How important are book covers in getting you to read a book?

I know the saying but it’s not always something I follow. Admit it, we all like the outer covers and are atleast momentarily attracted to (an object or a living creature) because of the way that it/they look. Now, I’m going to stick to the subject at hand, which is books.

I feel that done right book covers can attract the right reader for the kind of book it is. Or attract a reader to the kind of book he/she wants to read. For example, if you wish to read a horror novel about vampires, an appropriate image on the cover will help you go towards selecting the book and if not reading it, atleast checking out what the book is all about. Same for a scifi adventure novel set in distant planets and solar systems – if the cover shows an alien being or a spaceship in space that would make the scifi fan pick up the book and go through the synopsis given on the back cover.

However never will I buy a book based solely on the cover. No matter how attractive or enticing it may look. A good check of the back cover, a quick reading of a couple of pages (no store owners have ever bothered to chase me away even if I stand there for a couple of hours but I usually don’t stay for more than 30-40 minutes) just to see if the book interests me and only then will I purchase the book and/or borrow it in case I am borrowing the book from a friend/colleague/acquiantance (I haven’t been a member of a library in ages) to read.