The stickers are mostly to encourage sales, promote books, brag about what the book/author had garnered but basically are advertisements shoved into readers' faces. So what's the point of creating beautiful covers only to have them ruined by these stickers that never come off?
Often when I look for book covers for my book posts, I look for covers without these stickers or if it looks like I can remove them (digitally), I would. The ones I hate the most is the one announcing 'made into a movie or a show' and 'Some famous person's book club picks'.
There is a point to these stickers but at the same time, they are mostly offering stale information or information readers didn't care about, at least, I don't. But it's not as rampant as I made it sound but they are around and probably will never go away. Do they really work? They don't seem to work for me but maybe they work on other people.
Here are some samples covers that covered most type of print-on stickers:
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| #1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
01 - Read With Jenna - No idea who Jenna is until I looked her up. Jenna Bush Hager, is a co-host on the Today show and daughter of former President George W. Bush - it makes perfect sense not to read her recommendations.
02 - The Good Morning America Book Club Pick! (with exclamation point) - Good Morning America is a morning tv show that I have never watched and I don't see why I would read their picks.
03 - Oprah's Book Club 2025 - I had seen Oprah Winfrey's show and she had some wisdom but that didn't mean I care for her book selections.
04 - Reese's Book Club - I had seen some of Reese Witherspoons' movies but they don't inspire me to read any of her book picks.
05 - Zibby's Book Club - A book club hosted monthly by Zibby Owens who owns a bookshop but I've never heard of her until today when I searched for book covers so no reason to read her picks.
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| #6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
06 - Soon to be a major motion picture starring Ryan Gosling - Not a sticker but the circular backlight might as well be a sticker and it stands out so much that you can't help but look at it. In a way, I don't mind this as much as an actual round circle but it's still news that will be stale after a while.
07 - Netflix - Inspiration for the Netflix series The Lincoln Lawyer - I find anything with Netflix just annoys me now and no, I don't subscribe to Netflix.
08 - A Hulu original series - I don't subscribe to Hulu.
09 - Stream on Apple TV - I don't subscribe to apple tv.
10 - A Major Motion Picture - Read It Before You See It! - Totally ruined the cover...
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| #11, 12, 13, 14 |
The New York Times is an American newspaper which I don't read but there are these book lists and picks from them that somehow became the norm.
11 - The New York Times Book Review - 10 Best Books 2011 - Stephen King pretty much sells simply because of his name so this sticker outright ruined this cover.
12 - The New York Times Book Review - Best Books of the 21st Century - I don't agree with their best of anything so...
13 - The #1 New York Times Bestseller - This is the generic sticker that so many books have but now it's simply a line of text (#1 New York Times Bestseller or #1 New York Times bestselling author of).
14 - The New York Times Book Review - The 100 Notable Books 2017 - The silver made it looked so important, doesn't it?
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| #15, 16, 17, 18 |
I think book prizes are still people judging people's books and offering their opinions and giving out compensations which is all good for authors but nothing much for the readers except buying a book with these stickers on them and thinking you have brought something worthy. And maybe that's true for some people but I don't know the meaning of these prizes so I didn't think much about them aside from making a book cover a mess. I looked up these awards to maybe educate myself but they don't help with adding meaning to books, they just mean someone read it, thought it was good enough to slap an award on it and promote it.
15 - Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature - The Nobel Prize in Literature is established in the will of Alfred Nobel, it is one of five Nobel Prizes, alongside those for chemistry, physics, physiology or medicine, and peace and is awarded by the Swedish Academy to "the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” Whatever that means.
16 - Winner of the Pulitzer Prize - It's a prestigious American award named after Joseph Pulitzer. It's regarded as the "highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievement, and musical composition" so I guess it's something to brag about. But this sticker disrupts the design - which is all I can see.
17 - National Book Award Winner - The National Book Awards is overseen by the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization whose mission is "to celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture." Sounds prestiges and it offers monetary awards but still judge by people.
18 - Edger Award Finalist - Edgar Awards are prestigious honors given by the Mystery Writers of America to the best in mystery, crime, suspense, and intrigue. I have yet to read one of these books but then again, I may have but forgotten as I never could remember what awards a book have garnered.
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| #19, 20, 21, 22 |
20 - Finalist Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction - The PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction is "the only major literary award given BY fiction writers TO fiction writers" and honors the best published works of fiction by American permanent residents in a calendar year. So writers are judging writers which I guess it's more equal but what if an established writer is judging a newbie? Would that be equal?
21 - Aspen Words Literary Prize Winner - This award is "for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture." Yes, sure, I got it, no I don't. It doesn't mean anything to me. But a leaf-shaped sticker is at least a different design but still distracting and kind of ugly.
22 - Women's Prize Winner - Fiction 2025 - The Women's Prize "highlight and remedy the imbalance in coverage, respect and reverence given to women writers versus their male peers, creating a platform for exceptional writing by women to shine." The Prize is awarded annually to the author of the best full-length novel of the year written in English and published in the UK. This is good and yet, it's not worldwide.
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| #23, 24, 25, 26 |
23 - By the author of the Reese's Book Club Pick The Last Mrs. Parrish - Relying on a previous book that is a book club pick is second-hand promotion which is often used but kind of sad.
