Perils of an attractive cover...
Nov. 3rd, 2006 10:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seawaspReading 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)
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)
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Date: 2006-11-06 02:33 pm (UTC)An example is the Steven Brust covers showing Vlad as clean shaven with a pretty large dragon on his shoulder.
People who are attracted to that cover enough to buy the book, aren't likely to be disappointed.
On a different tact - the Showtime TV show _Deadwood_ is noted for having quite a bit of swearing. The setting really had quite a bit of swearing - but not with modern swear words. The script writers didn't want us to chuckle at their obsolete swear words, so they updated their language. This really isn't much different from having people from Old England speaking modern English. But by using *wrong* words, they got the *right* flavor.
Moving to Seawasp - I loved the title _Digital Knight_, but found that title a bit misleading. Computers seemed to be quickly forgotten, as the stories went in a different direction. If that had been in a direction I didn't enjoy, I probably would have objected to the title.
I agree...
Date: 2006-11-06 04:57 pm (UTC)The one I really WANTED, Jim vetoed: Paradigms Lost.