AGHHH *scrubs eyes*

Hmmm. I usually read horror, SF and dark fantasy stuff, but some of those look - well, interestingly spicy. I agree about some of those covers, though...

I have a 1990-ish edition of a Stephen Donaldson anthology called Daughter of Regals with a cover illustration of the lead character of the title story - who's not supposed to be at all attractive physically - drawn looking eerily like me without the curly perm. (She is, however, one of the coolest, kick-butt female characters ever, so it's not all bad.)

I got as far as Windwarrior before I started making up my own plots for the covers and the titles of the books. Please don't make me elaborate on what I came up with for that particular book... *shudders*

BigWords said:

I got as far as Windwarrior before I started making up my own plots for the covers and the titles of the books. Please don't make me elaborate on what I came up with for that particular book... *shudders*

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*Cues up Spinal Tap's "Break Like The Wind."*

C'mon, hands up. Whose actually bought one of those books?

Don't be shy, I'm not going to mock.

Hum...they give me two reasons to ignore them. That's nice.

This shows how important good cover art is. Zeus discussed the covers of my books well in advance and asked for approval of the finished work. Lachesis asked for my ideas and asked me to send the photos I told them about. They said they'd use one of them in the general way I outlined but didn't show me proofs. The end result was very good though. I'm very lucky.

I used to buy bundles of books at a second hand store - 5 for $5, things like that. Some of them looked like they'd be awful but were actually pretty good.
Others were... well...

overtired said:

Some of them looked like they'd be awful but were actually pretty good.

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I forced myself to go back and actually click on the titles. The writing isn't bad, but would anyone buy them with those covers? They look so... Urgghhh. I feel like I need a bath after going back to the site.

But saying all that, I wouldn't write them off completely. I wouldn't buy from them, but if they are on the lookout for twisted, freaky romances I have a little something that is NOT going to be seen anywhere under my real name. Maybe I'll send them a sample...

So that's where the photoshop graphic dunces get work.......

Covers are very important to me. Yes, I judge a book by its cover. So you see, the answer to your question would have to be "no". I've never read a good book with a terrible cover because I don't read books with terrible covers, period. I draw the conclusion that if the publishing company didn't pay for at least a slightly skilled graphic artist, then perhaps they deemed the manuscript wasn't worth the extra money?

Highly flawed reasoning, I know, but that's what I fly with.

I don't read books with bad covers. I am a totally biased reader that judges books by covers alone. If it ain't pretty, I ain't readin'.

It's a romance novel. Nobody is expecting it to be any good or the cover to be pristine. lol

It's essentially porn for women.

Hmm, I think one of those is my old frat brother, Darren.

My personal favorite good book with an awful cover is this one:



I had to make a paper book cover for that one so I could carry it around in public! The original cover is actually kinda neat, but this one...bring me the brain bleach!

A lot of old SF paperbacks are like that - great stories, putrid covers. Of course, with some of those old mass-market paperbacks, you're lucky if the cover stays attached long enough for you to finish the book.

James81 said:

It's a romance novel. Nobody is expecting it to be any good or the cover to be pristine. lol

It's essentially porn for women.

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No, porn is porn for women. We're well aware of the difference. Keep drinking that soy milk and you'll see.

Meanwhile, I love these: Longmire does Romance Novels.

Kitty Pryde said:

My personal favorite good book with an awful cover is this one:

I had to make a paper book cover for that one so I could carry it around in public! The original cover is actually kinda neat, but this one...bring me the brain bleach!

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What's wrong with that one? Nice hooters on the slutty owl there.

aadams73 said:

No, porn is porn for women. We're well aware of the difference. Keep drinking that soy milk and you'll see.

Meanwhile, I love these: Longmire does Romance Novels.

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Romance novels are the very embodiment of the phrase "can't judge a book by its cover." A friend enlightened me to the fact that there can indeed be some really good stuff lurking under the cheesiest of covers. (And I'm a sucker for mysterious manor houses, windswept moors and brooding lords of the manor with dark secrets....)

Pagey's_Girl said:

Romance novels are the very embodiment of the phrase "can't judge a book by its cover." A friend enlightened me to the fact that there can indeed be some really good stuff lurking under the cheesiest of covers. (And I'm a sucker for mysterious manor houses, windswept moors and brooding lords of the manor with dark secrets....)

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I have a thing for old, creepy houses, so these are usually a winner. Unless they put a ghost in a window, as in... bedsheet with eyeholes ghost...

ButtonTheCat said:

I have a thing for old, creepy houses, so these are usually a winner. Unless they put a ghost in a window, as in... bedsheet with eyeholes ghost...

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What if the brooding lord of the manor's deep dark secret is that he likes to dress as a ghost and flash people riding up the driveway?

Don't mind me--I need more coffee.

aadams73 said:

What if the brooding lord of the manor's deep dark secret is that he likes to dress as a ghost and flash people riding up the driveway?

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Don't give them ideas:

Spirit Of Desire by Rampant Thrusting

A mysterious old mansion holds a secret which will change a young student's life forever. Her hormones raging, she...

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BigWords said:

Her hormones raging, she...

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lustily lusted after the sexy hearthrob. Together, they must save the universe, overcome evilness, and make mini-quiches before time runs out!

You can't leave an opening like that. That's just a lead.

This reminds me of when I was about 11 years old, somewhere in there, the library was getting rid of some of their duplicates/more worn books. I picked up on and it had a pretty tame cover, not back cover though so I couldn't read the synopsis. I bought like 5 books for .50 cents or something like that.

Took them home. Got to the one with the tame looking cover with no back synopsis and it was a bodice ripper! I was too young for this! They should warn people about that kind of stuff, and looking back now it was a really bad bodice ripper.

"His hard aching man probe reached for her soft petals of flesh."

Yeah. I haven't been able to read a strictly romance book since. I'm sure there are plenty of really good ones out there, but I was traumatized at too young of an age to reconcile.