I read recently that the main purpose of a book cover is to attract the reader’s attention. Obviously, it should have something to do with the subject of the book too – you wouldn’t put an image of a vegetable garden on a book called How to Crochet, but the cover needn’t tell the story of the book, just be appropriate in some way. It set me thinking – what makes us pick up a book in a bookshop? Sometimes it’s the author name, but it could also be the image. Or the title, or strapline, or maybe a combination of all of these. I thought it might be fun to find out what different people think.

My first victim in this blog series is Rebecca Collins, publishing director at Hobeck Books, and she’s here today with two covers. One is simply a book she’d pick up in a bookshop, the other is one of her own, and in this case, it’s a book she has edited. Over to Rebecca:

My eyes will immediately be drawn towards any book that has a cat on the cover, especially a cat that looks like the Hobeck Cat. I first saw this book on Twitter during a Sunday morning doomscrolling session. In addition, having spent a couple of years living just north of Tokyo in the mid-1990s, the Japanese feel of this cover sparked my interest. In Japanese culture, the calico cat is regarded as lucky (and we have one here – not that she’s lived up to her reputation yet). So with those two things, it wasn’t long before I was pressing ‘buy it now’ on Amazon. They say don’t judge a book by its cover. They don’t know what they are talking about.

A bit like with my children, when it comes to the books we have published at Hobeck, it would be inappropriate for me to express favouritism. However, if I were to pick a Hobeck cover that I would be attracted to as a reader, it would be this one. This is the second book in a series by one our authors, S. E. Shepherd. I love this cover because it is an artwork in itself. I can guarantee that nobody else has this image on their book. There is a trend for graphic covers in the crime fiction market but this one stands out for its warmth and sense of nostalgia. It ignites for me memories of my childhood and the books I read under the covers using a torch for light.

Thank you, Rebecca! I love cats too, though I’m allergic to them so can’t get too close for too long. And I must say, I think the Hobeck cat (below) is prettier than the one on the book!
For the next Cover Love post, sometime in May, writer Helen Pryke will be here with two of her favourite covers, and it’s covers again next week too when I’ll be sharing the cover and blurb of the third book in the Lakeside Hotel series, Problems at the Lakeside Hotel.

I’ll leave you with a pic of the Hobeck cat with The Cat and the City ❤