# Kindle books without cover images - do you bother?



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

With one exception - Hearing Aid by David Langford (which was admittedly excellent) - if a Kindle book listing does not feature a cover image, I just ignore it. 

On the surface, that may seem silly - or worse, snobby. But the way I see it: If an author/publisher/etc. cannot even be bothered to create a decent cover image to represent his/her work, it deserves to be ignored. After all, if they don't care, why should I?

Obviously, classic listings by long-deceased authors don't count and aren't what I'm referring to (and those can be found for free elsewhere anyway). 

Your thoughts?


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

Not that worried about a cover image.  I prefer to read the inside of the cover and get a feel for what the book is about instead.


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## katiekat1066 (Nov 19, 2008)

I have to admit that I don't TRUST books with no cover showing, I'm always afraid that they're not legal or something.  Something along the lines of books with multiple versions - I'm not buying any of those, most of them seem to be people selling something that doesn't belong to them.  I've gotten very picky about these things, even emailed a publisher asking about a book that had 2 editions (and prices) showing.  I've gotten very suspicious in my middle age!

Katiekat


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I admit to liking to look at a cover too. . .but I don't think you have to worry about whether it's legal.  If it's at Amazon I'm sure it is. . . .Now if there's no cover and also not much of a write up, I ain't even sampling it. . . .

Ann


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

I've noticed that some of the books without covers are older books. I was looking for a book that I read many years ago and found it listed. It didn't have the cover of the book showing, but was the correct book. I think that some of the books without covers may have been requests from customers when you click on the I would like this book on Kindle. 

Happy Holidays to everyone!


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Unfortunately - looking at it from the author perspective - the cover is a *critical* part of the book. If there's no image at all, the first thing that tells you (even if you may not realize it) is that the author didn't care enough to bother having one made, and there's no visual appeal. The cover is the first impression you have of a book, either on-line or in the store. If it doesn't "say" anything that appeals to you, the chances of you checking it out further (reading the inside cover, as it were, or checking out the blurb on Amazon) plunge like a rock.

The cover is the "bait" and the blurb (and reviews) are the "hook"...


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I like to have a cover image, but it would have little to no affect on whether I buy it or not.

Steve


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

I noticed that one of my books doesn’t have a cover image on the Kindle version but the other two do. I have no idea why one is missing; I uploaded a cover for all three.


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## Guest (Dec 25, 2008)

I guess you can't judge a Kindle book by the lack of it's cover..


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Vampyre said:


> I guess you can't judge a Kindle book by the lack of it's cover..


No, but you can judge the Kindle Digital Text Platform support by how long it takes them to fix my book.

Good morning Vampy. Was Santa good to you?


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## Guest (Dec 25, 2008)

I didn't really do much for Christmas this year.  Money is tight and all of my sibs have their own families to buy for.  I do get a couple of good meals out of it though.

I wont get off work for 5 more hours.  Then I go to my brother's for one of those meals.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Jeff said:


> I noticed that one of my books doesn't have a cover image on the Kindle version but the other two do. I have no idea why one is missing; I uploaded a cover for all three.


Yeah, I was going to say, "DTP strikes again!"


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

No cover, no problem. Cover images are someone else's idea of what visually represents the book. My visual tastes aren't going to match everyone elses so a cover may or may not do anything for me. A good cover image can get me to look at a book I might otherwise pass over by reading the title alone. A cover image might also cause me to skip a book I might otherwise check out by reading the title alone. The title can work the same way. The writeup on the back cover or inside flaps will have more effect on my decision than titles or cover art.


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## Vegas_Asian (Nov 2, 2008)

I don't have a problem if there isn't a cover picture...now if there wasn't any text we'd have a different problem.


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## ScottBooks (Oct 28, 2008)

I generally won't look at the ones without a cover. I really don't look at many that are only Kindle editions. No offense to "our" authors but, there's a lot of unedited dreck out there someone wants to charge me 3$ for.


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## Wisteria Clematis (Oct 29, 2008)

LDB said:


> No cover, no problem. Cover images are someone else's idea of what visually represents the book. My visual tastes aren't going to match everyone elses so a cover may or may not do anything for me. A good cover image can get me to look at a book I might otherwise pass over by reading the title alone. A cover image can also cause me to skip a book I might otherwise check out by reading the title alone. The title can work the same way. The writeup on the back cover or inside flaps will have more effect on my decision than titles or cover art.


I agree with LDB. Sometimes a cover image snags my attention when otherwise I might not have been interested at all, but there have also been times when a really ugly cover (or one that is unnecessarily provocative) has actually changed my mind about checking out the book. But either way it is not usually the deciding factor.


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## Gertie Kindle (Nov 6, 2008)

A cover is nice, but since the Kindle book opens to the beginning and not the cover, it's not really necessary.  Covers seem to be somewhat generic lately, and don't really tell you much about the book.  I'll read the blurb.  That's more important to me.  If a book doesn't have some kind of blurb, I don't want to read it.


