You actually CAN judge a book by its cover

[@CarolineMolyneux4491]

Your analysis is incredibly well considered and articulated. Very thought provoking and highly persuasive. I really appreciate it 🙏

[@bleepods]

Another banger from books with bao ✨ Finally this is getting talked more, book covers setting the mood and being the entry way for a story is something that should be appreciated more

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Im glad you agree!

[@gingerdoll]

I was just talking with my sister over the weekend about how I may already own a copy of a certain book, but my brain forces me to buy another with a more appropriate cover for the sake of the vanity of my bookcase.

[@sanjjin]

​@@gingerdoll owning multiple copies of one book based on how pretty the cover alone drains my bank too :') made an ungodly purchase when I learned about the clothbound classics 😭

[@HollyDunnDesign]

As a cover designer, I really appreciate your thoughtful analysis and appreciation of this art form ❤

[@Nixx0912]

"My best friend's exorcism" made me tear up, I loved the idea of exorcism by love and the things that binde you with your friend forever not by meaningless religious formulas.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Beautifully put!

[@banrions]

As someone who has mostly read indie sapphic romance books for the last few years, I feel this HARD! Until verrrrry recently, they were chock full of random stock photos of women in awkward and ugly designs, and they’ve only kind of started to get better. It is one of my biggest pet peeves-there are ways to make a book look wonderful, or even just not ugly, that doesn’t t have to be crazy expensive.

[@sleepiestgf]

i absolutely see the point of fitzcarraldo's covers--brand recognition. they win awards and if you know that, then you can immediately recognize one of their books. however, charco press, to give just one example, has proven that you can have an instantly recognizable brand while also giving each book it's own cover and identity (AND NAMING THE TRANSLATOR ON THE FRONT)

[@shalryma]

And let's not dismiss the fact that there's a joy in dealing with pretty objects. Sure, I'll love a good book on its own, but how much nicer it is when the book is not only good but also pretty? I often get little bolt of joy whenever I lay my eyes on something pretty and even more so when I get to use it. I can write with any pen, wear any shoes and drink from any mug, but how much better it feels to write with a nice pen, walk in pretty shoes and drink from a cool mug? I get no extra joy from reading a book that looks like extremely specific dictionary.

[@teaghoul.78]

I completely agree! It can't be escaped that our initial impression of a book is influenced by covers, and although it's not essential to enjoying a great book, having a particularly beautiful/striking cover is just another way of improving the experience overall! (personally I feel a little similarly about things like how the paper or binding feels for physical books too)

[@Madjle]

I don't buy a book for its cover. But I may not buy a book because of its cover 🙃😏

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Totally get that. Books with film adaptation covers 🤢

[@Madjle]

I agree with that 😂

[@OtakBolong]

maybe it's more of a practical reason, since Fitzcarraldo is an indie publisher they want to keep the costs low so they don't bother to hire a Graphic Designer to do their cover arts

[@rita.sotero]

This this this! Since i was a small child i have been fascinated and in love with book covers and book design and printing. Its so so important

[@starstuffpuff]

I could listen to you analyze book covers all day long :). I completely agree with you, cover design plays a huge part in my book buying/reading life. I will order books from overseas if I prefer those covers. Nowadays, I’m not even trying to pretend the cover doesn’t matter. I want the physical object to be its own experience.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

“To be its own experience” is such a good way to put it!

[@mary-louisepoulin8690]

The Pisces by Melissa Broder has got to be one of the greatest book covers I’ve ever seen. I often take it off my shelf just to look at it.

[@gingerdoll]

Hi! I just discovered your channel last week when it randomly popped up, and I am so very glad that I did! While we share a lot of opinions on topics and personal preferences, even if we didn't, I would still subscribe because you present so beautifully. Cheers!

[@MiruMSO]

This is why I ordered 'Horrorstör'. I found the idea so original. I have never seen anything like this. ❤ Great video! 🎉

[@asterismos5451]

I did a whole project in ninth grade analyzing the (original) cover of Terry Pratchett's Thud! It's just brilliant.

