CCBC-Net Archives
cover art
- Contemporary messages sorted: [ by date ] [ by subject ] [ by author ]
From: nancegar <nancegar_at_aol.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:14:31 -0500
_at_aol.com
We writers often complain about cover art, too, especially when it doesn 't match the descriptions inside the book--charactrs with the wrong hair color, for example.
And I've become annoyed at the trends, too--recently, photos of people c ut off just below the neck, for example, and people with their backs to the audience.
Most authors, especially early in their careers, have very little to say about cover art, and most of us, when we finally see a preliminary proo f, are told that it's too late to make changes. When one;s been around f or a while, one can sometimes have more influence, but the amount of tha t varies with the publisher and one's own track record sales-wise.
The first cover proposed for my novel ANNIE ON MY MIND was in tones of g rayish blue, with a spiky fence and the character of Annie in a dark clo ak --to me, it looked as if she was swooping down on Annie, almost vampi re-like. Luckily my editor disliked it as much as I did, and that cover was scratched. In a way, ANNIE covers have reflected changing attitudes toward homosexuality, for each cover of ANNIE has been an improvement ov er the last (except for the edition published in England, where the two girls both look miserable and extremely unattractive--but t was publishe d at a time when a new law--or regulation--had been passed in England pr eventing anything positive about homosexuality being taught or I think e ven mentioned in the schools).
That brings me to another point, and that is the fact that covers are us ually considered advertisements for the book at least as much as reflect ions of it, and perhaps even more so. Publishers' sales personnel are the guiding force here; the point of a cover is to sell the book--to co mpete successfully with all the other covers on display in bookstores, t o stand out from them and cry "Buy me, buy me!"
Sigh....
Nancy G
_at_aol.com
Received on Fri 10 Feb 2012 07:14:31 AM CST
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:14:31 -0500
_at_aol.com
We writers often complain about cover art, too, especially when it doesn 't match the descriptions inside the book--charactrs with the wrong hair color, for example.
And I've become annoyed at the trends, too--recently, photos of people c ut off just below the neck, for example, and people with their backs to the audience.
Most authors, especially early in their careers, have very little to say about cover art, and most of us, when we finally see a preliminary proo f, are told that it's too late to make changes. When one;s been around f or a while, one can sometimes have more influence, but the amount of tha t varies with the publisher and one's own track record sales-wise.
The first cover proposed for my novel ANNIE ON MY MIND was in tones of g rayish blue, with a spiky fence and the character of Annie in a dark clo ak --to me, it looked as if she was swooping down on Annie, almost vampi re-like. Luckily my editor disliked it as much as I did, and that cover was scratched. In a way, ANNIE covers have reflected changing attitudes toward homosexuality, for each cover of ANNIE has been an improvement ov er the last (except for the edition published in England, where the two girls both look miserable and extremely unattractive--but t was publishe d at a time when a new law--or regulation--had been passed in England pr eventing anything positive about homosexuality being taught or I think e ven mentioned in the schools).
That brings me to another point, and that is the fact that covers are us ually considered advertisements for the book at least as much as reflect ions of it, and perhaps even more so. Publishers' sales personnel are the guiding force here; the point of a cover is to sell the book--to co mpete successfully with all the other covers on display in bookstores, t o stand out from them and cry "Buy me, buy me!"
Sigh....
Nancy G
_at_aol.com
Received on Fri 10 Feb 2012 07:14:31 AM CST
