What Is It About Movie Covers?

There are so many exciting book but here are three:

1. Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan
FINALLY! The conclusion to Brennan’s Lynburn Legacy trilogy is out! And if you read it and want to cry  at her in person you can come and see her on October 22nd here at the store.

2. The Infinite Sea by Rick Yancy
The sequel to his alarmingly realistic alien invasion story The 5th Wave.

3. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld
It feels like we’ve been waiting for a new Westerfeld forever! It’s finally here and it’s a beautiful, literally hefty tome.


I don’t know what it is about movie covers. The movie poster can be absolutely beautiful and I still won’t like it as the cover of the book. I may look at it and think (or say) “That’s not so bad.” But that doesn’t mean I want that edition. I’d rather have the original.

And I’m not the only one. It’s been an overwhelming trend. Most people don’t like the movie editions of books.

The thing is, even I’m not entirely sure what it is. A store only having a movie edition is not going to stop me from buying the book. I want the book. I’ll buy the book. The cover doesn’t change anything and I know that but that doesn’t mean I want that cover.

Last week we had some students from the Roxbury school come and check out the store. In addition to filling out some sort of scavenger hunt form they each had a budget so they could pick out a book or two.

Amid the chaos of requests were the expected calls for The Fault in Our Stars. We have so many copies I never anticipated this being an issue. I stood off to the side and directed people to what they were looking for.

“Right here, in Young Adult.”

Then came the:

“OH! Do you have any more with their faces on them?”

I blinked and then again. Finally responding, “Yeah…I think so.”

Before I knew what was happening I was standing on a ladder above Young Adult handing out all six copies (copies some of us were lamenting having forever) of the movie edition to a gaggle of yelling students. This was alarming, and not least of all because I couldn’t get down with the crowd at the bottom and I’m still just a little afraid of heights.

Some of the students refused to buy the normal edition of the book. One even found the book in Spanish and asked another if they thought she could learn the language enough to read it.

It was such a reversal of what I was used to. I started thinking about the movie cover issue from the other side.

Why would you buy the original cover with the movie one right there for the taking?

Did the students want the movie cover because the movie poster was the first representation of the story they’d seen? Is that what the “original” cover is to them? Is it because they really like looking at Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort? Are they just part of the movie generation where this is what books are, representations of their movie counterparts?

Does it really matter if the book is selling?

From now on, I’ll try to stop glaring the new editions down when we get them in because, hey, maybe that’s the version someone is looking for. Maybe they won’t buy the other one. Maybe they really do just have a huge crush on that one actor. I’m not going to judge.

-Amy

P.S. The awesome people at Books and Whatnot seem to think that Stick Figure Amy is pretty cool. They featured her in one their posts! So, if you were ever curious about her origin story check it out!
http://booksandwhatnot.com/marginalia/meet-stick-figure-amy/

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