[@sorasorisora]

that Fitzcarraldo book is doing a reverse psychology on me because this is the first time I've ever seen such a drab cover, which makes me kinda want to check it out. and I agree with you, it's a major disrespect to not put the translator's name on the front cover.

[@jstamps9578]

A great friend told me about Weyward by Emilia Hart. It's a fantastic book, and the cover art is beautiful. She is so right.

[@amyschmelzer6445]

Which cover is beautiful? The American and UK covers are completely different, but I find both ugly. The Italian one is pretty. The Ukrainian one is interesting but not my thing.

[@KDbooks]

I think it’s a tad unfair to compare special editions by publishers who have the extra cash to throw towards a cover and have Fitzcarraldo in the mix. Fitzcarraldo only have 4 members of staff, so a cut has to be made somewhere. I get your point, but Fitzcarraldo don’t have comparable budget . I think the money is better placed in the hands of getting amazing translators to translate amazing works. The output and quality of Fitzcarraldos - in my opinion - is more important than the cover. It’s proper grassroots, and that’s the best part of indie presses 😊

[@WillowTalksBooks]

You’re right, and luckily we have plenty of great grassroots indie presses doing equally important work with the same number of staff members (or fewer) and stunning cover art, who also name their translators. And luckily I praised Fitzcarraldo’s work and achievements before starting my criticism of their pretentious and translatorless covers.

[@sapnasarfare2920]

Loved what you said... book covers can be such a puller

[@lindylouwho550]

OH MY WORD! This is one of the best videos I have seen on book tube. Couldn't agree more with everything you said. Please🙏🙏🙏 do another video on the same theme explaining the cover design.....so interesting. 😊

[@zombie_likes_cake]

Yes. All of this!! Also, I hate when covers are misleading, I mean they are part of the marketing and if a book cover looks a certain way I expect certain vibes from the book. Thank you for this video!

[@spreadbookjoy]

Books are such beautiful objects in their own right - love this video, Willow. This is why book lovers end up with multiple copies of favourite books! I love the Grady Hendrix covers - so detailed! One of the things I love about reading middle grade books is the aesthetics and attention to detail that publishers insist on with the covers because children WILL NOT read something that is not eye-catching so they really have to stand out!

[@lvriend]

Oh wow! I’m a fan of the cover art on my copy of Drive Your Plow… but it’s the US publisher. Also, feel the same way about Books of Jacob…have to read it, but when I have a stretch of time for it.

[@jennymcevoy8961]

This is such a brilliant video Willow 👏👏👏👏❤

[@ianp9086]

I can think of a few times that I’ve bought a book based just on the cover - Emigrants by WG Sebald was one when it first appeared in Harvill, and most recently In Ascension by Martin Macinnes. There is something subtly different about US and UK covers that I think expresses what we are used to or familiar with - in most cases I prefer the UK covers because somehow they appeal to me more. The Fitzcarraldo issue is weird - I mostly agree with you, especially about the translator - but in a bookshop I can instantly spot their books on the shelves! Glad you mentioned Gatsby which must be one of the all time great covers and I think it was produced before the book was finished and Fitzgerald told his publisher he wanted it for his book!

[@badfaith4u]

I love your analysis of book covers.

[@zofiabochenska1240]

Haven't read "Jakob's books", but "Primeval and other times" is an amazing book. You can check out some PL covers, to imagine instead of the EN one ;)

[@deepikaselvamurugan6405]

You have become one of my favourite KZbin channels! I eagerly wait for your videos to gain more insights and add more books to my TBR😅

[@gingerdoll]

I just found her myself, and by the end of my first watch, I just thought "oh nooooo..." knowing my TBR is going to increase ridiculously with all of these bomb recs.

[@ernabro2723]

Thank you for filming, editing and producing this rant! I’m already subscribed, but I left a like and this comment for books~

[@SophiaRavenna]

The Fitzcarraldo cover makes it look like an ARC! The American edition of Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead has a really evocative cover that looks sort of like tree trunks against nighttime snow. Sadly, the translator isn't acknowledged on that cover either.

