Hideous cover will stop me in my tracks and I will have to work really hard to get past the fact that it offends my eye and the book will have to work considerably harder to persuade me to pick it up, sorry that's how fickle I am about all this.

I am with the dovegrey reader on this, a really bad cover puts me right off, even though the content may be superb. I need a cover to invite me inside and enctice me to see what it's all about. I have had a bit of trouble with persephone books because of this, although I have actually enjoyed reading some, because I had to force myself through the GREY cover..
I don't think I have ever ever bought a book just because I liked the cover though, I have to read the back/inside as well.

I've had to spread my Persephone Books around the shelves purely because the swath of grey was too depressing. I know some people like them as a decorative feature and I did for a while but I prefer them dotted in amongst the colour. I've just received my first ever PG Wodehouse in the Everyman edition and this could be a big mistake because these covers are just very "must have".

Good move, I'll try that, thanks!

Constantly. As someone who sees reps for a major chain I will sometimes decline a book purely because of the cover - because I know that a rotten cover will NOT do a book a favour and frankly do not have time to deal with books inadequately backed with imagination by its publisher (harsh I know but a fact). However, I WILL take on books, like the wonderful new editions of Agatha Christie novels, because of their fantastic covers and formats. Authors may turn their shoulder at this but really it is the publisher to SELL the book and if they can't be bothered ....

Hideous covers put me off, I always assume, probably wrongly, that the covers have received the blessing of the writer so how could I enjoy a book whose author's taste in covers is so alienating? I have lots of the old Everyman editions, their bindings didn't try to sell the contents.
In the second hand trade, however, covers can be much more sought after than the books, nasty or not.

I wouldn't have bought Douglas Kennedy's new book, Temptation, because of the cover had I not known what a fantastic writer he is. His publishers are doing him - and themselves - a great disservice by covering his novels with such airporty rubbish. The title isn't exactly inspirational either, but I can look past that more easily, somehow. But the two together...

A SHORT HISTORY OF TRACTORS IN UKRAINIAN
Odd I know, but it was "tractors", so I wasn't tempted.

LOVE- A USERS GUIDE
I could be tempted and can understand why many might be...

THE WOMAN`S GUIDE TO ADULTERY
Many would be tempted; I can understand the appeal of this one for women (who are thinking about it) and men (who hate to think of it, or love the thought of it).

LESSONS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS
Not at all appealing to me as my own experience of physics was almost a calamity. However, anticipating a "calamity", I worked extremely hard at it and achieved a 'B' grade at 'O' level. But reminders of that time would have me putting the book back on the shelf...

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Indeed we do. Great title, very inviting. I haven't entered the conversation yet though! Post publication publicity has put me off, especially to do with cover art work...

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
Great title and great novel! Haddon deserves all the heaps of acclaim he received for that novel. I loved it and appreciated it. I lent my copy to a friend who does training for children with special needs. I never saw it again, but he did buy me a new copy in return.

THE GOOD THIEF`S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM
A great title. On title alone, I'm buying! Looking forward to it!

PS - I forgot. A cover can "make or break" for me, too.

When it's an established author and one I'm familiar with, I can overlook this.

When it's a new author to me, or a "new author" per se, the cover can put me off.

One thing I hope for - that we don't go down the US route in the UK. I've always hated American editions.

Lately though, I see a tide of change, perhaps. Benjamin Black's/John Banville's "Christine Falls" has a good and evocative cover in the US, courtesy of Henry Holt. The UK edition from PanMacmillan is very UK and good.

crimeficreader - you've just made my friday morning. thanks!

I consider covers, art, and titles as intertwined, but individual. An intriquing title will cause me to pick up the book even if I'm not taken with the cover art...and the reverse is true. If both title and art are appealing (a complete cover), I'm even more tempted, but the deciding factor may be the blurb.

I love titles, though and am full of admiration for those who can catch my attention with the title alone.

Whew, I finally found my password.

Susan, I'm coming to the end of TVO and I am enjoying it. VW and I are interested in the same thing which is people and what makes them tick.I am really excited about reading the novels in sequence because I know that she is going to let me get closer and closer to the people in the books. I am also learning how a novel is written. I can feel the seriousness of her endeavour and I'm really excited about that too. For me the people in novels are totally real, as real as people in my life and VW lets me in as far as I want to go. For me VW can do no wrong unlike that Richard Dalloway because I've got a bone with him.

I have to say that sometimes the poor author is faced with a terrible cover which comes in proof form. They ask you what you think and on occasion I've said: "This is dreadful...I really do not like it one little bit." The answer comes always, quick as a flash, "Oh, everyone here thinks it's great! Marketing love it." Grr. There's nothing much you can do with such a fait accompli. I'm lucky that most of my publishers consult and consult and I'm very pleased with most of my covers most of the time...

Hurray. This is so good to hear and the reason I wated to do this course... I really so want people who have not previously got to grips with her to start again ... if it converts even one person to real enjoyment of her work, I shall be happy.

Hubby & I may ened up divorced. Why? I may divorce him because he quite often buys "airport books" with metallic embossed covers. He will probably divorce me because if I try to make space in the house for the family by marching a few books off to the charity shop thenit's his ghastly covers that go.

My favourite book title and accompanying cover image (very sadly now out of print) is from the Heinemann African Writers Series:MY MERCEDES IS BIGGER THAN YOURS by Nkem Nwankwo.Black cover with two faces staring up wishfully into the distance, with a Mercedez Benz logo at the top. Hard to beat that! I just had to buy it the moment I set eyes on it, and it makes me laugh every single time I come across it on my shelves.

And do we do the opposite? I can't bring myself to buy "The abortionist's daughter" because of its title. Not that I have anything for or against abortionists, I just find the idea of reading about one, or one's daugther, off-putting, even if the book isn't really about abortion in any sense at all.

Maxine, glad I'm not the only one who had this problem with this particular book, I feel exactly the same as you about it.

Oh me too, me too.. I couldn`t buy it just because of the title.

The late Poul Anderson's novel, People of the Wind had an atrocious cover.

PotW is the story an extraterrestrial species descended from their world's version of raptors. They have four limbs, with the forelimbs serving as wings and legs, while the hindlimbs works as arms and hands. In addition, they have lips and teeth instead of beaks.

The cover illustration was of a creature with six limbs and a beak. Even worse, teh art stunk.

It was pulled from the shelves after a month and hasn't seen publication since.

At the moment I'm reading BS Johnson, Christy Malry's Own Double Entry. On the tube last night, all the men were looking at me with a certain gleam in their eye and I was thinking what a great job I must have done of my lipstick for once. Then I remembered that the edition I ws immersed in was published in the 70s and features on the front cover a woman's naked breasts covered in foam and being shaved by an anonymous male hand.

Covers do make a diffrence. I was lent this particular book. Probably wouldn't have chosen it off the shelf...