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

In paper editions, the cover often reflects the publisher's opinion of the book - better covers/better artists are not "wasted" on the books that they don't think will sell well; they are reserved for the best-selling authors or the books where they invested a lot of editor's time. Of course, if publishers were perfect, they wouldn't even bother with the unedited dreck they seem to push to fill shelves and would only create best-sellers. Of course, some publishers specialize in formula writers, high volume (and cheap, repetitive covers), knowing that their subscription members don't care about them.

In the Kindle editions, though, the lack of a cover often signals one of two additional classes of books: reformatted (or not) public domain books (that are available free elsewhere and often as well or better formatted) and self-published short stories (which almost never have covers) and books (usually by authors who have either no interest in that part of publishing a book, who are not artistic and can't/don't want to design a cover, or feel the words are the most important). A few, of course, are books where the cover image simply disappeared from Amazon. Of course, in that category of self-published books, there is total garbage (even edited total garbage exists, of course, as most know who've read thru the local bookstore's shelves), racist/political/religious rants (distinguished both by lack of editing and lack of facts, for the most part), run of the mill efforts that some will like, but were rejected by publishers due to lack of marketability and a few gems (just as with music, a gifted writer doesn't HAVE to have a publisher, it just usually increases sales ... just no necessarily profit/income to the writer). Unfortunately, to find these gems in the Amazon sea can be nearly impossible - with no advanced search, you can't exclude the short stories, the public domain reprints, the books with only one review (always a 4 or 5 star review, but also always by the author/publisher), look for a specific price range or length of book.  

So, most of us probably do the same thing as at a bookstore - hunt for familiar authors, mock the bestseller list (and especially the illiterate authors that Oprah picks), then browse the shelves by glancing at covers and only reading the fly leaf (summary) of the ones with an interesting cover, then check out a sample chapter of those that sound "interesting" and have a few good reviews. Just that at Amazon, they are reader reviews rather than professional reviews (not necessarily impartial reviews and sometimes even paid for reviews or bad edits of a negative review that make it look favorable).  The books with no cover or bland ones get ignored (unless mentioned on social sites like this one).


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

If you look for *The Amazon Kindle FAQ* (my book) at Amazon you'll see two versions: one with a cover and one without. The one without the cover, which also lists my son as the author, is the one that was "imported" from Mobipocket. I've written Amazon and asked them to take it down. No luck so far on that one. At Mobipocket it does have a cover, so I have no idea why that didn't come across and why they are listing the wrong author.

Oh well.

L


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm a visual person so I like to see a cover. If the cover doesn't thrill me but the title is interesting or different, then I'll go on to read the blurb.

I once went through a stage when I was a teen where I read nothing but books with a castle on the cover!


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Leslie said:


> If you look for *The Amazon Kindle FAQ* (my book) at Amazon you'll see two versions: one with a cover and one without. The one without the cover, which also lists my son as the author, is the one that was "imported" from Mobipocket.


Ha, Leslie's right again.

I accidently bought the $9.99 Mobipocket version of The Treasure of La Malinche for my wife's Kindle and that's the one without a cover. Bah humbug.


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## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

I must say I like the cover on. Crafters projects are only as good as the finnishing touches. the cover on the book is like that to me.

Sylvia


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

Remember everyone "you can't judge a book by its cover".  Nice cover does not necessarily = good book.  Especially w/ kindle versions.  Think about it if you want to see the cover of a kindle book then simply go to the paperback version and there's your cover.  I'd rather read the blurb and maybe a couple of reviews then make my decision.  I've got a few books that have terrible covers but I still really enjoy the books.


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## scrabblelover (Dec 26, 2008)

New Kindle owner here.  First book I'm reading is "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" and I realized I would really like to know the copyright date.  As with most recent fiction, I find it's good to know if it was written before or after Sept. 11, 2001.  Did I just miss it, or is this something that would not be on a Kindle book?


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## thejackylking #884 (Dec 3, 2008)

you should still get the copyright page and dedication and all that good stuff.  Just curious why do you want to know whether pre or post 9/11?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

If you go to "The cover" you'll start at, usually, a B&W image of the color, followed by all the copyright stuff. . ."the beginning" is where the story starts.

Ann


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Good points all.

I do agree that one shouldn't "judge a book by its cover" (or lack thereof), and while it may seem that I'm doing that, I'm really not.

To me, the lack of a cover image on a Kindle online listing represents utter laziness, apathy, and/or disinterest on the part of the author and/or publisher (Amazon screw-ups notwithstanding). 

It comes down to, "If they don't care, why should I?"


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## mwb (Dec 5, 2008)

Yes, I do. I read books not advertising art (covers). That's all covers are an advertisement meant to attract the attention of people browsing in bookstores. They can be pretty but are a bit archaic.

In an age where we not only have reviews, reader comments, blogs and discussion boards devoted to books - but we also now have free sample chapters to help us decide if we want to actually buy/read a book.

In the context of all that focusing on the cover, or lack of it, seems rather misguided.

To each his or her own, but I find little connection between whether I enjoy a book or not and its cover so it was never a good criterion for whether I should get a book.

