2009 Cover Contest

This Cover Contest idea turned out to be more difficult than I expected. There were so many covers that I liked for such a variety of reasons.

So, here's how it will work.

I've divided the covers into seven genres, each genre with its own post page.

I've picked my top five favs for each genre and posted them in alphabetical order.

Covers were picked based on how attractive I thought they were, and how well they communicated the feeling of the genre and the title. It had nothing to do with what is actually inside the book.

My personal tastes lean toward a cleaner look. I don't like cluttered or fuzzy images. I like all styles—photographic, artistic, and clip art. I don't care how big the title and/or author name is but it has to blend well with the image and not detract from it. I really like clever use of fonts—a dated font is usually going to nix a cover for me.

We could argue the artistic merits and complexities of these covers till the cows come home, but let's don't, because basically, choosing a book by its cover is an emotional response to the visual imagery and it's going to be different for everyone.

So, here are the basic guidelines:

• Pick your favorite COVER, not your favorite book or author.
  
  
• Vote using the VIZU polls on the sidebar. You may vote for one book in each genre category.
  
  
• Please leave comments stating why you liked a particular cover, or not. Be subjective—why/how did it grab you? How did it make you feel?
  
  
• You may point out that I obviously have no taste because I missed THE best cover in the genre (just don't call me names).
  
  
• You may send all your friends over to vote, but please tell them to vote for the most visually appealing cover, and not for your book because you're friends.
  
  
• You may vote through Thursday, December 24th.
  
  
• On Friday, December 26th, I'll post the winners from each genre and then you can vote on which of those seven is, IYHO, the best cover of 2009.