I am curious to hear people's thoughts on the overall impact a story's cover image has on not only drawing you to read it in the first place but also its impact on the story as a whole.
For instance, if an author depicts a person on the cover who is the subject of the story, does having a visual of the person or people being written about heighten your overall enjoyment, or would you prefer it to be left to the imagination based on the subject's appearance and attributes described in the story?
Makes absolutely zero difference.
Doesn’t make me enjoy it more, but it helps me decide if I want to invest the time for a read.
I normally form a picture of the characters in my head, but for many if there is a cover image of a character their brain will latch onto that. If this enhances or detracts from the story in terms of general acceptance it’s hard to say.
Personally I rarely use actual people on my cover for a few reasons. I don’t use AI, I’m not a skilled artist, and using photos I find online of strangers feels a bit creepy.
I am a visual person and love a cover. It helps immerse me in the story… sets the tone.
I do make covers, but mine will (more or less) reflect the general idea. Sometimes it is a visual pun (like the cover for Three Girls And A Guy), while others are specific to the story (like Bill And Vicki Go Camping).
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Bill And Vicki Go Hollywood
No.
Not at all.
Quote by kistinspencil
Far more repel than entice.
Yeah, I agree. There's a lot of stuff on here that I'm just not into. Usually I can guess by the title and the tag line that I won't like a story, but images help, too. On the other hand, they don't add much to my enjoyment of a story. I might think, 'ah, she looks nice,' but it's not a major selling point for a story - the quality of the writing is. If the author has done a good enough job with their story, I should be able to do my own visualization without the assistance of a cover image. That said, as an author I've been creating AI-generated covers for my stories to approximate what I think the main female character should look like in some scenic context (a bedroom, outdoors, wherever). Hopefully they're not too repulsive.
Don't believe everything that you read.
That tough for me to answer because I went to school for graphic design, and I love making cover images for my stories, stretching those skills that don't get as much use nowdays.
On the other hand (forgive me) many of the cover images people make here are pretty low effort and don't do anything for me.
That said, even the bad ones I don't find "repelling", more of a neutral.
A good cover image can be excellent. I don't need them, but I enjoy them when they're done well.
This is bad but perhaps timely analogy, but I think cover images are like vice presidential candidates. They’re unlikely to help, but can hurt if carelessly chosen. The hurt being if the cover image trivializes the story content or leaves me wondering about its connection to the story.
"It seemed like a nice neighborhood to have bad habits in.” Raymond Chandler
The Gin Rickey Singularity -- Dirty Talk competition entry
I'd probably never select a story because it has a cover picture but it might affect if I read it once I got to the page.
Not sure a cover image has ever influenced my choice of reading material here. Author, category, whether it's a comp entry, that sort of thing is probably more so.
As a writer, I sometimes spend more time than maybe I should on the cover. Sometimes it is hard to get one that fits. I have even had a couple cases where I went with a symbolic cover, e.g. my current story about a girl named Cherry has a cherry as the cover.😉
Apes can talk dirty, too. Here's my entry in the "Dirty Talk" competition. Read it and let me know what you think. A virgin student gets a special present from his female housemate.
https://www.lushstories.com/stories/first-time/free-use-friday-or-a-sweet-taste-of-cherrys-pie-3
