There is an old English proverb that states “You can’t judge a book by its cover”.
I have to disagree. Perhaps we can’t judge, but we can certainly use covers to choose books. Anyone who says they don’t is fooling themselves. That being said, if I really love an author and their new novel has a hideous cover, I will still buy it and read it. But… for the most part, it is the cover that is for me the first ‘hook’.
I find myself attracted to certain kinds of covers. In this, my first installment of ‘Cover Love‘, I’d like to show you that publishers are aiming to hook readers with their covers. This all started when a friend of mind said to me “Do you still have the book you recommended to me with the person dressed in red walking away” on the cover? I was unsure of which novel she meant, so I started going through my Goodreads ‘TO READ” list.
Here are the “Person in red walking away” covers that are on my Goodreads lists. Either ones I’ve already read, or ones that are on my ‘to read’ list.
This idea is a great hook for a psychological thriller because the red catches the eye and the fact that the person is only seen from the back lends mystery.
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Fictionophile 
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Wow! I can’t believe how many covers there are featuring a person in red walking away! I’m amazed by this, love the story behind this series too!
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Thanks Melanie!
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Great post. Some great covers there, I suppose there are only so many different covers but ye strange these are all so similar.
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Great post and I love these covers!
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I’m so pleased it’s not just me! Sometimes I think I’m suffering from deja vu when I see these kinds of overly-similar covers.
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Oh it definitely helps but I have to say it is only a 50% chance I will enjoy it when the author is completely new to me and not in my genre of choice but the cover got me.
I totally have described a book by the cover before and then you realize ‘wow, how many have a woman in red walking away.’ To funny.
I’m currently reading Sister that made you list above.
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So true and so funny. I will often look at books and think, have I read it because the cover looks familiar then realise I haven’t.
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