[@michaeleberl2222]

Yes! Absolutely. Cover art is so important. I actually just recently purchased a copy of Steven King's The Tommyknockers because it showed it to be one of my favorite older covers from the 90s on the website. But when it arrived, it was the newest cover art, and I was so disappointed and even a little bit angry. I honestly felt like I wasted my money even though the story inside is no different. But still, if I'm going to have something in my home library, it is becoming a part of a large art collection that adds to the entire vibe of my home. The cover brings the vibe of the inside to the outside, and we need that. Also, speaking of VHS covers from the 80s and 90s. That era seemed to be the peak of cover art for movies, books, posters and everything. For example, the cover art that was on The Nightmare On Elm St. movies were some of the best in history. The cover art for those were almost scarier than the movies themselves and seemed like a screenshot from a nightmare.

[@eliza.the.earthling]

Love the commentary on the women of Greek myth 🏺

[@grahammitchell9328]

I so agree with you about the importance of book cover art. I will put off buying some books if I hate the cover, with the hope of a republish will have better cover art. When you look a Tilted Axis Press and Charco Press both these publishers do a great job for their authors.

[@Blingbillaboo]

I found your channel through your review of Tell Me I’m Worthless (which I also loved!) and I’m here to stay! I often go into bookshops, not looking to buy necessarily, but to be inspired. I’ll take photos of books that look interesting to me - often in genres I don’t usually reach for - and look them up later on to see if the concept interests me. More often than not, I was drawn to the cover for a reason and I put the book on my ever expanding tbr. I also own the US version of My Best Friend’s Exorcism and love it for the reasons you describe. Often I’ll find myself searching out US editions of books simply because I find the cover more exciting. Thank you for putting into words what I’ve felt about books for a while, the covers tell a story (pun intended) of their own and are often the difference in someone picking up that book or leaving it on the shelf.

[@Guguchina]

Cool video! The cover is language: it conveys the genre of the book, its intended audience etc. There are reasons why publishing companies have them designed. But it's definitly interesting as how a cover is designed changes how I feel about the content of the book.

[@potatosocreepy7778]

I’m a visual person, I see pretty cover with interesting title, I buy it 😅

[@sercemwksiazkach]

I judge books by their covers constantly and I’m not ashamed of it. You put my thoughts in such an organized and cool way, this is a great video. And I got excited when you pulled out Olga Tokarczuk’s book (albeit at first I thought it was Flights because the cover is the exact same lmao). I hate these 😭 They could have at least picked a better color… Anyways, Olga comes from my country and in my opinion the Polish covers are GORGEOUS. They match together well, and they’re all different, but fit the vibes of her books. I’ve read her newest book, Empuzjon (it’ll probably be translated as Empousion? The House of Empouses?) and I adored it. Honestly the world needs to enjoy it too 😂 Although it would have been better with the Polish covers…

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Tokarczuk is a queen 💜

[@KellyKennedyRasile]

I am always so excited when you post a new video. ❤

[@oatmilktea90]

Great video! I completely agree, though I'd assume those cookie cutter designs are also meant to keep the cost low and the book more affordable. There's a comparable publisher in Germany who do the same thing (the yellow Reclam editions are somewhat iconic in their own way). Then there's also misleading covers, to the detriment of the author and potential readers. A recent example would be The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer. The edition I have, showing a cartoonish illustration of the two protagonists gazing at each other, makes you think it's a Finnpoe YA romance when in actuality, it's a compelling sci-fi survival story about the future of humanity and what it means to be human, with a bit of romance on the side (which isn't the focus of the story at all, imo, despite what cover and blurb suggest). I'm glad I bought it and I don't understand why they marketed it as YA. And I'm not saying YA is bad! I just think that people who do not read YA might not pick this book up due to the cover and blurb, and that's a shame.

