Everyone knows 'you can't judge a book by its cover.' And while that remains true (you may find the best book you've ever read has the dullest cover...or in the new days of ebooks, no cover at all), that doesn't mean cover art doesn't matter.
Next time you're at your library, peruse the fiction shelves. It doesn't matter what section you go to, whether it be adult, children (j/juvenile in library-speak), or teen (ya/young adult in library-speak). You will find beautiful, color-bursting, detailed artwork adorning whole covers from spine to flap of newly minted novels. It is designed from the start to catch your eye, make you ponder, and inspire you to pick up its book. And the artwork so fits the vibes of most of its corresponding pages that you can bet if the cover art strikes your fancy then so will the characters' plights inside the book.
Still have your doubts about picking a book by its cover art? Here's a few examples: New Moon by Stephanie Meyers (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/stephenie-meyer/new-moon.htm), like most other paranormal romance books, has a dark ominous background accented by splashes of color in delicate shapes and patterns. It immediately evokes a sense of something soft, beautiful, and vulnerable encountering something dark, menacing, and immense. If you want to compare it to another paranormal romance book, check out the cover art of The Dark Devine by Bree Dispain: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/bree-despain/dark-divine.htm
Another popular example is Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/george-r-r-martin/game-of-thrones.htm). Like many fantasy books, its three possible covers all feature a basic, uncluttered background with a pointy, menacing object in the middle that appears to have some kind of halo effect on it. The object often becomes a symbol of the conflict, the 'big bad,' or the savior of its book-sometimes of all three. If you want to compare it to another fantasy book, check out the cover art of Graceling by Kristin Cashore: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/kristin-cashore/graceling.
I admit some covers can still surprise you, and I find it rather delightful when I pick up a book with a certain flavor of cover art and I am faced with my egregious assumptions about its content. Mysteries baffle sometimes, since they intersect with so many other genres. Also puzzling are those books that mix and match elements of their choosing to create what seems like all new twisty genres that defy being pinned down easily and express-ably.
I am glad that these slippery books exist to challenge our perceptions of genres and to keep me in the reader's advisory business, but mostly I am excited to gaze upon the newly expressive cover art as it debuts on my library's shelves and peaks an interest in books that would otherwise be judged uninteresting until proven great.
