The pink one with the women on the bench is the US imprint - arty one is UK. Actually there are twenty-odd foreign versions of TBMH knocking about (some of them are shown on my website, snowbell) and some of the images say 'literary' and some of them say 'fun'. so I think it's been a hard novel to classify.

Lisa, it's interesting to hear how you choose your books.

I think most of these labels are complete bullshit.

So do I Lisa. But they are powerful marketing tools you have to admit. And you say you pick books according the titles - but often that and the cover and the things the author DON'T choose. So what are you buying?

Yes, it's true about the titles. They're very important (to me at least) and it is scary to think that an author can have no say or very little say in them.

If I'm in a bookshop I generally wander around in grazing mode picking things up that have interesting titles. I'll read anything pretty much, from literary fiction, to chicklit, to crime, to horror, to classics, to poetry, to Andy Mcnab. I don't really care about who they're marketed at.

To be honest I barely look at covers. I couldn't tell you what's on the cover of TMOL for instance, or any of my other books.

Once an interesting title has made me pick it up I read the first page, then open it randomly and read whatever page it lands on. If I like it or am interested, I buy it.

I think covers do probably overly affect me because I am a very visual person and can't help reading all sorts into them. I even used to get incredibly annoyed when they changed covers of favourite books as a child and it would "put me off" them. But after this discussion I will probably try and examine my reactions more and not assume the author had anything to do with them. As with everything it is a shorthand I suppose to save time. Which is why marketing is so powerful in the first place.

I have no idea why I'm so blind to covers.

Perhaps it's because I'm in reading mode and am not really looking for pictures.

I paint and sketch and sculpt and am from a very artistic family, but I never judge books by their covers. Oh, what a cliche! I just mean that, truth be told, I think pretty much all book covers are dreadful, so I don't even bother looking at them. Perhaps the artist in me very snobbishly does not consider book covers to be 'art' but rather 'adverts' or even 'packaging.'

God, I love this site. Very good for self-examination. I'd never even considered the above before.

Once an interesting title has made me pick it up I read the first page, then open it randomly and read whatever page it lands on. If I like it or am interested, I buy it.

That's exactly what I do. And it really works. I'd add that I never read the back cover.

I find front covers so markety/calculated/disingenuous that I've become blind to them, like you go blind to adverts on web-pages, even the flashy pop-up ones.

Having said that and speaking as a bloke, the 'chick-lit' cover style is a kind of generic turn-off which is a shame, cos I read oh christ can't remember her name (sorry!) ditsy, sharp 80's/90's comedienne, anyway her first novel, read that and laughed all the way round our Sharm el Sheikh winter-break swimming pool last December. Thought it was brilliant.

Pete

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So brilliant I forgot the author's name. Doh.

TMOL's paperback is different from the hardback - delicately shifting it commercial-wards, subtracting the worryingly 'literary' image of old-fashioned letters, and adding embossed gold lettering. I actually really like it, but it's been interesting to understand the thinking behind it. Interestingly, unlike you, Lammi, the US hardback cover is very like the UK one, though differently explicit (nude female back instead of nude male/female arms). Audio book completely different (different company) and I haven't seen any translations yet. I think the variations will probably be around how 'historical' it looks, which as I know from WW can put off as many people as it turns on.

Emma

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Pete - Jenny Eclair?

I think it's very, very hard to get away entirely from the cover having an effect on you. You see it before you read the title, even if it doesn't make you pick it up/put it down, and it shapes how you then approach the bit you dip in to.

Ask any agent, and they'll tell you the worst battles their authors have with editors is over the cover.

I even used to get incredibly annoyed when they changed covers of favourite books as a child and it would "put me off" them.

Ha ha. Me too!!

Covers are a difficult one for me. I have to admit, I never read anything with a cover full of pink and handbags and shoes, but equally, the covers of some classics are so dry-and-dusty-looking.

I was interested that in the Amazon list Lammi posted up, there was an arty version of a Marian Kayes book. I thought, 'Oooh, I might buy that.'

Having said that and speaking as a bloke, the 'chick-lit' cover style is a kind of generic turn-off which is a shame

See!!!

But seriously. I think covers have an unconscious effect whether you like it or not. I think they are designed to give a message - you're not necessarily aware of liking them or disliking them.

I expect your next novel will have a cover in the style of TMOL, though - that'll be your 'brand'. Unless you choose to write something completely different!

Emma - at the risk of opening another can of worms - what about having the word "Love" in the title (which apparently also puts men off). I have to say, she says, hanging her head in shame - that I would be put off by the word love in the title too, although I like a good romantic comedy. I have a huge fear of the sentimental though and the word "love" is a scary one!

I have come to the conclusion I am a man. Oh God.

But, again, interested because I think you said it wasn't your original title - can you share the original or is that a secret?

I have decided I have problems.

But seriously. I think covers have an unconscious effect whether you like it or not.

Maybe, but would it be very cheesy to say that I am open to covers of all colours and varieties? Since I think they're generally all terrible, I don't discriminate. But then I do like pink and shoes and handbags, so even if I did notice those things, it wouldn't put me off. My husband, on the other hand, would rather lose fingers than pick up a 'handbag and shoes' book. He won't even carry the Superdrug bag, on account of its pinkness.

My dad and brothers are the same. Funny things, the lot of them.

Lammi, in answer to your posting with the link to the Amazon best-seller list:

On the first page of that list, I might feel uncomfortable being seen with Be Careful What You Wish For and Making Your Mind Up. The covers of these have a very strong feminine look to them. I think it's their "arty" look that creates that impression, but I can't exactly put my finger on why.

Most of the others I would feel comfortable with, with the possible exception of Further Under The Duvet. The cover looks a little to "girly", as snowbell describes it.

Alex

I'd add that I never read the back cover.

Pete - me neither! Perhaps I am a man too...

Actually, I saw a book the other day called The Ex-Boyfriend's Handbook. Obviously it caught my eye, ahem, esp as it had a pink graphic on a cream background. Then someone pointed out there'd been a previous print-run of the novel with a different title and cover, so I'm thinking that (male) author's been re-marketed for a specific sector.