Thursday, September 23, 2010

You can tell a lot from the cover


Like I said yesterday, when I went to the movies I had plenty of time to waste before the movie started, and I couldn't help but noticing the movie posters that were advertising upcoming movies... not thinking about how much I wanted to see them, but what other covers they looked like (and yes, every movie poster really looked identical to numerous others).

Movie posters, the same as book covers, attracts the attention of the viewer/reader, and all these similar looking covers tells the viewer the genre and something about the movie that they might want to see. It was easy to identify what sort of movie they were based around the cover, because they able to relate and capture the attention of the audience from another movie.

It's not just movie posters that use identical features, but book covers do this also. The cover tells the genre, and a lot of books use similar features to identify what the book is about. But, this is a good thing because you know what you're getting yourself in to (and a lot of the cover artists knows how to make them still look original and elegant while still using similar features of others).

Have you ever noticed how much covers/posters look the same? Do you pick up a new book or go to a movie because the cover reminds you of another one you've seen?

6 comments:

Janet Johnson said...

Wow, I'd never noticed that. That's so interesting! I definitely wouldn't have thought of the purpose, but I think you're right.

Deb Salisbury, Magic Seeker and Mantua-Maker said...

I hadn't thought of it that way, but you're right. I've often bought books whose covers screamed "my genre," and ignored others because the cover seemed wrong.

Natasha said...

I had never heard of Percy Jackson when I saw the movie poster and thought, 'hey, that looks just like Harry Potter'. And it was!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree with Deb. Covers are so important, whether it's novel or anthologies. Some small presses seem to have no clue - or maybe no money - because their covers are awful. I think all authors should have cover approval.

Christine Fonseca said...

Yeah, I think there is a formula and trends in covers. With some new ones having white backgrounds, I have no doubtwe'll be seeing that for a while.

And oh yeah, LOVE COVERS!!!

Anonymous said...

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