A few weeks ago, I investigated redesigned book covers so I thought it was only fair if I were to discuss which version of the cover everyone uses in their posts.
Old Version (aka the copy on my bookshelf)
When I first started blogging, I made a point to make sure that all the covers I posted in my posts matched the cover I was most familiar with. So basically, usually in cases when I own a book or have borrowed a copy of one many times, when I wrote a post about said book, I made sure to post the cover of the book I have / borrowed. However, I soon found out there was a problem with that…
New Version (aka the version currently sitting on bookshelves in bookstores)
That problem was the sometimes the newer version of the cover was more popular. And that posting the old version confused a lot of people. Plus sometimes, in the case of a series of books, the last few books only come out in the newer version. So then on your blog, the covers would look mismatched (like my bookshelf).
Movie Tie in Edition
I don’t know what to say about this. Sometimes the movie tie in editions look cooler… but in the event that the movie doesn’t do to well, do you really want everyone who visits your post to be reminded of a movie that wasn’t great. For example Beautiful Creatures…
The Popular Version
This could classify as the new version and the old version of the cover. For example, the newer cover design of If I Stay is more popular than the older version (probably because the newer version matches the cover of its sequel, Where She Went). That being said, the Harry Potter covers were redesigned a year or two ago, but everyone still mentions the old version. In fact, some people don’t even know there is a new version. Nowadays, I just end up posting whatever cover appears first on Goodreads, or whatever one I think is more popular.
What about you?
Which book cover do you use in you posts?
I like the old ones. I have also this habit of buying 2 books, the old cover and the new one. They look good in my shelf LOL SRSLY tho, I like the original cover of IF I STAY, but I end up buying the new version (movie version) since the old ones were phased out. SUCKS.
I usually like the old ones too! And I can totally relate to having double copies of books. My only problem with that is that while they make my bookshelf look good, they make my wallet look depressed.
Thanks for stopping by Margarette! 🙂
Ooh interesting topic. Well, I use the Ultimate Book Blogging Plugin, so I use the cover it picks for me… which is probably the popular one from Google Books.
I have the UBB but I don’t use it for covers for some reason. Maybe that’s the perfect solution – let the plugin pick so I don’t have to!
Thanks for stopping by Julie! 🙂
I usually just use whichever version I read. Unless the cover is hideous or I think people might recognize it better by the more popular cover, then I’ll switch but most of the time I stick by the version I read! I would never use a movie tie-in edition though. I agree that they do look cool but honestly I would always rather get the older, non movie tie in version as opposed to the movie tie in one.
I do that too! Use the cover of the book I read and only change it if I think people won’t recognize it.
Thanks for stopping by Annie! 🙂
[…] Emz wants to know which book cover you use for your posts. […]
I used to do the cover I read or owned, but now, if there’s a new design for series and I’ve read the whole series and have all the reviews coming up, I’ll use those covers, but standardly, I’ll make a point of using the UK covers because I’m from the UK and I think it’d be odd for me to the us the international or US covers when it’s not the cover I have, if that makes sense? Great topic hunny! 😀
I agree, consistency is key when reviewing a whole series as separate books. I totally forgot about international covers, my bad, but I agree with you, it doesn’t make sense to use a cover of a book that you are not familiar with.
Thanks for stopping by Amanda! 🙂
I usually use the cover that I read and/or own just because it’s the one that I am most familiar with. There are often times that I like other covers/versions of the cover but it just doesn’t seem right that I am using that cover because I haven’t read that copy haha. I never use the movie tie-in covers either, even if for some reason I own that copy (which is rare in itself), I just like the original covers better!
I agree with you. It feels weird using a cover that you are not familiar with in a post – even if it looks cooler or better.
Thanks for stopping by Lauren! 🙂
I usually use the cover of the edition I read. I catalog my books on Goodreads by ISBN, and that’s where I get the cover from.
Cool! I never thought about doing that on Goodreads. Do you use the app to scan the ISBN or do you usually manually type it in?
Thanks for stopping by Brianna! 🙂
I usually use the cover of the book which I have or the cover of the book that I read, unless its an ugly one. In which case I’ll use the one I find the prettiest because who doesn’t want to look a pretty covers 🙂
It definitely is a huge struggle between using the cover you are most familiar with or using the cover that looks the prettiest / is the more popular.
Thanks for stopping by Scarlett! 🙂