Do you think the book cover is "dead"? Do you care whether the "covers" on digital books exist or not?
I will answer the second question first. I do care that they exist, whether they are on a paper copy or a digital copy of the book. The reason being is that the cover is a selling point for many readers. True, I am guilty as any reader by judging a book by its cover, but its the cover that can sell a book that isn't as well known and make it popular. And it can also conjure discussion/debate among fans, especially if the book is part a very popular series. I remember the "discussion" when the final book in the Harry Potter series was revealed online and how people had mixed feelings about the children's edition that was published by Bloomsbury and other publishers that published the British version of the book. I remember having very mixed feelings towards it and how a lot of people thought it was very cartoonish. I also remember seeing the cover for the adult version of the very same book and actually liking it so much that I ended up purchasing two copies of the same book.
That being said, I don't think that the book cover is dead. The reason being as readers move to colour versions of their favourite e-reader, they will increasingly want to have the cover on their device. Being a user of a device in which one has black & white photos (Kobo Touch) and the other has the colour versions of the cover (Kobo Vox), I certainly prefer the colour over the black & white version, even though the b&w version is easier to carry around and more portable than the Vox. Also there is the fact that having a "cover" on a digital device makes the reader get a sense of the book rather than having no cover at all.
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