I'm proud to judge books by the cover.

Well, I’m not a writer, but I am a judger. A judger of books by their covers.
Going off of the post below me, I completely agree. Like I said, I don't write, and after this semester, I hope I never have to involuntarily write again, BUT, I am an avid reader.
As a complete bibliophile, I browse through the shelves of Barnes & Noble, Bookman's Alley, Myopic Books, and the like multiple times a week/day/hour. I’m always drawn to the books that are aesthetically pleasing. And more often than not, they are independently published. I guess this stems from my extreme neat-nick self, wanting everything to be aligned: stars, planets, fonts, quotes, etc... I’m constantly aligning all my articles as "justified" on Microsoft Word, making sure that everything is in its place. "A place for everything, and everything in its place," I always quip.
Anyway, (and you'll see from these weekly posts that I just LOVE going off on tangents that never have anything to do with anything) I completely agree that if you are putting out YOUR work for the world to see, it must represent you. Not the company you're going through, not what the advertisers want it to be, but you. It’s yours and you're sharing.
This is why I think its very smart to self-publish, and if not self publish, make sure you're a part of every tiny thing, every step of the way.
Back to original tangent, when I am perusing the stacks of books in whatever book heaven I may be in that day, the books that stand out to me are the books that are BAM. Bam as in Emeril. His BAMS always mean, WOWEE! And when I see a cover of a book that says WOWEE to me, I buy it. I don't care what it's about (which always leads to too many books, not enough bookshelves, thus stacked up books along the wall...enough to make a bench out of. yes, I’ve sat on my stacks of books many-a-time. and see, another tangent).
ANYWAY, when looking at these books, which I’m browsing through my living room finding such books, I always read the author's bio, then Google said author. Then, most likely you're directed to their website and you can truly see if the book that is representing them is in fact a true representation, not some generic, "the-man", representation full of crap.
And so, with too many tangents and a love for judging books by their covers, I bid you adieu.