Top Ten Tuesday: Book Cover Trends I Like/Dislike

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and it's a way to share what you're loving in list form. The topic changes every week, so there is always something new to discover! 
This week's theme is:  Book Cover Trends I Like/Dislike.  I haven't really given much thought to this before, but there are definitely a few things that draw me in to a book.  If I don't like the cover art, I'm very hard pressed to pick up a book and read the synopsis. 

Here are a few things I like:
  1. I gravitate toward darker covers that have pops of color (black, white, and red are really dynamic).
  2. I think steampunk covers are pretty awesome.  They're gritty and have Victorian aspects that immediately draw my eye.
  3. Clean, simple covers also do the trick. 
  4. Font is also important...if it looks too childish (hello, Comic Sans), I'm probably not going to grab that book.  I like clean fonts.
  5. If there are characters on the cover and one of them is wearing an old-time dress (Medieval, Victorian, Regent, Southern, etc), I'll definitely check it out.
And a few things that I don't like:
  1. Angels.  Whether fallen, ethereal, etc...I just don't tend to like them.
  2. Fire or flames.  Boring! 
  3. Incredibly busy covers.  If I have to search too hard to figure out what the title is, who the author is, or what the cover is alluding too...no thank you.
  4. Speech bubbles...they look childish unless they are on a graphic novel/comic book.  I'm not drawn to them at all.  In fact, they might repel me away from a book.  Sad, but true.
  5. Abbreviations...or ampersands.  This is the English instructor in me.  I don't tend to shorten words, even in text messages.  I'll spell out "and".  I don't want to see it on a book cover.
Some of these make me sound incredibly picky!  Wow.  Honestly, I'll read just about anything that's put in front of my face.  Even if it's bad and I can't get into the book, I'll finish the damn thing because I have a problem leaving things unfinished.  I'm weird like that.  What are some of your favorite book cover trends?  Or ones you dislike?

Also, look for next week's Top Ten:  Favorite Classic Books

Happy reading!

Comments

  1. UnknownJune 24, 2014 at 12:36 PM

    I agree. Fire is so boring but so many use it! And I think ampersands are starting to be over used as well. Love your list!

    Our TTT

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MelJune 25, 2014 at 8:29 AM

      Yes and yes. Thanks for stopping by, Keira.

      Delete

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