[@badger-1984]

Wholeheartedly agree. A good cover design can make such a huge difference. I'm still upset that somehow my partner got me an American copy of Before They Are Hanged which looks nowhere near as good as UK First Law editions

[@bookofdust]

Thirty years ago I had a boyfriend who was a painter and did many covers and was very successful at it. One of his Russian book covers is provocative and captivating and is still used today and has become iconic. I could scan a book shelf and immediately pick out his covers, he had a very sophisticated personal style that was much in demand, but he was always trying to abandoned his quite successful career to paint his own stuff, which was unfortunately very sub par (my degree was in Art History and I worked in museums) As a cover artist I exalted his talent, but as a bad painter I couldn’t even sustain the relationship it was so awful and I couldn’t lie about his paintings constantly. One of my favorite cover artist is Fred Marcellino, who went on to do children’s books that won tons of awards. He was excellent at his craft and created many iconic covers, most notably the Handmaid’s Tale with that chilling dystopian wall. What original Pride and Prejudice cover do you mean, I think it was published back when many novels were in three sections in simple paper wrappers and you had to actually pay to have it bound separately? Are you talking about a prominent paperback cover?

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I meant the first illustrated edition, the “peacock” edition, published in 1894

[@bookofdust]

@@WillowTalksBooks Interesting, as an American I’m completely unfamiliar with it, but it’s interesting how much it directly rips off and alludes to Whistler’s Peacock Room that was highly controversial and in the news earlier. Especially, if there were original covers in tooled leather. If so it would technically fall into book binding cover design, which became very popular in the Aesthetic Period (which the Peacock Room is the pinnacle of) and peaked during Art Nouveau, with last gasps in Art Deco. Book binding designs at those times were stunning, and unfortunately usually carried out by unknown female artisans.

[@beinglessness]

First! I already love the video before even watching :3 love your content

[@Nixx0912]

I love the covers done by Actes Sud for their crime novels, it always catches your eye. They have black for the background, red for author and frame and white for the rest of the font, and you get a stunning, dark image in the middle. For some of Somoza books they used Natalie Shau artwork, that's how I started following her on social media. It's a shame for Tokarczuk, I have really lovely edition of "Prawiek I inne czasy" bought ages ago. I France you also get those annoying anonymous white cover for some books, from my perspective I call those "snobbish editions".

[@sylviakanel9766]

💜🤔💜Authors and publishers should hear this and take it seriously. You could teach a course on so many aspects of representing a book.💜🤔💜 PS Even your mention of books here adds to my TBR! Oh, my goodness.

[@Tunaboy45]

I have to say, I really loge the design of the current editions of Ishiguro's novels, especially An Artist of the Floating World (although I love the original cover for that too).

[@barroerabonatarda7045]

Drive your plow was my first Fitzcarraldo book! I remember picking it up based on the interesting spine, buying it because of the title and because the whole cover and book looked neat to me (yeah... I do love them :B), and it now is one of my favorite books of all time. That experience got me into Olga Tokarczuk as a whole, as well as some other authors whose works have been published by them, such as Mieko Kanai's Mild Vertigo. I'm sure many people have had a similar experience.

[@barroerabonatarda7045]

The Books of Jacob is awesome, but yeah, I only got around to reading it cause I didn't have much to do for a couple weeks. But if you're into intrincate historical fiction, do go for it!

[@matildacool3949]

had the exact same experience as you, love that book sm

[@dorotamakarzec5491]

Have you ever looked at Tokarczuk's original covers? I wonder what would you think of them! Also in Poland we have a few really cool small publishers that really focus on the design like Tajfuny(Asian literature), Karakter or Pauza. Wydawnictwo Czarne - is also very consistent and well loved. They mainly focus on non-fiction.

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Yessssss Karolina from Tajfuny is a friend of mine and I really love what they do 💜

[@dorotamakarzec5491]

haha I didn't expect that 😛 but great to hear!🤍@@WillowTalksBooks

[@tillysshelf]

Beautiful covers sell books - i know if I'm in a bookshop, it's the cover that makes me pick a book up more than the title or name. So Fitzcarraldo seem to be making a pretentious statement that they are above all of that, marketing, sales, petty consumerism... but it does the authors a disservice. If the writing is such good quality, it will still be prizeworthy with a more enticing cover! Though i suppose it is a cost saving to avoid paying any cover artists.

