It's a Visual Choice.
Whether choosing a book or a bottle of wine it all comes down to one thing.
When shoppers choose a bottle of wine 90% of the time their choice is based on the label.
When I first started drinking wine back in my late 20’s I’d study the detail and artwork of the label thinking that if the winemaker spent lots of time on the label then the wine must be crafted just as well.
When publishers set off to design a book cover for a work of fiction they try to give readers a sneak peek of what’s to come, let the reader know the book’s genre, and set the right tone. In addition, they strive to follow the design elements specific to that genre.
Literary fiction books often combine one or more genres, so their covers are can be more abstract.
Here are some of the messages designers try to convey with a book cover:
What age category is the book written for?
What is the book about on a general basis?
Is the book fiction or nonfiction.
The designer is trying to pick out the most marketable elements within the story and display them on the cover.
What do you guys think about book covers?
Do they greatly influence whether or not you will buy a book?
What else influences your decision to read a specific book?
How about wine. Do you choose a wine based on its label?
Or is there another way you make your choice by using the Wine Spectator rating, word of mouth, or something else?
Another design feature that must be considered when a publisher is working on the book cover is the title of the book.
If we go back to the 1920’s we find that E. Haldeman-Julius sold over 100 million copies of his “Little Blue Books” by advertising them based on the title alone. There was no add copy included in his advertisements. They were placed with the major newspapers and with other publications such as Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post.
In his research, Haldeman-Julius found the general public was most willing to buy books about Sex, Love and Romance, and Self-Improvement.
He also had a policy that if a title didn’t sell over 10,000 copies a year then a new title would be chosen for that book.
Please comment and let me know what things most influence your choices of books and, or wine.