

What a timely topic as I just got the cover “draft” for my next book moments ago. It’s beautiful - at least to me :)

I don’t particularly like faces or people on my covers - books I’m reading or books I’m writing. I’d rather leave all that to the imagination, mine and that of my readers.

I have picked up books with atrocious covers to read the blurb and wouldn’t let a cover keep me from trying a book that sounded okay in spite of the cover, but I might think twice about carrying it around with me.

You really do rig the spam word don’t you? Mine - eyes61

Hey everybody! Sorry about the technical difficulties, but thank you so much for all your help! Below are two links for the same survey-I just copied them into new files, so you can click either one. Let me know if there are any more problems.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=cyTnex_2b65u_2fUJHOwXVcM3g_3d_3d

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Rcd6xtuV7ZxxdXNuwFrtGg_3d_3d

The cover of a book wont keep me from buying it if I want it bad enough, but it will keep me from taking it out in public.

As a lit student, there are definately books I would not want my classmates to see me reading on campus.  Literature majors, particularly in the creative writing department as I am, are notorious book snobs.  Even the new renters in my house caught my Lisa Klepas novel and essentilly went “ZOMG BODDICE RIPPPER!!1!” I don’t want to feel like I have to excuse my reading, however if somebody asks me about what I’m reading I don’t want to have to give a speech about how I shouldn’t have to excuse my reading.  Not to mention, books are a frequent flirting intro at school--cute guy sees me with a book and asks me what I’m reading I don’t want him to think my ideal is a mantitty who’ll throw me on the back of a horse, I want to get asked for coffee.

I think buying a nauty cover is a lot like buying tampons--you dont want to purchase when a potential mate is behind the register, but if you need it bad enough, you put on a ‘too cool for you’ expression and set it on the counter.

Lurid covers will make me want to buy the book. If I wanted to buy a non-pornographic book I would, but when it comes to reading trash I want to be assured that there is indeed sex between the covers by seeing sex on the cover.

And one can always use brown paper to camouflage it when reading in public.

Just today I bought a book entirely for its cover, and it was, in fact, the fault of this site.  I’ve chortled at the mockery of mullets.  I’ve had my mind seared by the mantitty.  And when I saw Gentle Rogue on my library’s sale cart, I knew I had to have it.  I will admit to wishing I’d had something a little less Fabioriffic to go along with it when the librarian rung me up.  Like buying that Norton Anthology of Literature too would have cancelled out my sin.

I’m a fantasy junkie as a rule and have never been embarrassed by that cover art.  It does influence me to buy.  Those pretty, pretty Jody A. Lee paintings… I can’t resist taking a peek at the back flap and then I’m snared.  I want to see people, preferrably the protagonist, and if the cover depicts an actual scene so much the better.  On romances I like the clinch covers (when we aren’t talking plastic poser people because those creep me out, y’all).  They show the lead characters and remind me of the books my grandma read, and having some cheesy covers sprinkled through my collection makes me feel closer to her.

I took the survey!  I personally hate clinch covers and generally avoid buying them.  They’re stereotypical and usually the people are very unattractive (to me).  I love LKH covers.  You can take or leave her writing/story, but I think her covers are beautiful.  I also love Jackie Kessler’s cover on her first book.  Nora Roberts also has very attractive but tasteful covers.  That’s my sticking point.  I want the cover to be tasteful.  It can be sexy and have a mostly naked person on it (LKH) but make it look like the naked person is a work of art.

Gannet, I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understood you right.  Are you saying you think romance is trash?  If that is indeed the case why would you read it?  Despite popular belief it is not porn.  Also, a clinch scene does not indicate (to me) that there will be a sex scene in the book.  Nora Roberts has tasteful covers and she still includes sex in it.  I guess I don’t understand your reasoning… or the trash comment.

I took the survey. Interesting questions. Good luck, Tracie!

I hate the clinch covers, though I still buy many of the books. My husband has a field day making fun of the worst of them.

My kiddo and I sometimes hang out at our local B&N store where he plays Thomas the Train while I read the book I’m going to buy. The more lurid the cover the less likely I am to buy that book in those visits, even if it’s my favorite author or much anticipated book. The books with the clinch insert tipped under the cover are better, and artistic covers with no people at all are perfect for these visits. As long as they are not pink.

Where clinch (and cliched) covers used to work for me is with completely unknown authors, especially when I’m in the mood for a specific era/location/subgenre. Now I look online before going to a store or library and make a list of things to seek out.

