Author Catherine McKenzie ranted a few days ago about covers on books, in her post “Why Do Books Written by Women Get Such Audience-Limiting Covers?“. The post was written primarily for authors, and in it she proposes that, as the title suggests, women authors’ book covers are designed in such a way that tags them as “women’s fiction” whether the story is really fiction specifically for women or not, while men authors, even if they’re writing a women’s fiction style book, get the non-gender specific treatment.
It’s a contentious subject, but while I was reading the post, the question rose in my mind…does it ever work the other way? Romance readers — you, in other words — can recognize a romance novel cover at one hundred paces. Knowing it is a romance puts you at your ease, and reassures you about the type of story you will get.
And here’s my question: Do you avoid books that have “male” covers? Do you not even bother to read the description?
Why? Or why not?
Cheers,
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