My post on my subconscious book-choosing rules has spawned a child. Since most of us seem to have strong preference when it comes to genres, it makes sense for publishers to develop clear genre styles.
I remember reading a post about Gothic romances that feature a woman, in a night dress outside a house with a light in one window.
So what other genre cover clichés are there? I’m starting with the easy ones:
Fantasy:
As many colours as possible, but predominantly purple and gold. Featuring the following:
- a horse
- a dragon
- a sword
- a girl with long flowing hair, who is usually:
- Standing on a cliff – top
or - Riding a horse or dragon
or - Brandishing a sword
or - All of the above.
Murder Mystery:
A close up photograph of a seemingly arbitrary collection of domestic objects that acquire a sinister air in proximity with one another.
Usually featuring:
- a garden implement
- a syringe
- blood stains
- broken glass
or
- a girl with long flowing hair who is always:
- cropped in close-up
- dead
- and sometimes:
- naked.
**Post Post edit. **
Jeez what’s with the automatic wordpress related links? Please note, not my doing.
Masha du Toit 
Jul 16, 2009 @ 23:07:49
you can disable the Impossibly Unrelated Posts.
Jul 17, 2009 @ 20:12:57
*bemused* Somehow, I seem to have missed those fantasy covers. ^-~ My idea of a ‘standard’ cover is actually with a castle on it. Probably comes from childhood books where I read loads of pseudo-medieval books.
Scifi tends to have spaceships, though, and books with female protagonists seem to enjoy sporting her centred with a big gun in her hands and a futuristic/alien landscape behind her. Edit as needed.
Romance, of course, tends to have a depiction of the main couple in an alluring pose. Or have the woman in one.
Paranormal romance tends to feature the heroine/main character as well. Or at least part of her. *gestures at Patricia Briggs covers* Like those.
Jul 18, 2009 @ 09:31:18
“paranormal romance” – that one slipped by me somehow. Vampires and such?
Jul 18, 2009 @ 09:38:30
Vampires, werewolves, demons, fae… Pretty much anything that’s romance using non-humans (and non-aliens) is go, as far as I know. *not a big romance reader* Spends an awful lot of time mingling with ‘urban fantasy’ too. Lots of examples. ^-^
Which reminds me, if you’re curious about the ‘subconcious signals’ with which we pick up books in book stores this is the book review I was talking about.
Jul 18, 2009 @ 12:36:57
Thanks for the links. Great to find another book blog. I like the way she calls them “red flags”. She mentions another red flag that I did not put in…photographic covers. I loathe photographic covers, especially if they feature the people in the story. I really cant tell you why but its strong enough that I wont buy a bargain edition even of my most favourite books if they have a photo on the cover.
Jul 18, 2009 @ 12:50:21
Welcome. ^-^ Glad you appreciate the linkage. ^-^
I think, for me, it’s because it looks cheap or sometimes just doesn’t fit the feel of the genre/book. (There are exceptions. I quite like this cover, for all its a photograph, for example. And of course other genres have a wholly different set of criteria.)
One thing this reminds me of and hasn’t been mentioned yet is movie tie-in editions. I have a few of them and will likely have a few more, but I really, really, really dislike them. I have no idea why. Probably it’s the celebrities on the cover.