Book cover....

Does it really matters at the end of the day?

For me, the cover's significance(s) is quite dependant on a few factors. I will consider the signature design of the publishing company,maturity of book contents, frequency of usage and tradition involved. Of course, the price must be reasonable as well. Surely some might have differing opinions and among one, might say that, it is the contents that matters, why bother with the cover?

This topic randomly came after a few things accumulated. I never really thought book covers to be an issue until recently when I saw Enid Blyton book covers were revamped to much more sharper contrast of colours, stronger characters design and layout changes. My heart sank instantly cause it looks too Americanized. Or maybe it was just because I am too attached to the covers that I came to adore when I was young.

Naturally, I began to remember incidents relating to book covers. Like on once occassion, I accompanied two friends to KLCC because one of them wanted to buy book. He even got a specific publisher for the books. So, off we go to find the books. Kinokuniya system is quite good, I must say. Anyway, I teamed up with my other friend, a girl and we did found the same title. But the publisher was different. Coincidentally, the guy friend manage to find the right publisher for the book. So, being me, I asked, what's the difference, aside from the obvious fact of the covers and publishers, and imagined my surprised that the difference in price was vast (about Rm20 to Rm30). I mean the difference is almost enough to buy another book.

Then, allow me to further elaborate about book covers with a well-known book title, The Da Vinci Code. I bought the US-edition first actually. The one with a partial picture of Mona Lisa and dark brown cover. Well, I was really absorbed by the writing style of Dan Brown, so I began to buy his other books. And the other books were in UK-edition. So, I began to wonder, why are the books design is so different in term of 'character'? The US-edition was obviously much more solid and more in-your-face whereas the UK-edition has a more classy and soft feel. The price were not greatly apart though.

Another issue which made me think back of book covers happened in my Literature in English times. That time, I bought my books quite hastily and wanted to make sure I had all the materials before starting class. Well, the teacher didn't use the books as soon as I expected but I was glad to buy the books much earlier. This is because when my friends bought the books much later, the covers were revamped to appeal better to the younger readers but personally, I wouldn not have traded my books for their covers at all. I will be able to prove this point better if I can you show you the books now. And let you experience the difference yourself. But seriously, I think I will be less motivated to read the book again and again if the cover was not up to my expectation.

Ok, so, there goes my random topic on book covers. I really hope that book covers will turn out for the better whenever they go for revamping. And accordance to all those that I mentioned above. XD