What’s a cover got to do with it?
Walk into any bookstore. Peruse all the different sections the bookstore has to offer- science fiction, self-help, magazines, children’s literature, CHICK LIT. You can’t miss it. Chick Lit has an ambiance about it that is like no other. Their covers are filled with pictures of shoes, shopping bags, wedding rings or bells, and are normally colored with vibrant neons or soft pastels. So I tried to look up some stuff about Chick Lit and their cover designs.
I first ran across an article from http://www.telegraph.co.uk about which Jane Austen’s novels have switched over to “Chick Lit” covers. Her most famous novels have now been published with a
“glossy, pastel covers design to appeal to women put off by the idea of reading a 19th century writer.”
These covers also feature illustrations that might be common amongst chick lit.
“Mansfield Park, for example, features a couple in Regency evening dress linked by a shooting star, while Pride and Prejudice has a swallow, flowers and a bonneted beauty with her back to a whip-wielding dandy.”
Joel Rickett, the author of this article explains how the old novels become new again with their more modern, chic cover designs. He is supported by Harriet Evans, the editor of the series.
Harriet said: “Jane Austen is the fairy godmother of women’s fiction and we want to take her back to her romantic roots. The novels needed to look more relevant to women who read accessible modern fiction.”
So are women less likely to read a book if the cover is dull or look old? I thought we were to never judge a book by its cover? Chick Lit is always judged by its cover. Otherwise we wouldn’t automatically assume it is Chick Lit. Caren Lisser explains how Chick Lit may be marketed using their covers in her article found on MobyLives.com which was started in 1998 as a syndicated newspaper column about books and writers. She was writing about her own trials and tribulations with Chick Lit and how she didn’t really think her book was of that genre, or how she had hoped it wouldn’t be advertised as being of that genre.
“I admit, the marketing was hard to accept at first. Last year, I fought against the swirly lettering on the cover. I wanted something like Rick Moody’s Demonology, with a single iconic image in the middle of the cover and a solid background. Instead, I got some girly–looking letters in pastel blue. “It looks like Judy Blume!” I howled at the publishers.”
She then went on to comment how the majority of all Chick Lit has a pink cover design. So I guess she was lucky enough to be a stand out since her cover was blue.
These two articles contradict one another in a way because one loves the idea of ‘girly’ covers being the significant thing to capture the attention of more readers while the other states her sadness of the cover design that will reel in an audience that she didn’t think was suitable for her book.
Posted by murphkel2003 