This week’s Musing Mondays from Should Be Reading asks…
“In this week’s musing MizB asks a question based on Craig Mod‘s article called Hack the Cover. The article basically tells us that covers are dead. Physical books are disappearing, e-books are taking over and publishers are increasingly skipping right to the content discarding digital covers. So MizB wants to know,
What do we think about this? Do we think the book cover is “dead”? Do we care whether the “covers” on digital books exist or not?“
Do I care? People who know me know that I am kind of an old fashioned prude who thinks ‘Facebook’ is a terrible waste of time and refuses to join in. So you bet that I care about the existence of book covers!
I don’t know if book covers are dead but I certainly don’t want them to be! Covers do matter whether physical or digital. Here are a few instances from my life.
As an yet uneducated 3 year old, I loved looking at the brightly drawn cover of 
Chestnut-Grey and the more sombre cover of 
The White Deer (two mysterious books that have been on our shelves from before my birth, books that my parents swear they didn’t buy). As I sat there looking at them my heart filled with anticipation about the treasures hidden inside them.
I would eagerly read the back page of each of my Penguin Popular Classics editions, wanting to know what art work has been used as the cover.
And very recently reading 
It’s Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock – A Personal Biography by Charlotte Chandler en route to my workplace and people asking me what book I was reading. The striking cover grabbing everyone’s attention and surprising me!
Okay let’s get back to digital books. I am not that into them but when I occasionally do read one I prefer the ones that do not skip directly to the first page of the first chapter or table of contents. The cover makes my ‘digital’ reading experience seem more ‘real’.
Even my future reads like 
Crooks Tour by Jane Shaw feels more readable because of the ‘retro’ looking covers from Retro Press!
So, yes I do care whether the “covers” on exist or not, whether on digital books or real books.
A Paperback Life 
I think unless the technology changes, the future of covers on e-books is not briht.
Yes sad but true. 😦
I guess you would say I am your newest follower… I feel the exact same way! I have an older Kindle, only because my sister gave it to me when she got her iPad, and I really don’t like reading on it. I do some because I get a lot of free books (which I could get at the library). Most don’t have covers! I have noticed that too. The best part about a book is the cover! From what is on the outside makes me want to see what is on the inside! Have a great week of reading!
Thanks! I don’t judge a book by its cover but a book without a cover feels incomplete to me. If the cover doesn’t represent the book then that’s disappointing. And when the outside matches the inside it’s pure bliss! 🙂
Yes, getting the cover in an ebook is really important.
http://carabosseslibrary.blogspot.com/2012/06/musing-mondays_18.html
Yeah it makes the reading experience more real.
I’m an ebook fan but I still really love covers.
Not an e-book fan but I do get their usefulness (like if the physical book is too heavy).
I love pretty covers, and need them in my life. IF book covers are going to be dead then what about magazine covers hmmm… Here’s my Musing
I love looking at magazine covers! I am more likely to buy a magazine if the cover is striking or unusual, even if it is not necessarily pretty.
HERE HERE! LONG LIVE PRETTY COVERS! To me it is PART of the WHOLE Experience!
Here is my MUSING MONDAYS
You’ve said it! Without the covers I find that something is missing from my reading experience. 🙂
No kidding, I posted this over on Reddit and someone actually called it spam, HOW is it spam? GOSH! LOVE this Musing today!