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It reveals how the cover functions as a secret, shared signal. The reader's relief is the data point.

I would likely have read it if I came across it, and I listen to Wheaton's audio, but yeah, first glance at that cover was a yep.

It is such a great cover!

"At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied." > Download options: EPUB 3 (DRM-Free) THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Thank you for not treating me like a criminal when all I want to do is manage my books with Calibre!!!

it's a great cover (and a great book!) I bought Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell based only on the cover, no regerts.

Its one of those books you CAN judge by its cover. It certainly caught my eye and it's the first book of yours that I read l, but I picked it after looking for authors I hadn't read yet and then by the cover.

Yeah it wasn’t a bait and switch…except about the GODDAMN GIANT HUMAN SUIT ON A LIL KITTY. demanding a refund, shaking rn fr fr. AT LEAST REDSHIRTS HAD ACTUALLY RED SHIRTS IN IT SMDH

Our local bookstore has staff picks every week. The store cat always picks one with a cat on the cover. I was very excited the week the kitty picked starter villain.

Whatever works

I *always* begin my judgement of a book with the cover. The cover is literally why I pick it up. Covers matter. Content too. But I’ll never get to your content if the cover isn’t compelling for me.

I read the book, as a borrow from the local library (sorry), but we have a cat who you'd swear was the cover model for this book, so I bought a hardcopy for my wife thinking I could entice her to actually read Scalzi. Didn't work, but the book sits proudly face out on her bookshelf.

Yeah I admit the cover grabbed me!

Covers matter! There are books I walked away from because the cover was ugly, might have been good stories in there but 🤷‍♀️

I laughed all the way through the audio version of this book. Thank you John Scalzi and Wil Wheaton!

More stories should contain sentient surveillance cats

Yup. That would do it. 🤭

that's why I bought it >.<

Yep, that's why I bought it, over any of your other works that I hadn't read yet.

The saying..."don't judge a book by it's cover"....does not apply here. 😻 I have this on my library hold 📚💙🖖

Wife & I were sold by the cover. Read Kaiju Preservation Society while we waited for the library to get in Starter Villain. Bought two copies afterwards, one extra for library, one for English dept holiday party, the latter of which continues to make rounds every year to ensure everyone reads it.

Definitely recommend!

I recently read KPS because you seem like a good person here on Bluesky, and several of your experienced readers recommended it. I enjoyed it and hope to pick up another soon. I’m also going to recommend KPS to my son.

Can confirm it's a great fun read!

NGL, reminded me of these old classics.

My artist friend buys books based on the cover art. It has mostly worked for him. He's gone out of his way to buy all the books for which Michael Whelan did the cover art, and he's well on his way to that with a couple other artists.

Okay. Okay. Okay. Yes. BUT… The cover is a perfect visual representation of the story, in my opinion. It coherently and quickly communicates what you’re gonna get if you start this confection. And it was exactly what I wanted. The cover is delectable. As is the book.

I try not to judge a book by its cover... but in this case, the book lived up to its cover. That said, hopefully whoever designed and came up with it is getting lots of solid work based on this fabulousness.

Just bought this🤣🤣🤣

Can confirm this cover is why I bought the book and how I discovered you. So happy I did

I’m currently loving it!

I went to buy a Scalzi book (I’d only read 2 of the old man’s war books) and the cover did sell me on Starter Villain.

I work in a book store and when the book was released at least 30% of those in the store for it based on the cover.

To be fair, this cover was my first contact with you. I have read more since.

We do judge.

This was my first book of yours I read and I absolutely adored it. But there is a non-zero chance the person who got it for me picked it because of the cover. It would be exactly the kind of thing she'd snag, haha

Redshirts is also pretty damn worth your time.

They're not wrong. The cover is what caught my eye and then I read the summary on the back and was sold

This moose bought the US hardcover in preference to the UK edition, simply because of the superb cover. I do not regret it in the slightest. 3:O)>

The book is terrific and that cover is too!

Actually, I have the Broken Binding edition with a rocket on the edge. No cats.

Which is why I bought a copy for myself and 1 as a birthday gift for my sister—couldn’t resist!

Count me in on that. Although I knew that because it’s a John Scalzi book, it would be well worth reading. It also did not disappoint. Some of the funniest bits he’s ever written are in this book.

Suit wearing Cats are the new Frazetta Death Dealer

🙃 It IS time to revisit the world of Kaiju Preservation Society. The secret base in Greenland would explain so many current events.

That was the first book of yours I noticed and I strongly considered buying it for the cover.

The cover did get my attention, but my 13-year-old loved it! It's on my pile of books-to-read-next.

Cover art was my first test on finding an interesting book, when I was younger. Generic spaceships, meh. Distinguished Feline Gentleman, ok what's that? Not always a guaranteed good pic, as I've gone back and enjoyed books I would have initially passed over.

Kudos to the artist!

Patrick is grateful for his goatee.

It truly is an exceptional cover

I think it's safe to say that everyone judges a book by its cover. It is a fantastic cover though.