And enjoying the content is the point.

----------------
Listening to: Françoise Hardy - Branche Cassée
via FoxyTunes


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## ScottBooks (Oct 28, 2008)

I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book with an ugly cover. I've read around 3000 books by now and can't say that I've ever bought a book that had an ugly cover. Utilitarian, boring, plain, nondescript yes; but not ugly. If one of my "Must Read" authors put out such a book I would be facing a dilemma were it not for my Kindle.


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## LDB (Oct 28, 2008)

ScottBooks said:


> I don't think I've ever enjoyed a book with an ugly cover. I've read around 3000 books by now and can't say that I've ever bought a book that had an ugly cover. Utilitarian, boring, plain, nondescript yes; but not ugly. If one of my "Must Read" authors put out such a book I would be facing a dilemma were it not for my Kindle.


The problem then becomes what wondrous things you may eventually or sadly may already have missed. I'd just as soon every book have a plain brown paper sack colored cover with plain Times New Roman font for the title etc. so the book isn't affected by cover art. I understand the stated position but what's beautiful to one will be homely or perhaps ugly to another. The shallow view of the outside doesn't reveal the potential jewel within. The same holds true whether looking at books or people or anything else.


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## Angela (Nov 2, 2008)

I don't usually pick books with no covers, but while doing a search of one of my favorite authors, I found that one of her 7 listed kindle books has no cover. It was one of her earlier works, but the missing cover didn't prevent me from downloading. One other time I downloaded a sample of a book based on a recommendation that had no cover, but when I went back a few days later to purchase, the cover was there. I guess there is no rhyme or reason to the cover/no cover issue!


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Angela said:


> One other time I downloaded a sample of a book based on a recommendation that had no cover, but when I went back a few days later to purchase, the cover was there. I guess there is no rhyme or reason to the cover/no cover issue!


In this regard, I think sometimes when books are first put into Kindle version, it takes the cover art longer to get associated with the Kindle version. Not always, but often enough that I don't let the lack of cover art on an obviously-not-self-published book sway me from giving it a look-see. I've also noticed that the Kindle version cover art is often different from the paper version cover art -- and sometimes different from the paperback which is different from the hardback, so that there's at least 3 cover versions. Sometimes it's a reissue thing of a much older book, but not always.

So yeah, I like cover art when looking for books online initially as one aspect of whether I might be interested in a book (heck, that's one thing that interested me in Mike's book, In Her Name, before I even saw him on this board, because the cover art caught my eye), but it's not the only thing and the lack thereof won't automatically chase me away.


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## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Steph H said:


> ...heck, that's one thing that interested me in Mike's book, In Her Name, before I even saw him on this board, because the cover art caught my eye...


So all my training with crayons paid off! 

Thanks, Steph!
Mike


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

kreelanwarrior said:


> So all my training with crayons paid off!
> 
> Thanks, Steph!
> Mike


Hard to miss a blue chick holding a sword....


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

This was mentioned earlier but it may be important enough to repeat: Most Mobipocket books don’t have cover images when read on the Kindle. This is also true of many books in the Kindle library on Amazon if those titles were imported from Mobipocket’s web site. It's only an indication of the two different methods of storing cover images not of the book's quality.


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## Wells83 (Nov 19, 2008)

It makes no difference to me whether a Kindle book has a cover or not.


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## dmdaye (Jun 6, 2014)

With such a huge choice of books within Amazon's kindle, if you don't stand out with a great book cover your potential reader will just pass you by and move on to the next.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

With the exception of public domain, no, I would never give a book with no cover even a second glance. My eye automatically skims over anything with an amateur looking cover, including an absent cover (unless it's an upcoming release that simply doesn't have a cover YET).


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I'd say that covers are very different now than 6 years ago, which is when this thread was started.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Agreeing with Ann.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

It's alive...   

I love zombie threads.  They're a blast from the past!

Betsy


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

I thought this was an interesting topic to click on... Imagine my surprise when I realized that *I* started it.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

CS said:


> I thought this was an interesting topic to click on... Imagine my surprise when I realized that *I* started it.


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## alicepattinson (Jan 27, 2013)

Ahmmm. For me, I like to see a cover image


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## Cherise (May 13, 2012)

This thread is a really interesting time capsule! I had no idea that short stories didn't used to have covers. Sad that I missed the early days of Kindle.


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## metal134 (Sep 2, 2010)

Nah, don't care much.  A lot of the stuff I read is classic literature, so it's stuff that's in the public domain.  A good deal of the stuff on my Kindle is stuff from places like Project Gutenberg.  And most of the stuff that I have bought from the Kindle store is large, linked files of an author's entire body of work (such as D.H. Lawrence, Jules Verne, Oscar Wilde, etc.).  If it's a modern author, then I'm more likely to purchase and read a physical copy instead.


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## Neekeebee (Jan 10, 2009)

Started reading this thread and thought, "Hey, I remember all these people!"  Then I realized the posts were from 2008.  

N


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