Book Pet Peeves #2: Stickers

June 17, 2014 erinbook Feature, Pet Peeves

It’s once again time to talk about my book pet peeves! So let’s discuss one of the things I really, really hate when it comes to my books: stickers.

So let’s talk. I really hate these things. There is very little that will drive me more insane than a sticker that I can’t get off of my book. Why do publishers and bookstores insist on these awful, cover-ruining eyesores that obscure my beautiful cover? Part of the joy of books, for me at least, are the covers that I get to enjoy. I can’t do that if there is an ugly sticker in the way.

One of the other problems with these stickers is that they are the biggest pain in the butt to get rid of. Some places boast of their “easy-to-remove”, no residue stickers but I have found that very few of these stores are telling the truth. So far, only Barnes & Noble and the now defunct Borders have made use of these type of stickers, everywhere else I find myself straddling by new book while peeling the stickers off piece by piece.

While I understand the need for price stickers, I have even smaller patience for promo stickers. Stickers that proclaim “As good as ____” or “For fans of ____.” Thanks, book, I don’t need your opinion of your own worth. You are trying to sell yourself like a hot dog stand on the corner, it’s sleazy and you’re making more work for me when I get home. And then there’s this….

“Soon to be a Major Motion Picture!” Movie stickers, I really hate you. You are the bane of every Mortal Instruments and Infernal Devices book I have bought, you are huge and you are ugly, and you fill me with book nerd rage. Of all the advertising in all the world, I hate the movie stickers the most. For the most part, with a small number of exceptions, movie adaptations of a book are terrible. I’m looking at you The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, and also at you Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. The last thing I want is a sticker on the superior form of telling that story reminding me that there is a much less awesome version of it.

And don’t get me started on the “non-removable stickers”. You know, those things on a book that you think are promo stickers and then you realize that it’s printed on the cover with the cover art? No, none of that! I’m not having that on my cover!

Stickers do nothing for the book. If you have to put a price sticker on my future book, put it on the back! I’ll be slightly less annoyed by it if I know there won’t be residue on my book cover. But don’t ever put it on the spine!