24 - Includes a sneak peek of The missing half On sale 5/6/25 - I like book previews but I usually don't read them in another book so such announcements does not make me want to buy the book but it might tell me I might I have read this author before but still, it's not worth ruining a cover for.
25 - Author of the New York Times Bestseller A flicker in the dark - The book cover inside this sticker has a sticker which said The New York Times Bestseller - I don't like this style of using a cover of another book inside a sticker - it's odd looking and ugly. It seemed #24 book and this book have different publishers but the same design though why they choose to use this long cover is odd.
26 - Sunday Times Crime Book of the Month - Apparently The Sunday Times is not part of the New York Times - it is a separate British newspaper but I don't read the Sunday Times. This particular sticker has a book cover inside the sticker so it's like #24, 25, but the cover is a closeup which I'm not sure it's better or worst.
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| #27 |
27 - Bestselling Author Rated (five stars) by Real Readers - As oppose to fake readers? This sticker doesn't really say anything that readers can prove but I admire the person who is promoting this book like other popular books.
Have you seen a sticker on a book lately? What do you think of them?
I can live with stickers if they're not too large. But for me, it's not actually an issue anymore because I only read in e-book format now.
ReplyDeleteDebra: I also read ebooks so it's not as annoying but when you're searching for a cover for your blog, it's gets annoying.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
Ugh, yes, I absolutely hate the stickers (unless they work well with the cover, which, well, almost never happens). I was hoping to get Immortal Consequences before they put the sticker since I ordered right before it was announced but NOPE. It got the sticker. Alas. I'm honestly scared of trying to remove it, too, because while the thought might be nice, I also know most stickers in the US tend to be quite awful and just leave residue and I'd rather not deal with that.
ReplyDeleteShockingly enough, they actually do work at least at the library, but that might be the patrons I serve. We've got a lot of people who would read and pick up books that are award winners or becoming a show or a pick for a famous person's book club. Personally, though, they don't work for me.
Hannah: Actual stickers are at least better than print on stickers. But yes, some stickers are hard to get off without leaving residuals.
DeleteThey do work but just not for everyone. I suppose they work better on people who aren't in the writing inudstry or people who knows nothing about marketing or promotions which a lot of people don't know.
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Interesting
ReplyDeleteChristine: I think so too, it's why I post about it. Thank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
DeleteYou made me laugh a few times with your comments, starting with the title. But for me, the prize goes to "As opposed to fake readers?" 😂. I SO agree about stickers being annoying and irrelevant...though it sounds like they do work for some readers, judging from what Hannah above experienced since she became a librarian. That's kind of sad, isn't it? What does it say about us as readers?
ReplyDeleteSome of the covers above even have TWO stickers, OMG. At least with N°23 they made the effort of matching it with the cover...
By the way, I spy a new banner...or, new colours on the old banner at least 🙂.
DeleteRoberta: I suppose people who are involved in book things like arcs, beta readers, book reviewers - they don't work because they know why the stickers are there. Not a lot of people know that. And maybe some of us just ignore the gimmicky of it all because they just want to enjoy books and not think about the other side of book promotions.
DeleteI did find a cover with more than three stickers but I didn't use that. The book is 'The safekeep' which garnered a lot of awards so a lot of stickers in one of the covers.
Yes, I had changed to a new banner/header. I'll talk about it in a later post.
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I hate those stickers. I usually try to get them off, so I hate those printed on the book even more. And I also hate it when - instead of a description of the content, the back cover is full of praise of ... well, somebody.
ReplyDeleteThere are some good books on your list, though. Like, I didn't know Wally Lamb had written a new book. Thanks for that.
Marianne: I have seen the back of books that had reviews or praise of the book instead of the synopsis which is annoying. Some of the books covers I used had garnered some awards so they might actually be good books though I only read three of the books here. I'm glad you found a book to be interested in.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.
I don't even like it when they print something over the original cover or have a sticker, "now a ... prize winner". I don't care. Let me know what the book is about.
DeleteMost of my books don't have stickers, but they are old books, I rarely buy new ones and those I choose to buy usually don't have any sticker but th eprice tag and that is on the back of the book. I did once have a book with a golden sticker for the printing was a 100th anniversary of the original printing. I no longer have it, a friend accidentally packed it with her things whe she moved.
ReplyDeleteYour sentence "the stickers are to encourage 'sells' " that word should be "sales". I hope you don't mind this small correction.
River: Older books probably aren't on any lists but reprints of them will probably have some stickers.
DeleteI have changed it to the correct term. I don't mind you pointing out such things, I'm happy to accept them. They do help. Thank you.
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I’m sure those stickers work or they wouldn’t keep doing them. I don’t care if a book has been made into a movie, but I am interested in some of the awards. When I pick a picture of a book for my blog, I try to use whatever the cover looks like off the version I read. I don’t think it matters, but I like it that way.
ReplyDeleteLive and Learn: The stickers as much as I dislike them, they do work on a lot of people and that's why they keep on using them.
DeleteI also try to use the cover that I read and use it for my blog because you might never know if the text might be different - some reprints might have corrections or extra content and with books having so many different covers, it's easier to recognize an edition with the cover.
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Interesting information, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteNas: I'm glad you find this interesting.
DeleteThank you for coming by. Have a lovely day.