I might be in the minority here, but something that captures my attention is publisher name. I know what I’m getting into with Avon. Berkeley Sensation. Ellora’s Cave. Aphrodisia. When I want something new, I look for the publisher’s logo.

I mostly avoid Harlequin--the writing is too uneven; Signet and Dorchester are both generally reliable. Avon is usually grade A trustworthy. Berkeley Sensation promises to be hot and generally well-written. Ellora’s Cave will be hot, but it might lack in plot or writing. Sometimes I wish I could track an editor’s selections--I have a feeling a few specific ladies choose 85% of the romance novels that I read.

If I want a book, I’ll buy it no matter what the cover looks like. I will probably hide the cover if it’s too embarrassing, though.

Authors I love I will purchase no matter what, so that’s moot. But new authors/casual browsing definitely need to have intriguing covers.

Case in point: I actually grabbed a copy of “Once Bitten, Twice Shy” from the bookshelf at Barnes & Noble before this site did the review for it, entranced, simply because of that awesome, awesome cover.

Also, because the cover made it look like the main character, Jaz, was a woman of color.

I was therefore kind of annoyed when I found out that the main character is, as far as I can tell, not a woman of color. I felt like the cover had lied to me, tricked me into picking up the book.

So, my rules: DO NOT LIE TO ME, BOOK COVER!!

As for colors/people/flashy vs. subdued, different people are attracted to differnt moods. And of course the genre plays a big part. A thriller shouldn’t have a subdued cover, and a gentle romance shouldn’t have a loud cover. Once again, DON’T LIE, BOOK COVERS!

LOL. I’m writing my own dissertation. Better stop while I’m ahead.

“So, my rules: DO NOT LIE TO ME, BOOK COVER!!”

This is a major one for me.  I am a huge historical fiction fan but have an aversion to historical romance (although I love contemporary).  A number of recent HR covers are meant to look like true historical fiction.  I can’t even tell you how pissed off I get by that.  It’s gotten to the point that I won’t buy books without checking them out on Amazon.  If it’s HR, then usually someone else has been fooled already.

Every book I cited as my memorable or best liked cover was fantasy:  Thomas Canty and Michael Whelan actually.  My least liked with anything with out of proportion bodies a la Changeling Press.  I had forgotten the title of Essence of Magic, but that was the one I was thinking of along with several of the other covers that have been snarked here.  I also like covers that feature pre-Raphaelite pictures-- I don’t have to think that the cover represents a person in the book, just that the mood be similar.

Took the survey. 

It was interesting since I never really thought about the covers.  There are times when I am embarrassed buying a book, but my desire to have it trumps the embarrassment factor :) As for cover designs, I’m still up in the air about landscape versus people versus all her other options ;) Hope it helps!

Darn it… this reminded me that there is a technical name for the kind of paperback front cover that is folded so that it can be opened out to a larger image inside. I read the name here and now I can’t remember it? Can anyone help me out?

Took the survey.

I am one who judges the book by its cover.  I know I shouldn’t but I do.

Yes!  Jody A. Lee covers instantly suck me in, probably because of all the Mercedes Lackey books she’s done.  Whelan is always a good bet, too.  All those McCaffrey covers have to mean something, right?

Because I generally read predominantly fantasy, my “OMG NO WAY” artist is Darryl K. Sweet.  If the Wheel of Time books hadn’t been repeatedly recommended to me, I would have never read them because I don’t like his art.  All his men are manly men, and all the women are petite, busty, and doe-eyed.  As anyone who’s read the WoT series knows, the last thing I’d call Nynaeve is doe-eyed.  Sweet does a lot of covers for Piers Anthony’s Xanth series, too, but they seem more appropriate for the Xanth ladies and men than some of the WoT characters.

Worst cover of a book I’ve read (that was actually a good book despite the cover)? “Heather and Velvet” by Teresa Medeiros. Talk about embarassing! Trying to read romance novels on public transportation is tough. Makes me want to buy cover covers which defeats the purpose of the book cover in the first place. I totally agree with those of you who don’t like pictures of people on book covers. Designs, animals, fangs...fine by me. Fabio? NO. NO. NO. NOOO.

Brandi:  I think that’s called a step-back cover.

That’s it. Thanks!

