Look what I found...

     As some of you might have noticed...might, I was not in class today as I am on my way to visit family for the weekend. Im in the airport now and I was buying a hearty snack, as one does, and I thought to myself... would it be here? A quick glance to my left and the familiar cover of American Dirt brought me a little laugh. It made me think though... when I think of publishing and book distribution, I think of libraries and big name book stores and cozy book shop or two. Who does the book selection and marketing for places like an airport bodega, and is the criteria different when your customers are solely travelers? 
     Since we were talking about covers and jackets last class, I wanted to look at the picture I took a little more and think about which books I might have picked up (had I had the time) and why. I know I am usually drawn to largely typographic covers in softer colors. Maybe it matches my personality and maybe such a cover leads me to believe the content might be some reflection of the feeling I get when I view such images (which I have found to be untrue, but I still trick myself every time). No matter how hard I try, I judge a book greatly by its cover. I have gone out of my way to buy a specific book with a different or special edition cover because, to me, holding the artifact and seeing the cover before and after each reading makes the content on the inside that much better if its an image I am drawn to. In terms of the picture I've placed below, I gravitated toward the memoir Acid for the Children as well as A Long Petal of the Sea. Both covers follow that same formula I can't seem to escape: a nice sans serif typeface on a clean and somewhat muted background. I don't like books that yell at me (covers I should say); The cover for Chocolate Cream Pie Murder looks pretty abrasive and from that I dub that the content may be as well, even if it isn't. You can't make a cover appeal to everyone I suppose, but some just look like not too much thought was put into it or perhaps I'm not the intended audience. Either way, I'm hoping to work on my selection criteria and maybe bring myself to open my eyes to more things that before, I would have turned from.