I’m a person who feels that book covers are important. It’s the first thing you see, and more often than not, it pulls me in to check out the book. Many people say that covers don’t matter, but book covers make a big impression on me and engage me. Not only that, covers are art, and artists put time into creating aesthetics that have the power to bring a book to life. They fuss over title placement, graphics, and colors—everything that will make their cover a perfect fit and unique to their book.
This brings to mind something that’s been bugging me lately, and that’s the addition of an emblem on certain YA books: Reese’s YA Book Club. What is it that irritates me so much about these emblems?
- They’re permanent: you can’t remove them because they’ve been printed on the cover.
- They’re a huge eyesore and ruin the beautiful art of the cover.
- Because these are getting printed on a large number of books, it takes away from the uniqueness of the book art.
I purchased Fable and Namesake by Adrienne Young for my collection because I loved the duology so much. Seriously, these covers are stunning! After receiving my copies in the mail, here’s what I noticed: a white and yellow circle on Fable’s hair.
This is obviously a personal taste, but am I the only one who has issues with this? Yes, I do have OCD about certain things, especially stickers, but I just don’t see why the publishing companies aren’t thinking about the negative aspects of plastering this on a large number of books. Nothing against Reese here—I think her book club is wonderful. I also understand why they’re doing this from a marketing standpoint, but seeing this emblem on the front cover—which tells the reader its ‘picked by Reese’—is certainly not going to make me want to buy it. In fact, it’s a book I’ll likely pass up and get from the library instead because the beautiful artwork on the cover has been tainted. Netflix emblems sometimes bother me too, but they don’t seem to pop up as often.
With certain book covers it does seem acceptable and doesn’t bother me as much. The truth is, I simply don’t feel excited to display a bunch of these books on my shelves. It would be better, in my opinion, if they just made this into a removable sticker. Barnes and Noble does this with their discount stickers, and they easily peel right off with zero damage.
What do you think? Do emblems on book covers bother you? Could the emblems actually be scaring readers away from purchasing the books verses actually grabbing their attention?
❤ Mischenko
ReadRantRock&Roll 
I dislike them! They should, at least, be removable. It does turn me off a book as well because I don’t necessarily think everything Reese tags is good. She just tags ‘new’, in my opinion.
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Yeah, we’ve probably all been in that spot too where a book with many positive ratings doesn’t turn out well for us. The meaning of the emblem just isn’t important enough to ruin the cover. I’m glad I’m not the only one that feels this way. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on it! 👍
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They bother me. I will go out of my way to buy a version that doesn’t have it on it. And if no variant exists, then I won’t buy.
Thankfully I’m not into YA books, but movie poster style covers with “Now a Major Motion Picture” really take away from what I’m trying to look at.
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Those too, and same here. I’ve noticed that it’s hard to find other versions out there with many of these new books. I found a hardcover copy of Fable on eBay without the emblem, but the seller wanted $30, which is out of my budget for one book. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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I dislike anything spoiling a cover. Not so bad if they’re removeable, but even then they sometimes leave a residue. They could perhaps be sited discreetly on the back if they have to be somewhere.
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Good one, Cathy. The back would be totally fine with me because it’s always the front that I display on the shelf. 👍 Thank you.
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🙂
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I freakin’ dislike this type of emblems. I don’t think emblems of awards would bother me as much, but this type of ‘book club picks’ especially involving celebrities is a total turn-off for me. I Honestly, I don’t want any celebrities mess with books. At least these stickers should be removable so that we can peal them off and threw them away lol
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Exactly how I feel, Noriko. If it were removable it would be acceptable. Maybe things will change in the future. I honestly can’t believe I don’t see anyone complaining about it online. To me it just ruins the beauty! Thank you for your honest opinion. ❤️
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I am not a fan of the emblems. If I want to know what books a book club or such picked out, I would look at their list. The emblem isn’t going to sway me
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Same here. Does it bug you because of how it looks on the cover though? That’s what aggravates me most.
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Yes! It actually screws up the cover design!
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They would annoy me – especially on the cover of Fable. Completely takes away from the beauty of the design.
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That’s where it really got me, Teri, although it bothers me on most of the book covers. As an author, I wondered if you would be okay with it on one of your book covers? It doesn’t stand out as much on Firekeeper’s Daughter, but it still spoils the design, IMO. Thanks for your thoughts. 😉
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I have a sticker for an award that I put on one of my books, but it’s something that is easy to peel off. If I had covers like those above? No way would I want one on it.
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Non-removable emblems totally bother me if I love a cover. I’m with you 100%. I think covers staying true to their genre is also very important. If a book cover is not beautiful, I’m okay with that though I do love a beautiful cover 😍 but I have found that if a cover and the genre don’t mesh – that often indicates the book lacks something very important for me as a reader. Almost like the book has no focused identity in plot or cover, if that makes any sense.
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Everything you say makes complete sense to me. I’m okay with not-so-beautiful book covers, and agree on the cover design matching the genre like you say. I imagine some covers take a long time to perfect because they have so much to think about, and this is why I can’t believe it doesn’t bother some of the artists or the authors that these emblems are getting permanently printed in. Thanks for your honest thoughts, Tessa. 💜
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I definitely don’t like any kind of emblem. Made into movie, Netflix or any. I agree with you it ruins the charm of the book.
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Thanks for sharing, Yesha. ❤️
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I have to wonder about the authors and their input or if they have to ok the emblems and the connection to the club.
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I’m hoping more will weigh in. I’m interested in how the process works too. 👍
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I don’t like them at all! I suppose they’re seen as a plus from a marketing perspective, attracting readers who follow the celebrity or the book club rather than seeking out a specific title. But from an aesthetics perspective, the emblems ruin the cover art! Also, and I realize this makes me sound like a snob, when I buy a book with a book club emblem or a movie tie-in, it makes me feels like I’m just following the crowd, and I don’t like that at all!
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I hate them too and have seen many other booklovers complain about their permanency too. I wish we could remove them. Or, if it’s really needed, they should move it somewhere else, like the inner flap maybe.
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I agree. The back would be just fine. 👍 Thank you for sharing.
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