I’m sure most readers have opinions about the appearance of the books they read. Some people complain about cover designs, quotes on the covers, those “permanent” stickers.
I have forceful opinions about beautiful titles, but I also feel strongly about something else: Photos of real people on book covers.
I will elaborate…
When I read a book that I love, it’s almost as if I’m seeing a movie in my mind. When the characters are speaking to each other, running for their lives, laughing, etc., I see it…
I love that while the same characters are described in books, the characters I see are probably different than the characters you see. Even if we’re reading the exact same book.
That’s what I love about books: How cool is it that we’re reading the same story, but the setting and characters look different? But I digress.
I suppose the way I approach books is the reason I loathe pictures of real people on book covers.
I have no experience with book cover design myself, but I imagine that in the space of a few minutes, some graphic designer at a publishing company can decide who we should all be seeing when we read. And I HATE IT.
(Also, I have wondered many times if authors have control over the covers of their books??)
Here are some covers that especially grind my gears…
Please note that I am not saying anything about the content of these books. Some of these books are my favorites or on my shortlist TBR.
I mean…
I will acknowledge that different genres tend to do this more than others. I have found that New Adult, Romance, and Historical Romance have a high percentage of real people on their covers.
I don’t want to be told who I should be imagining when I read a book, darn it.
What about you? Do you care if there are pictures of real people on the covers of the books you read?
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Chocolate and Chapters 
I feel exactly the same…I want to be able to create my own pictures of characters based on the descriptions I am given in the book and I love the idea that different readers are picturing different people! 🙂
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Exactly! Who comes up with all these book covers? People who don’t read the book, I’m guessing.
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Haha, it often looks like it! 😂😂
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I’m not usually a fan of real people on covers. It’s especially annoying when their appearance is NOTHING like what is described in the book. It’s like, were the cover designers given no info whatsoever?! Like, no one from marketing said “oh but the way, the girl has red hair and the guy has a shaved head?” Geez. Those Paullina Simons covers… ugh. As much as I’m not a fan of mass market paperbacks, my favorite TBH cover is the mm paperback with the Bronze Horseman statue on it. Not the faces! Oh, and that Amy Harmon cover for A Different Blue? Awful! Did they set out to produce the blandest, most boring book cover ever? Mission accomplished!
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Yes, EXACTLY! My copy of “The Bronze Horseman” has a girl’s face from the mouth down. I’m fine with that because you can’t tell what she looks like at all. Totally fine with it. But all those covers with clear faces that DEFINITELY don’t look like Tatiana? Ugh. No.
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OMG YES!!!! absolutely loathe real people on covers and even refuse to buy them.
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I’m so glad you could relate!
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I don’t mind it really. I know I read Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa and thought the pictures of real people on my cover didn’t match the description in my head BUT the pictures of real people on House of Night series didn’t bother me (maybe because the tattoos are awesome?)
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That’s good! I find that SOMETIMES the pictures of real people don’t drive me crazy, like the cover of “The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue.”
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Yes…. so true! I am also really not a fan of people on covers.
Megan S.
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I don’t mind real people on book covers but what I never ever buy is the book “movie” cover. I would rather have the original book cover design.
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Oh wow, good point! I am mostly free of this problem because I read most of my books on the Kindle, and I don’t know if you know about this, but most publishers actually sucks about putting a cover on a Kindle book. Most of the time it will be just the second blank page with the title in a bigger font. It’s annoying for Bookstagram purposes, but I guess I avoid spoiling how the character looks 🙂 then even if it does have a cover, I have to go looking for it specifically, cause books will usually open on the contents or the dedication page… it’s the default setting, I guess.
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I have had this conversation with my co-blogger. She told me how she is ok if the face is in shadow or cutoff, but she doesn’t like faces on covers. Since she said it, I find I am not super attracted to them either, however, I cannot pinpoint why. I understand what you are saying about it ruining the image you had in your head, and maybe that’s my problem too. Never know
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I have the same issue with them… I find that if there is a face on the cover, I tend to not gravitate towards them. There are exceptions like if it’s a beautiful type of cover that is not just the person on the cover, drawing type, or if there are really good ratings for it I’ll give it a try. Either than that, I probably will pass on it.
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I know, it definitely deters me! Which is not what a publisher would want, obviously. I wish they’d learn! haha 😀
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Yes, yes, YES! I could not agree with you more! It kills me when I see a person on the cover because then I cannot stop picturing that person while reading. And often, I think it biases me? Like that guy in A Matter of Trust, he low key freaks me out? Idk what is going on with the dude in Easy, either (for some reason, I feel like I get more stabby at males on covers, but that seems VERY unfair- I don’t *like* females, but I can get past it easier, I guess?)I’m also not as cranky about illustrated people covers. Weird. Anyway, yeah, I agree, I don’t want some model telling me who I should be seeing, I want to imagine it! Great post!
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There are lots of people who seem to abhor faces on their book covers, but I actually like it. I think I’m less imaginative than some people (at least when it comes to picturing people), so I actually don’t mind a little help. Of course, it’s really annoying when the person on the cover doesn’t match the description!
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My thoughts exactly! It’s hard to imagine when the cover already gives you a specific look. What I hate more is when the look in the cover does not match the description in the book’s text. I remember that I tweeted about this one time and a lot of readers seem to also agree with me. 🙂
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I know what you mean here. It’s the reason I also don’t like watching movies of favourite books – I don’t want anyone to tell me what a favourite character should look like.
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