Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Top Ten Cover Trends I Like/Dislike

I'm participating in today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's prompt is:
Top Ten Cover Trends I Like/Dislike

I love it when we talk about covers.  And I especially like that YA cover trends these days are moving away from the generic photo-of-a-pretty-girl's-face to more interesting illustrated or graphically designed covers.  Here are some of my favorite and least favorite trends:
FAVORITE TRENDS


5. Backlit Photos
When done well, these covers can be so mystical and enchanting.

4. Illustrated/Graphic Design Awesomeness
I love that YA cover trends are headed in this direction.

3. Basic Black Backgrounds
Let's be honest, I'm just a sucker for black covers.

2. Simple Image
Less is almost always more when it comes to book covers, in my opinion.

1. Cool Fonts
You go, Sarah J. Coleman.  You go.


LEAST FAVORITE TRENDS

5. The Generic Photo-of-a-Pretty-Girl's-Face
Booooooooooooooaring.


4. Gender-based Cover Marketing
Frustrating.

3. White Washing
Naive and disrespectful.

2. The Ballgown Cover... When The Story Has Nothing To Do With Ballgowns
Irritating.

1. The Chopped Off Head
What can I say, I'm anti-violence.


What about you?  What cover trends do you like and dislike?
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10 comments:

  1. danyaJune 24, 2014 at 12:09 PM

    The original cover designs for Sisters Red and Sweetly were very cool! Too bad they changed them as they went on with the series.

    Also, yes to the ballgown-where-there-are-no-ballgowns thing. What is *up* with that?? And the whitewashing just plain sucks :(

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    1. Bookmark DragonJune 24, 2014 at 10:42 PM

      The original Sisters Red cover is one of my favorites of all time and I am SO SAD that they changed it!! I totally concur on the white washing. Hate it!

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  • Alexis SalcidoJune 25, 2014 at 4:42 PM

    Love that you mentioned Shadow and Bone too! Seriously one of the best covers out there! and I really like the backlit photos trend! Let's hope it stays because those covers are so pretty!

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    1. Bookmark DragonJune 25, 2014 at 8:12 PM

      Oh I adore the cover to Bardugo's Grisha series!! I'm pretty picky about covers with photographs on them, but I do love some of those backlit covers. Glad you agree!

      Delete
  • Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction AddictionJune 25, 2014 at 5:04 PM

    A Game of Thrones really threw me - I just don't even get it. Is that real?? And whitewashing is just incredibly frustrating - I wish I would have said this explicitly in my post (instead I just said that I hate it when the cover model doesn't match the description of the character in the book!).

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. Bookmark DragonJune 25, 2014 at 8:15 PM

      Agreed on the white washing. It really is beyond ridiculous and needs to stop. The Game Of Thrones covers are taken from Maureen Johnson's cover flip challenge. Did you see that article? It's definitely worth checking out! Here's the link:
      http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3231935

      Delete
  • My Thoughts.... Literally!June 25, 2014 at 5:41 PM

    I hate the covers of the A Song of Ice and Fire books. It's like they just threw something related to epic fantasy on the cover not at all concerned whether or not it was connected with the story! I also agree about white-washing and pretty dresses when the book has nothing to do with dresses. It's all pandering!

    But I do agree about backlighting and illustrated covers. I absolutely love the cover of Sister's Red.

    Great list! Thanks for stopping by my site and commenting!
    Cassi @ My Thoughts Literally

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    Replies
    1. Bookmark DragonJune 25, 2014 at 8:21 PM

      I definitely agree, the game of thrones covers could have been so much better, and that's from someone who likes simplicity!!

      Delete
  • Charnell @ Reviews from a BookwormJune 26, 2014 at 2:58 AM

    Great picks. The back lit covers are all really great, I especially love the We Were Liars cover. I have to admit to not really liking large faces on my covers because they usually fall into the done badly category. I am fed up of covers just being girls in pretty dresses, it's so overused! I am also not a fan of them beheading cover models.

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    1. Bookmark DragonJune 26, 2014 at 11:39 AM

      Glad we agree on so many points! The large faces on the cover just kind of make me nervous. It's like the book cover is judging ME for reading it, instead of the other way around.

      Delete

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