Writing What kind of cover make you click.

DetectiveRed

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There's a lot of different covers on this site and a lot of writing sites. So what makes you click on a story? Is it anime characters looking cute/cool? Is it something that tells you about the story? Is there being a cover at all enough to influence you? I'm interested in seeing what people prioritise because currently I know my covers aren't the best but I wanna make and learn.
 

Nanakawaichan

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1.Cover a hot anime guy <3
2. The cover must be related with the story for sure.
3.Not only cover, a good synopsis /at least make me curious about the story will be good or a good chapter as a start.
 
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Daitengu

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I'd say it has to have the main character or a relevant background.
'Generally' speaking, I stear away from covers where the MC is a guy, but the cover is some rando harem member. Sex sells sure, but all I can see that being is a ill attempt at attracting readers to an otherwise weak story. Also when it comes to webnovels, these types tend to get dropped often and far from finished.

I prefer original art covers, especially people who pay for it. It shows commitment to a web novel, and I'm more likely to give it a shot with less back up chapters.
 

Ral

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I prefer those that have a professional look to them. Usually, those that means a convey something clearly. If it is an adventure story, then a cover that conveys action and movement. If slice-of-life, a cover that presents joy or relaxation. Fantasy, then a cover that presents a wondrous glimpse.

Of course, anything that displays a lot of skill like a well drawn character or incredible use of light easily catches my attention.

Also, anything that is different from the rest instead of the generic busty girl or hot guy.

What really impress me though is a cover that manage to unite both text and visuals. Most covers here are just some stolen artwork with texts, in generic Microsoft Word font or tacky word art, pasted on. Any cover that actually try to successfully bring text and illustration together just stands out to me.
 
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Ace_Arriande

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cute anime girls
lewd anime girls
And... yeah. That's about the only two things that'll get me to actually be interested in something. However, if I see a professional-looking cover, I'll check out the author just to see if they're already published or something elsewhere out of curiosity.
 

ThunderingSnow

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Simple colors with accents (like a black background and white etching of a face with maybe a blue or yellow highlight in the hair) and a prominent title
 
D

Deleted member 22388

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Anime, anime! Or a bit cartoony like Chinese artsyle or just any childish art

I click such things because I could imagine them being anime and not real life instead.

My imaginations are like those childs that likes cartoons(as in anime) and not real life ones

Who would win an anime waifu/
Or a macho man in real life
(As a cover ofcourse) lul
 

AliceShiki

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I usually check stuff with anime-styled covers mainly.

Nowadays I basically read only Female protag novels though, so I only check the ones with girls in the cover... And if it has a girl in the cover, but it has a Male Protag, I'm never reading anything from that author... I hate those baity covers.
 

Mirivonette

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A colorful cover. I have a story that I gave a colorful cover and noticed it had a higher view count than my other series'. Perhaps it might just be the female character in it, but a colorful one is still nice.
 

NotaNuffian

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...frankly, while I will click on anything that catches my eye, from a decent enough cover page (a beautiful sky, a sword, a spear from Randidly, busty anime chicks). But once I click it, the second thing I will look at the stars, the tags, the synopsis, the last thing I will do is either randomly go to the latest chapter to see if I like it, then I start to read from start.
 

binarysoap

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The cover does little in my decision of whether to check out a story or not. The story's title is what usually gets me to check it out, as there are plenty of great stories that use the default covers, and plenty of stories that the cover is literal clickbait that has almost nothing to do with the story. The title gives a better indicator of what the story is about. Of course, what actually causes me to read the chapters is the synopsis and tags, but what causes me to read the synopsis is the title.
 
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cute anime girls, especially if there are two or more girls getting lovey-dovey with each other

but that's just clicking it. if the story didn't interest me i will just yeet away.
 

PrincessFelicie

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1584634566629.png

This is the current state of the front page for me (with smut stories filtered out).

First thing my eyes do is glance left to right on the trending line.
Then there are four covers in particular that my eyes stop on: reincarnated as an op dungeon, waking up as a spaceship, reincanated as the universe, and dimensional demonic. Two of them have very prominent easy to read titles, and two of them are simple covers with anime characters in the center.
Next I spot beastborne, tree of aeons and arknights, because bright colors.
Last, I spot the administrator.
I got reincarnated and reincarnated as a spider both fail to catch my eye.
That whole series of stories with the default cover are getting integrally ignored. I will sometimes check out an individual story with a default cover, but when I see an entire series of them in a row they might as well be white space.

Out of these, I've clicked on waking up as a spaceship, reincarnated as a spider and arknight, but I've read none of them. Reincarnated as a spider caught my interest because it reminded be of Kumo Desu Ga which I have read and loved, I'm still considering checking it out some day if my reading list ever runs out (haha as if), Arknight because I quickly dabbled in the game it's a fanfic of, but just like the game I didn't investigate further than the synopsis, and waking up as a spaceship I've gone as far as asking my friends if they've read it and would recommend it.

So, what kind of covers do I spot? Bright colors, and/or good composition, and/or bold title, and/or single centered character looking at the camera.
Out of those, which do I click on? The ones that seem like they would contain one of the themes I'm interested in, or that contain something I recognize.

And past this step, this is no longer the work of the cover to grab me, but the synopsis.
 

FlutterOfCrows

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Dislike the bait of both sides. (hot guy for the female protag, and hot girl for the male protag.) Colorful novels tend to attract my attention, similar thing for above when it comes to coverless novels.
 

yunano34a1

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Even though I'm an artist I don't have a cover for my series yet (I borrowed it from ₩ANKE). I personally like covers where it shows the most dramatic part or event of the volume like 1, 2, 3. Plus won't it be exciting to see the antagonist or villain featured instead of MC like this and this?
 

FireflyFanatic

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If I see something that manages to portray some kind of emotion or general feel, I usually will take a look and at least check the synopsis. But what really seals the deal for me is the title. Something short, but meaningful is best. Having a bunch of anime girls on a cover and a bunch of ~~ in the title tends to make me shy away.
 

OneSixSeven

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But why would anyone want click a story with cover when what it mattered is contents of the story itself?

Some stories I read before discovering ScribbleHub have good cover but bad content because of a script like dialogue, no spacing like one huge wall of text and unreadable.

By script-like dialogue, I mean like this:

Character A : -loads gun at Character B- Your sick face, I wonder what can I do with shooting with my gun?


- -

It could have been okay if it's like a chat log of an app in the story itself but I have preferences too.

I would rather see a decent story with no cover than a bad story with a good cover.
 

FireflyFanatic

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I would rather see a decent story with no cover than a bad story with a good cover.
Definitely. A cover may draw people in, but the content is what really matters. Don't let worrying about a cover get in the way of the writing itself.
 

Ral

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But why would anyone want click a story with cover when what it mattered is contents of the story itself?
?

How could you judge a book then without reading it? It is quite impractical to read each and every book out here especially when you have limited amount of time.

Some stories I read before discovering ScribbleHub have good cover but bad content because of a script like dialogue, no spacing like one huge wall of text and unreadable.

By script-like dialogue, I mean like this:

Character A : -loads gun at Character B- Your sick face, I wonder what can I do with shooting with my gun?
I also read stories here that have bad covers with bad content.

I would rather see a decent story with no cover than a bad story with a good cover.
That is what all are looking for, a decent story. Just that, there is no practical way to find those decent stories. So, why not just check out first those that looks interesting? I mean, you could choose to click only those that don't have a cover but that is not a guarantee that the story would be any good. Not to mention, the cover the doesn't say anything about the story. So really, what is the problem with clicking those that have interesting covers?
 
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