Cover Stickers

Removing stickers (such as "buy 2 get one half price") is a minor hassle if they come off easily although I get distinctly ratty when they don't. But a more annoying issue is that I scan all my covers after removing the labels. Although this seems OK when I look at the book there is clearly some residue left behind which shows up as yellowish on the scanner glass and that in turn gives whitish/greyish patches on books I scan which have areas of black. A good scrub of the scanner surface with wet wipes every now and then helps and I suppose I could use a camera instead of a scanner.
And I recently uncharacteristically bought a Neil Gaiman book ("The Graveyard Book") which has a pseudo-sticker (or is it meant to be a gold medal?) added to the cover as part of the printing process and can't be removed saying "Carnegie Medal Winner 2010". Ughh! If I was the cover designer I wouldn't be too happy about this addition.

Try this on a small area before ... (etc. etc.) but have you tried Pledge furniture polish to get the stuff off?

The ones that upset me are the ones where book covers are varnished or spot-varnished, and removing the sticker pulls off the varnish on the part it's stuck over :(

>2 MyopicBookworm:: Never thought of that but I'll try it next time. Thanks for the suggestion.
>3 HoldenCarver:: To be honest I'm not sure I've come across this technique - or if I have I haven't been aware of it. But recently I bought a copy of "I am Pilgrim" and when I took a label off it removed a top layer of the cover to reveall the bare board underneath. Aaagh! Fortunately only a small area but I had to put clear film over it.

I have found lighter fuel is the best product for removing sticker glue residue. Do not put the fuel onto the book but squirt a small amount onto a clean, non coloured cloth or plain white sheet of kitchen paper- not directly on to the book.

You may want to check a small area for colour fastness before doing this, but I have never had an issue with it.