{"id":"4499","date":"2020-06-24T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/?p=4499"},"modified":"2020-06-01T15:39:36","modified_gmt":"2020-06-01T22:39:36","slug":"chick-lit-book-cover-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/chick-lit-book-cover-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Which One Won? Can chick lit book cover art be too sweet?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Chick lit is the new chick flick. Or maybe it&#8217;s better, because for those who crave the lighthearted humor of a romantic comedy, a book lasts longer. But should chick lit book cover art be as frothy as the subject itself? Bestselling author Kate O&#8217;Keeffe <a aria-label=\"took her latest novel to PickFu (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/books\/book-covers\/which-cover-do-you-prefer-for-a-fun-feel-good-book-about-finding-love-NB6289H5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"ek-link\">took her latest novel to PickFu<\/a> to find out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She asked a general audience of respondents the following question: &#8220;Which cover do you prefer for a fun, feel-good book about finding love?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Option A shows a bright red cover with illustrations of two characters (sans their faces) and yellow font. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Option B, the cover takes a totally different turn. With a pink-clad woman and a light-blue background, this cover is as light as a cupcake. It also lacks the blurb by a fellow bestselling author.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"642\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates-642x1024.png\" alt=\"chick lit book cover art - Option A\" data-id=\"4500\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates.png\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=4500\" class=\"wp-image-4500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates-642x1024.png 642w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates-188x300.png 188w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates-768x1226.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates-962x1536.png 962w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-a-no-more-bad-dates.png 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"669\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-b-no-more-bad-dates-669x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"chick lit book cover art - option B\" data-id=\"4501\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-b-no-more-bad-dates.jpeg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/?attachment_id=4501\" class=\"wp-image-4501 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-b-no-more-bad-dates-669x1024.jpeg 669w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-b-no-more-bad-dates-196x300.jpeg 196w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-b-no-more-bad-dates-768x1176.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/option-b-no-more-bad-dates.jpeg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 669px) 100vw, 669px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Can you guess which one won?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:200px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>And the winner is&#8230;Option A! With a score of 78 to Option B&#8217;s 22, it appears readers do <em>not <\/em>prefer overly cozy book covers for rom-com novels. <\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"barbie-days-have-come-and-gone\">Barbie days have come and gone<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>A common complaint among respondents is that Option B looks like the cover for a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickfu.com\/blog\/graphic-design-secrets-in-middle-grade%e2%80%8b-books\/\" class=\"ek-link\">middle-grade book<\/a> for girls. Or, put more pointedly, for people who like Barbie dolls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s eye-opening how many respondents negatively referenced Barbie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One male respondent said, &#8220;[Option] B seems lost in another time because the character on the cover looks like she is inspired by Barbie.&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This insightful comment reminds us that the days of books dominated by bland, white Barbie-like characters are leaving us, if not gone already. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A female added that the cover for Option B &#8220;resembled a Barbie doll. It was not appealing to me at all.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another woman put it bluntly when she said, &#8220;If your target audience likes to play with Barbies, go with [Option] B. But if your target is grown-up women, [Option] A is much more appropriate.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you decide to write a rom-com, first make your characters as real, flawed, and diverse as people truly are. Then reflect that on the book&#8217;s cover! Otherwise, you may never know how many readers your book cover will turn off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One male wrote, &#8220;The cover of Option A shows both a male and female, which indicates that this book can be useful for either [gender]. The second option (B) seems to just highlight a blonde white person which is not my demographic, for starters, but also seems to indicate that it is only for one type of person.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"additional-pluses-no-faces-blurbs-and-a-pop-of-color\">Additional pluses: no faces, blurbs, and a pop of color<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Respondents loved that the author left the faces in Option A up to the reader&#8217;s imagination. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Said one respondent, &#8220;I always like it when you can&#8217;t see character&#8217;s faces like this because then you don&#8217;t form an impression of how they look and you can self-insert.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another appreciated the &#8220;punchy, catchy red&#8221; color with popping yellow type. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still another praised the presence of the author blurb, which you&#8217;ll see on most book covers these days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, Option A is the cover choice that welcomes the most readers and looks the most professional. <\/p>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"key-takeaways-chick-lit-book-cover-art\">Key takeaways: Chick lit book cover art<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>Just because you&#8217;re writing a romance novel doesn&#8217;t mean you can forget about appealing to a broad audience. It might surprise you how many types of people might buy and enjoy your book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And never forget your blurbs from other authors. They&#8217;re like preliminary 5-star reviews pasted right on the cover for all to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Need help deciding between two covers for your novel? Ask readers what they think with <a aria-label=\"on PickFu today!  (opens in a new tab)\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/pickfu.com\/ask\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"ek-link\">PickFu<\/a> today!<\/p>\n","protected":""},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chick lit is the new chick flick. Or maybe it&#8217;s better, because for those who crave the lighthearted humor of a romantic comedy, a book lasts longer. But should chick &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":""},"author":"9","featured_media":"4502","comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":"","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":"","_editorskit_reading_time":"0","_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":"","_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":["21","15"],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Which One Won? Can chick lit book cover art be too sweet?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Are you writing a rom-com novel? In this week&#039;s WOW, we ask whether chick lit book cover art can be too sweet. 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The answer might surprise you.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/chick-lit-book-cover-art\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The PickFu blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickfu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100000373763478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-24T14:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-06-01T22:39:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/WOW-rom-com-cover-too-sweet.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Laura Ojeda Melchor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@lauraomelchor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickfu\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Laura Ojeda Melchor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/chick-lit-book-cover-art\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/chick-lit-book-cover-art\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Laura Ojeda Melchor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/#\/schema\/person\/808db59d4354f39626f5e53815e19b48\"},\"headline\":\"Which One Won? 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