I took the survey.  But as soon as I finished it I thought of a few things I meant to add but didn’t.  So I’ll add them here for Tracie to see rather than go through the survey again.

I started reading romance novels in the 1980s when I was a teenager.  Back then I was embarrassed to be seen buying them in the bookstore and would hide them in a pile of age appropriate books.  Now, as an adult and knowing a ton of intelligent women who read them...well I don’t hide them or feel embarrassed to be seen buying them anymore.  The internet has taken the stigma out of reading romance for me.

I agree with the commentor above who mentioned how memorable covers used to be versus with they have become now.  I take a Johanna Lindsey from the 1980s off my shelf and based on Elaine’s cover art I instantly can remember what the story was about.  If I take a recent Julia Quinn or Lisa Kleypas or Mary Balogh off my shelf from two years ago and look at the cover I’m lucky if I remember when I read it last let alone who the hero or heroine were.  The later all have classy covers.  But they are bland and unspecific to the book and unmemorable.

95% of the time, when I buy a book, it is because of previous experience with the author or the fact that it has been blogged about or recommended by friends online.  The remaining 5% of the books I buy are the books I bought because of the cover...which means it spoke to me from the bookshelf and invited me to pick it up.

I agree with the summaries being a turn off. If the summary sucks, I’m likely to just ignore the book. I want to know if I’ll like the story, not if the hero is hot.

I definitely agree that if the book cover is awful I’ll ignore it for know authors, but I’ll usually breeze right by it if I don’t already know it will be good.

In addition, I have bought books based solely on the cover art. I have a few cover artists I really love, and if they did the art, it does make me buy the book. If a cover is too simple, or too abstract, it turns me off the book, even sometimes by authors I know.

I have never in my life gone into a bookshop, seen a bodice ripper cover, and picked the book up to see what it was about.

Thanks for the really cool survey! What an interesting topic.

I agree totally with “Peaches” that a cover won’t keep me from buying a book I really want but will keep me from taking it out in public. In fact, I have a collection of cloth book covers from when I used to take public transportation to work and that I still use on occasion, which really defeats the point of the actual cover.

I really would prefer it if they didn’t include people on the covers. I much perfer to fill in the blanks myself. Plus, I end up reading those book sooner if I can tote them around to the gym, on errands, at lunch, etc. My office has a very strict sexual harassment policy and I don’t want to tempt fate by carrying in some of my Blaze or Ellora’s Cave books.

Someone else mentioned the cartoon covers and I HATED those. It made me feel too YA-ish and like the books were too young for me (I’m only 36). But I also didn’t like those books either so I think that could be where my distaste came from.

I will never forget the mocking I endured one Thanksgiving when I was about 16 or so and my cousins found my Fabio book stash. Those covers are just too mortifying to a 16 year old!

Overall, I prefer the tasteful covers.

I prefer covers that don’t have people on the front. When asked for suggestions from my publisher we collaborated on a clean, simple design and I think it looks very nice. At least it prompts compliments from the two booksellers I’ve approached so far.

My daughter says she is drawn to covers that contain a dominant light blue colour. She doesn’t know why, they just attract her.

I tried to do it but it was closed :(

Surveys were all maxed out, so I couldnt take them…

I know that personally, I’m very self conscious about what books I read. People always want to know what I’m reading, and what is it about, and OMG is that gay pirates! (Yes, it was.) So I’m overly aware of the fact that if the wrong person finds out I’m ready gay pirate menage BDSM erotica, that might screw around with my social status within school a bit…

Judgmental is my grade.

Even beyond that, I’m very big on trying to earn the respect of people who I myself respect. For example, this year I am trying to work myself up in my English teacher’s esteem, because he’s a tough grader and I want to prove that I can do well in his class. And I read a lot in his class. And yesterday he made a few disparaging remarks about romance novels, basically saying that I could read anything I wanted for an extra credit project, but it had to be something of substance that has actual value, not anything like a romance.

So if Mr T catches me reading Slave to Sensation like my History teacher did last year, I doubt that passing the book off as Slaveto Sensation, its about dancing, is going to work. And in Mr Ts eyes, I know that whether he acknowledges it or not, his estimation of me will drop because I’m reading a romance.

