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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A Great Title

How important is the title of a book?
When I’m looking for a new book, I cruise the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section to begin with. After that, the book cover draws my attention.

(Let me say right now to all the illustrators and design folk: I am tired of the gal facing away with tattoos running around her naked waist. Loved it the first time I saw it, but now, blech. Find something different, people)

After the cover, the title of a book grabs me. It can keep me from moving on or even worse, roll my eyes. In the latter category, something like Love’s Savage Fury actually turns my stomach.

*must pause now to recover from actually typing the words*

I look for something in my favored genre and piques my interest. Single-worded titles pull me in, black covers, and pictures.







Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick is a great example.










What title or cover snags your interest?

7 comments:

mshatch said...

The book MATCHED had a lovely cover and a story to back it up. CLOCKWORK ANGEL comes to mind, and THE REPLACEMENT cover perfectly fits the story - to name a few.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Yeah covers are exceptionally important.

Tara Tyler said...

i love the cover of Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (got it for xmas =) & A Night of Blacker Darkness by Dan Wells (hilarious, black comedy)

also tired of the wispy, floaty, sultry girls on covers, so many! but its also not my genre...

Tara Tyler said...

ps, i made my own amateur cover to inspire me. simple but it makes me smile =)

Angela Brown said...

There are so many covers of girls in gowns on covers that I'm certain that is the hot trend. I happened to LOVE the cover of Possession by Elana Johnson. Beauty in its simplicty.

Mel Chesley said...

Titles have to be powerful, the cover art needs to reflect what is inside. If it has nothing to do with the story, I tend to put it down or feel disappointed. And I hate feeling disappointed about a book.

Unknown said...

Makes me glad I don't read YA (except for Garth Nix and Westerfeld), I'd get so sick of those covers.

My favorite cover is from Asimov's Foundation's Edge published by Del Rey in 1982 (no, I'm not that old). The revamped cover they sell today looks like someone went crazy with a highlighter pen.