In E-Book Era, You Can’t Even Judge a Cover

“…Among other changes heralded by the e-book era, digital editions are bumping book covers off the subway, the coffee table and the beach…

A good jacket is unlikely to save a bad book, of course. But in a crowded market, a striking cover is one advantage all authors and publishers want. To get a sense of the odds, in a random analysis of 1,000 business books released last year, Codex Group, a publishing consultant, found that only 62 sold more than 5,000 copies.

Even in the digital era, publishers believe that books need graphic representations —
if only for the online marketing campaign. Regardless of the format, “they all seem to need what we know of as a cover to identify them,” said Chip Kidd…”

—Motoko Rich for The New York Times,
(worth reading the full article to also catch a quote from Mario J. Pulice)