So what the cover looks like plays in hugely with whether or not I’ll read the book in public. Not so much whether I’ll buy it, because the majority of my purchases are done through Amazon so I’m not interacting with an actual person who’s going to start making judgments. But it is hugely unlikely that I’m going to be running around school reading a book with a passionate, love struck, groping, making out, bodice spilling couple on the cover. Because its a bit embarrassing, fielding all those sideways glances, and I get tired of defending the fact that yeah, I actually like reading this and no, its not all like the library’s give away pile.

My personal favorites seem to be close up type covers, like Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen, or the Raised by Wolves series by W.A. Hoffman, who used reproductions of an artists work that pertained to the time period and story. I seem to lean either toward close up and simple or extremely detailed artistic representations. I apparently like extremes.

Oh god, Darrell K. Sweet.  I said something in my survey answers about it counting against a book if the cover was supposed to have humans on it but instead featured squat, half-formed trolls, and I admit I was thinking of him.

(Sorry, Mr. Sweet.  You’re a far better artist than I’ll ever be--and a scan of my Xanth books reminds me you’ve done nice things--but why is everyone in your Randland so short and weirdly clay-faced?)

Clearly a popular survey, links are already full again.

I like pretty covers, actual people not totally necessary.  One of my pet cover peeves (besides bodice rippers) is the cover featuring the back (usually naked) of the heroine, with a necklace hanging down her back.  I absolutely HATE them, and I have yet to actually read such a scene in a book.  IMO those covers are like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I’m with DS.  My favorite covers are fantasy-based and tend to be by Thomas Canty and Michael Whelan.  I collect prints of both.  And I also love the pre-Raphaelite work, including the more modern artists influenced by those earlier artists.  Kinuko Craft and Amoreno come to mind.

Changeling Press - ick.  I mentioned this press as one with the most horrific covers I’d ever seen.

I have a friend, M, who turned me on to romance novels.  Her quirk is that she will only buy romances with awesome covers (at least, in terms of a new author.  She wouldn’t refuse an ugly covered Crusie or Kenyon).  She doesn’t even read the back of the book, or sample a chapter- she buys on the cover and on the cover alone. The thing that gets me- she’s not often wrong.  She may miss out on some great books- though if an author later has a great book cover she will often go back and buy the back catalogue- but most of the books she buys are pretty good. 

I do most of my reading in private, and I tend to buy romance novels either online or at the used book store, or I borrow them from M, so I never really think about embaressing covers.  I did choose carefully the book to leave in my work locker, though, so as not to let my coworkers know too much about what turns my crank, if women indeed have cranks.  I wouldn’t care about strangers on the train, though.

My grandpa, interestingly enough, read romance novels, and when they had the bodice-ripping cover, he would use this shiny black book cover thing that wouldn’t let the world know what he was reading.

If I pick it up and it has an Oprah Book Club stamp on it I don’t even read the blurb before it goes back.

Liz, I do the exact same thing.  I laugh at myself for being such a book snob when it comes to the Oprah stamp while I think nothing of reading romances. 

The Oprah thing is an interesting phenomenon to me.  For example, from what I understand, her latest thing has been “classic” books - I see them in the store with that little logo and think, “Yes, I loved that book.  It’s great that she’s exposing so many people to it.” Yet, I don’t want to buy a book with that little logo on it.  (Of course, in the case with these “classics” I already own them so no point buying them anyway.) I suppose I don’t want to give the world the impression that I need that kind of guidance in choosing something to read.  Even worse of me is that while I feel “above” it, I appreciate what Oprah has done to help expose so many people to good writing and exquisite storytelling.  I don’t think it can be a bad thing for more people to understand the value in these stories and these writers. 

[A part of me also wonders if there’s not something in there akin to how a person feels when their favorite obscure little band becomes famous.  There’s something in human nature that thrills at the idea that one’s in on a terrific secret in knowing about a fantastic artist that very few others know about.  But instead of turning on the artist with the sell out accusation when a larger audience is found, I’m turning on Oprah instead.]

And as for the point I probably should be addressing, I found the survey about book covers very interesting.  I had never really thought before about what attracts me in a book cover.  I now realize there is a common thread to the covers I’m drawn to that works across all genres (or could work, were romance to give it a try).  I now have a better idea of what I’d really like to see as opposed to before when all I could say was that I dislike nearly every romance cover I’ve ever seen.

I’m getting that the surveys are all closed.

Covers.  Yep, I think I do not prefer people on my covers when it comes to romance.  My least favorite are the bare-chested man-titty covers.

Have I let this influence me in my buying?  Possibly.  No, make that probably.