[@MiruMSO]

I totally agree with you. You should see the romanian covers for books. (translated books) I hate them. I always envy the US/UK editions covers. The originals covers. ❤

[@sylviakanel9766]

I recently watched your co-review on Psyche and Eros and found it to be one of the most grounded expressions of female strength I've encountered in my long life through feminism from the sixties on to the present day. In the comments I cited your conversation about Penelope to illustrate my agreement with that expression of her wisdom and strength. Now you present me with Ithaca. Thank you!

[@WillowTalksBooks]

Wow, thank you so much!!

[@sylviakanel9766]

💜🥰💜

[@pablobarquero9733]

I absolutely love this video!!!! ❤

[@frauke2203]

What's the publisher of your copy of Frankenstein? It looks amazing 😮

[@maiiau]

This reminds me of the youtube videos "How the Book Publishing Industry Failed 'Lolita' (As Told by Terrible Book Covers)" by Man Carrying Thing and "The Problem With 'Lolita' Adaptations" by Doki Doki Discourse! If there's any book that proves the sometimes terrible power of a cover on peoples' impressions of a book, it's Lolita.

[@noeisnothere]

A great book cover definitely influences my choice of possibly selecting the book as my next read. I am currently reading the Red Rising saga and it's becoming one of my favorite sci-fi stories, with its themes of prejudice, political corruption, capitalism and socialism, consumerism, war, rebellion against the system and space opera battles. But if I only judged the books by the covers the publishers chose to release in my home country, I would think it would be your typical YA Hunger Games type of story, but it's so much bigger and more complex than that.

[@rachel1021]

This sums up how I felt when I saw the cover for Tell Me I'm Worthless on Goodreads. Also check out the cover for Chesya Burke's short story collection Let's Play White. It is captivating imo. And I just have to once again mention how death metal the cover for Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror is. 😅 Anyway, thanks for making this video!

[@calebl6586]

I’ll definitely read a book with an ugly cover, but I won’t buy it new. Similarly, if I’m out book shopping and I don’t have anything particularly in mind, I’m going to be looking based on covers. I know this isn’t always true and the author doesn’t have complete control over the appearance of the book, but if the cover is ugly or doesn’t match the contents at all, it makes me feel like nobody thought the book was worthwhile enough to effectively market

[@tariniagarwaldm]

since apparently u make me want to confess or be better or whatever: I feel guilty about feeling bad/disappointed when books which I consider 'bad' have good cover art, it's like, that book doesn't deserve this level of visual beauty (which of course is not the case)

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I definitely get what you feel and react that way, though! A great cover on a bad book does feel like a waste; I get it

[@sophiefischer7585]

As you are talking about capitalism, i'm very affraid that AI will be used by editors for beautifull covers without the "harass" to paid an artist. I hope i'm wrong because, like you said, cover are the door to the book. And our socity need more artists than economist and CEO. (And i hope that my english was good enough to be understoud😅)

[@WillowTalksBooks]

A band I like recently used AI for their album cover. Broke my heart!

[@jennymcevoy8961]

I bought My Best Friend's Exorcism purely because of the cover 😊😊

[@arantxaarbulu8322]

hi!! Do you recommend starting with Frankenstein 1818 or 1831 text?

[@WillowTalksBooks]

I’ve only read the 1831 text but I’m planning to read the 1818 version since people keep asking me this question lol

[@anabelhadad9715]

I felt this because I have yet to read Kawakami’s All the lovers in the night cause of that damn awful Canva art cover

[@marinkopon]

Great video! I love the design of "Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead" by the Ukrainian publisher Urbino (you can google Веди свій плуг понад кістками мертвих to see it), it shows some stuff that happens in the book, but you won't understand it until you read it (that "oh" moment is great). Feeling kinda proud of it after seeing the minimalistic design you showed. Design matters 🙏