Perils of an attractive cover...

[seawasp]

Reading some of the Amazon reviews on Boundary, it's struck me that at least a couple of people may have felt particularly disappointed because the cover is very eyecatching, but can be interpreted to imply a somewhat different kind of book. I found it a very good cover, but it shows an event in the deep past. Some of the readers have sounded disappointed partly because their expectations from the cover involved more action and more dinosaurs.

I'm not sure, myself, what I would have used for the cover. I like the one I got, and it's definitely a cover that gets people to look at it -- which is the primary point of the cover. OTOH, I'd hate to have the cover mislead people into thinking, oh, they're getting Jurassic Park VS the Space Force or something.

Here's an interesting question: if you (reading this) have read any of my books, what would YOU choose as a cover for those books? Would it be a scene from inside the book (and which one), would it be something more conceptual that captured what you saw as the "spirit" of the book (and what would that be), etc.?

[EDIT] I wish I was at liberty to show the concept sketches Kurt made for Boundary -- he did quite a few. And many of the suggestions made here are reflected in those concept sketches. He'd clearly read the book.

(I was actually surprised that Jim didn't select a scene involving Maddie, the Hot Blonde; there were a couple I think would have worked)

Comments

[k-kinnison.livejournal.com]

The cover of boundary made me first think of a "Dinosaur planet" type of book. but only by reading the inside cover did I realize it was more about a manned mission to mars.

Personally I think a shot of the Spaceship with Mars in the background. Or a shot of the Alien time capsule.

Or heck even the crashed lander on Mars.

If you look at some of the other covers of Eric Flint, or David weber, you see a scene that occurs IN the book. You get to a point of the book and realize the image on the book, is exactly the same as the one described in the book itself.

well

[axolotl9.livejournal.com]

recent Weber covers, anyway. The first few paperback covers didn't really have a lot to do with anything actually happening in the book.