Ok now’s the time to admit it…do you judge books by their covers?

And if you do, have you ever been disappointed when a book cover is totally and completely random and unmatched to the story in any way shape or form? I mean it’s not like it’s in the story protection program (jk,jk peoples).  Or what about putting down a book because the cover was kind of ‘ew’ or old?

Well here’s an interesting story from the author’s perspective and how much say they (most of the time) don’t have in a very crucial part of how people see their work.

So stories and covers may  not always be the best of friends, in fact they might not even know one another.

Like the cover of Justine Larbalestier’s new novel (it will be in the Lib in Septemeber), take a gander…

It’s not even a ‘bad’ cover (INMO), but it’s definitely not the right cover to base the story or the character on (try this one). The main character may be a compulsive liar, but when she describes her appearance it’s nothing like that on the cover of this book-race, hair, looks…yeah everything’s different, so unless the character’s lying again, this cover is the real big fat lie.

Thoughts?

Judging by the cover: 0. ‘Can’t judge a book by it’s cover’: once again the winner.

UPDATE: Author E. Lockhart added her two cents…here!