No, please do. In fact this makes my job so much easier. Most of you know by now that I work in a bookshop and subsequently put out hundreds of books on a daily basis.
But unless I’ve read the book I’m putting out, or have heard about it – how will I know which category to place it in? Easy – the cover.
Book covers are there to attract the reader and hopefully encourage them enough to turn it over and read the back. But what if the cover has no relation to the content?
Sad, depressing, somewhat disturbing real life accounts will have a picture of a sad child on the front, usually with a nice cursive font on the cover. Dave Pelzer, you have a lot to answer for. The title usually has the word “Mummy” or “Daddy” in; or “help”, or even “why”.
Business books come in two flavours. Either the boring cover with one or two colours, very text book looking, or it will be completely random and have a very “kiddy” look to it – trying to promote that business can be “fun”. Sure, business can be fun, but not reading about it. There’s a reason why the business section in bookshops are always a mess – because no one cares for them. Not really.
They almost always have a sub-title with something along the lines of: “The art of money: How to create, inspire and paint money into reality” – or some crap like that. I try to avoid putting these books out, they’re usually co-authored by about a million people and could fit into so many categories, they may as well be split into several books.
The kids books are my favourite. An array of pretty covers that usually come as part of a series as opposed to a singular book. Series are the best, they’re usually numbered in sequence (so putting them out is a complete breeze) and their titles are short (because kids need to be able to remember it). What’s even better? When you find a shifty looking adult browsing the kids section, hoping not to be caught out going for the “easy read.”
That’s why they invented adult cover editions – hello! Adult editions are funny things; it’s the same book yet it still manages to confuse people. Has the writing been changed to cater to the adult audience? No! It’s just the cover which has grown up so you don’t have feel embarrassed whilst on the tube reading a book whose cover depicts an eleven year old boy in a stripy scarf – I’m talking to you mature Harry Potter fans.
I’ve always been fascinated by the adult covers – they still have the title of the book on, so won’t people read it and realise you’re still reading a kid’s book? Why not just put it out there and show your inner child? Besides, they’re much more interesting to look at.
General fiction is probably both the easiest and hardest to figure out. Fiction is so varied, it comes in a variety of covers. Sometimes they try to be clever and look like something they’re not. Take for example: <a href=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/159/449831660_0fc76f8ce7.jpg”>This book will save your life</a> By A.M Homes – my first thought? Well, by the title alone I’d assume it’s a self help book. But no. Further inspection on the back tells a different story, litreally. What’s with the cover then? Doughnuts? Is it a self-help book telling you how to lose weight? Is it a book about cooking? About desserts?
No, no and no. It’s really about a guy called Richard who is modern day everyman; a middle-aged divorcee trading stocks out of his home. He has done such a good job getting his life under control that he needs no one. His life has slowed almost to a standstill, until two incidents conspire to hurl him back into the world.
Believe or not, it’s fiction. So off I go placing it accordingly whilst the book looks more out of place than a broken nose. If I can’t guess what sort of book it is by a quick glance, how do they expect a potential reader to be interested in buying it when they’d dismiss it for being something else entirely?
Another sub-genre of fiction is women’s fiction – chicklit, romance, a thriller-romance: thromance, whatever the persuasion, they generally follow these guidelines: a pastel coloured cover, a woman, or the body of a woman (usually anything neck and downwards) with some shoes, or a handbag, or wine, or other such modern-day woman activity on the front. Yes, buying shoes is something we do (or so I’m told). If it’s a thromance, the woman’s face (or hand, or both) will be visible on the cover and a drop of blood will seep from somewhere (hopefully not from “down there” – otherwise you’re not in the fiction section, you’re in the Health section.)
Crime is easy. The font is usually coloured in red, with either a one or two coloured background image. The title is typically a play on words that looks something like “Dead Easy”, or “Living in Death.” If it’s more of a thriller than crime, the cover will have more than three colours and will have a slightly more inventive title.
The Sci-Fi genre is similar to children’s books in a lot of respect. The books usually come in a series, and thus have colourful, matching covers, (easy to identify) they are labelled in order and due to being set in a usually out of this world – world; have fantastical artwork. (Can you tell I’m a fan?) The cover doesn’t try and pretend to be something it’s not. If the book is about a zombie-eating-dog on Mars, you’ll bet your arse it will show a zombie-eating-dog on the planet Mars. No nonsense. Does exactly as it says on the tin can man.
Next time you find yourself in a bookshop (sometimes you really just fall in there by accident…) take a look around and see what I’m talking about. If you can’t tell what the book is about by taking a glance at the cover, then someone is doing something wrong. Know your market, know your book, know your reader.
Because at least then I’ll be able to put books out more quickly.