Can confirm. Saw the cover in an airport and bought it for my niece who loves cats. Read it to make sure it was appropriate. And thus began my Scalzi Discovery Journey.

=bows head in shame= I have to admit: I preordered the book before noticing the cover art. My brain just went "New Scalzi book?! We must has it, Preciousssssssss!" (as it does with several authors...)

It was so good. A dolphin telling you to do something anatomically unlikely with your mother would have been a close second as a cover idea.

To this day, I'm still flummoxed by the arcane art of the perfect book cover but in this case, I'm happy it's working out for you. :)

I was already primed to read it because of Redshirts and Kaiju, but this is objectively the best sci-fi cover of the 21st Century. I'm not taking questions.

Definitely a book I’d just leave laying about just so people see it.

I saw the cover... saw Wil Wheaton was narrating the audiobook... listened to it... and loved it so much I bought the hard copy. I'm glad I'm not the only one who was introduced to your work based on this cover lol!

The cover and the author are the two main reasons I bought the book… and I bought the Kindle version.

The power of cat pictures. I used them in class. I was a COLLEGE instructor but they worked like a charm!

It was such a great book, and the cover is perfectly vague while being very specific at the same time. The audiobook is great too!

The cat is inspired in part by Elsie!

Loved Fuzzy Nation. Another fun read. Thanks John.

It is a pretty great cover. And a fun read. #northwesternsucks

It is an awesome cover.

Just finished your book, based solely on the cover :) It was great!

The illustration is from @tristanelwell.bsky.social, who also did the cover for my novella, Constituent Service. He's a delight to work with and I recommend him for all your book cover needs.

Ha! Exact reason I bought it…

I bought it based on the cover too :). It’s a great cover!

Such a good book AND the cover is fab!

Have you talked about who designed it? Do authors have any power at all to suggest what a cover should look like? Or is that all handled by marketing?

Loved that book, and Wil Wheaton's reading of it. I have often bought things because of their covers, especially Sweet's albums.

Wait a minute. Is this a book based on the Love, Death + Robots character? If so, time to pick up a copy. The age of Dingleberry Jones has arrived!

My brain immediately follows this up with "same as the old boss" and now you have me wondering which of these two categories I would fall into. I think my musical taste might put me into an older bracket than my birth date would suggest :)

In fact I did marketing professionally before I was an author. I did pretty well!

I just read everything you write and wait (impatiently) for the next one. 🤷‍♂️ I love it when good people cross paths on bsky. You are both good people. Greg Doucette is a good follow as well. A lawyer with ethics who appreciates the efficiency of guillotines.

I am kind of in the 10-15% (the cover made me pick it up, reading some of it in the store made me decide to purchase).

🙋🏻‍♀️ (plus your awesome Bluesky presence)

To be fair, that's how I choose 90% of the books I read. When I saw Starter Villain in my local bookstore, I had already read and enjoyed Redshirts and Agent to the Stars so there was no question. But judging a book by its cover is how I came across Chuck Tingle and I have no regrets.

my OH absolutely would pick this up based on the cover 😊

The UK edition has a really dull cover by comparison.

The cat angle was played heavily in the commercials Amazon ran on Prime channels, as well. We use ”Antiques Road Trip” as background noise, and they were in pretty heavy rotation.

Reminds me of an article I read a while back (think it was an interview with somebody important in the development of the web) with a quote that they believe there’s going to be a second internet just for cats

It's such a good cover. I really like how it telegraphs the tone of the book so clearly.

The cover intrigued me, the premise made me buy it, the writing made me a fan. You are now one of my “always buy” authors.

In thee dayes of yore, a comic book would sell more with a gorilla on the front cover. Nowadays, cats bestride the world of pop culture like a fluffy colossus.

It is a fantastic cover.

That’s what made me pick it up and I’ve been a John Scalzi fan since.

[Adds to buy list . . . because cover.]

I would have bought it anyway since i like your stuff but the fact that the cover looks like my cat was a bonus.

You can add me to that list. And because of in, my case that image for the audiobook that I loved, I looked up who this Scalzi author was. It got me to listen to Old Man’s War, Android’s Dream & Fuzzy Nation.

I bought it because it said "John Scalzi" on the cover, but the cat was a definite added bonus.

It is a Very Good Cover.

But of course, it says John Scalzi right there at the cover.

My local library clerk liked the cover when I checked out the book, in part because they have at least one fluffy cat. We talked a little about the book. I don't know if they eventually read it or not. Most of the fans I know with cats have read it. The premise is not entirely unbelievable.

That’s why I bought it! It was a great read.

Great cover. Great book.

That's exactly why my wife bought it for me. It was my first of your books. I then blew through old man's war and so much more. Loved it all.

I bought it based on your name, but had I seen the cover, I probably would have if I didn't know who wrote it

I listened to this as an audiobook on the way back from a conference, and my tooth broke while eating an Egg McMuffin on the way back. 10/10: Thought I’d share.

Also, successful tv shows have memorable theme songs.