The phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” is a cliché, and a rather old one at that. One of the oldest print recordings of the phrase is from the June 1867 issue of a newspaper called, Piqua Democrat. To sum up what was said the article stated not to judge a man by his appearance because he could have many skills underneath. Not so bad because it would be wrong for me to look at a stranger in the checkout line and decide everything there is to know about that person. However, books are not people. (Shocking, right?) A books cover is often the first thing someone notices while browsing through shelves at a library, bookstore, or a personal collection. Book covers matter and most people, myself included, do speculate about the content of the book by looking at the cover. The phrase, “don’t judge a book by a cover,” wouldn’t exist if this didn’t happen.
A good book cover is good marketing. Publishing companies know the first thing a potential buyer notices about a book is the cover. Because of this they have developed ways to make covers that will attract their target audience. Hopefully if the cover is intriguing enough for someone to take it from the shelf he/she might read the synopsis, and maybe the first few pages. The goal is to eventually sell the book. Book covers are the bait used to lure readers in. However, it would be wrong for me to say it is all about marketing. Designing books covers is an art that involves capturing the feel of the words written inside.
For a cover to be successful it doesn’t exactly need to be attractive. I know of some very ugly covers that I don’t like to look at, but they do fit the story very well. Red Queen by Victory Aveyard has an upside-down crown that is covered in blood. I like blood inside people’s body, where it belongs, not on a book cover. However, it is professionally done. The main character, Mare, is only pretending to be a noble lady as her life depends on it, but blood is a huge deal in the story. A person’s blood not only determines who is related to whom, but a person’s class and his/her ability. Although I don’t like looking at a book cover that is dripping blood, that isn’t to say it doesn’t play into the themes of the story. 
Sometimes a cover can be absolutely beautiful, but make zero sense. The first edition cover for Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi was gorgeous. It shows the main character in a fancy white dress standing against a shattered wall. It isn’t displeasing to the eye, but it doesn’t represent the book well. At no point does this girl has the opportunity to wear such a dress. The new covers, while some people think they still don’t make much sense, I think they fit better and it is a good change. The eye on the cover is the main character’s eye. It’s like her window to the world. Although this cover is a little eerie looking, I think it fits much better. 
A good book cover is one that fits the book and gives the reader a hint of what lies ahead. The cover doesn’t need to be pretty, but it should be professional. If a book cover is amateurish then it is easy to brush it off as an armature story. That is why the most common advice I hear for people looking to self-publish is to hire a professional graphic designer to make the cover of the book. This is also important because a professional is likely to know some tricks that make a cover work. Such as what colors, shapes, and positioning of objects will invoke certain emotions in the viewer. A designer ,also, needs to consider how a cover will look when scaled down because a person looking for a book online will only see a small thumbnail image of the cover.
Does this mean it is okay to "Judge a book by its cover"? Of course not! Although a taste of the story inside is presented in the cover, a good cover is still only a window to what a reader will find once he/she opens it up. I know it’s been said a picture is worth a thousand words, but no cover image is going to reveal exactly what was written inside. The best way to know what stories and worlds a book holds is to read it.
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