Blowing a book's cover

by Nicola Shepherd

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DO you judge a book by its cover Or do you go for author, content or subject matter first How influenced are you by complimentary cover quotes

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One literary critic, in a recent review of The Pretender by Mary Morissey, says: 'it is not the historical hogwash the cover suggests.' The cover depicts a classic Russian landscape of onion-shaped domes with a sepia tint of the Empres Alexandra.

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But the book is a whole lot more exciting than that as it is an imagined biography of Anna Anderson, the woman who believed she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia and is a portrayal of tragedy and self-delusion.

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The feminist writer Susie Orbach made her name as a political feminist� in the seventies with her book Fat is a Feminist Issue. The tag line, not from the author's�pen read How to lose weight without dieting. Orbach was incensed that the publishers wanted to play to women's insecurities about their bodies in this way, as it was precisely these that Orbach was trying to confront in the book. However, the publishers insisted and Orbach backed down.

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The book was�a huge successs, but would it have been so without the tag line

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At� the other end of the spectrum of women's literature is the recently published The Surrendered Wife by Laura Doyle.

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An unlikely success story, this book tells the women of America that the key to a happy marriage is submission to your husband in every sphere of home life; in the family finances, in indulging his moods, but especially in the bedroom. Its runaway success (top ten on the best-selling list) is partly due to a cover endorsement by popular therapist and author, John Gray.�

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Cover endorsements by authors of the same genre are very popular. But shouldn't Delia Smith's rather bland: 'I love Nigella Lawson's writing and I love her recipes,' which featured on Ms Lawson's Christmas 1999 book How to Eat, have been updated for her Christmas 2000 book How to be A Domestic Goddess

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The explosion of interest in the paperback in the first half of he twentieth century saw the publishing house branding itself, rather than the author or character. Think of rows of old Penguins or Pan books. And people collected a publisher rather than an author.

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This recognisable branding, or signature as it is called, is making a comeback. Fiction editor�of Raincoast Books in Canada, Joy Gugeler, says: 'It encourages stores to take more copies and encourages readers to register a critical mass.'

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Rod Clarke of the Granville Book Company isn't so sure. 'In the end a really strong line and good editorial focus are necessary. The books have to stand on their own.'

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What makes you pick up a book and buy it Tell us by visiting The AnswerBank message boards now.