Covers and where I am coming from - a brief history

It is disappointing to me when hardcover books have great covers and when they are released in paperback they are...how should I say this...not as cute. Then when I realize how awesome the UK covers are I get pretty sad.

I realized my obsession when "Spot of Bother" - a book that is totally strange, but enjoyable and great - came out in paperback. The HC was beautiful, and probably why I picked up the book in the first place. The paperback was just plain creepy. My thought is, maybe Random House wanted to make sure people didn't pick up this book expecting another "Curious Incident about the Dog in the Night". That would be understandable, but it seemed that Random House is trying to scare their potential readers away.

Another book cover I was mildly disappointed in is "The Double Bind". There seems to be only one cover for HC, paperback and the UK. This cover doesn't make me want to read the book. It wouldn't make me pick it up. I would assume terribly bad things about this book if I was only judging it by the cover. Good for me I've wanted to read this book for a number of different reasons. Now that I have started it I see why the cover is what it is, but I still think it could have been better - and by better I mean more to my liking.


I get really excited for books to come out in paperback. A lot of times people don't want to buy hardcover books. They can be a little pricey, and I think that is why we get so excited for trade paperback releases. It means more of our friends and customers will take the chance and read something we're crazy about.

Sometimes the TP cover is scary, sometimes it hasn't changed at all and sometimes it totally rocks. In the slew of books recently out in TP Moral Disorder arrived. Everyone knows I'm pretty crazy about Margaret Atwood, so I was elated with the new cover. For the record I did not have a problem with the HC. It was a nice jacket and the cover itself was a rich red cover. What I love about the new cover is that it is so different from the HC. It is bright and colorful and unique, and I think...way better than the UK version.

As you can tell this cover discussion is just getting started, but we hope you like the new books we're excited about, with or without their covers.