Original Romance, EBooks, Cover Art and a Poll

[scatteredlogic]

A fair percentage of my flist is working on original fiction, and I have several published authors on my flist. Some are published in print, some are digitally published (or e-published, if you prefer), and some are both. Today, though, I'm going to focus on digital publishing.

Comments

[bambu345]

Do you want to know why I made my choice, or is the choice where your immediate interest lies?

[scatteredlogic]

The choice itself is where my immediate interest lies, but I'd love to know why you made your choice. That's something that will impact tomorrow's post. So please, tell me. ;)

[bambu345]

In broad terms and to my mind, the Findley cover is superior in terms of color, composition, and simple choice of font. The masculine figure is lithe and slightly fey, while having a Byronic element in his windswept hair, and the single crow coming to land on the his outstretched arm underlines the title of the novel and his mastery of the bird. The background is in harmonious balance to the rest of the illustration, and the colors enhance, rather than detract from the central element of the man. Additionally, the lettering doesn't inappropriately take away from the artistic element of the composition as in Zaber's cover art

[scatteredlogic]

I love how you've encapsulated so many of the things I felt about those covers. I have little to no artistic ability myself, so sometimes I can't articulate exactly what I find wrong (or right) with a picture. It's more of a visceral reaction, as in "that looks great" or "there's something off about that".

Thank you! And tomorrow I'm going to drag out the soapbox regarding ebooks, book covers, romance, porn written by and for women, and the fact that sneering disdain is still considered a logical reaction to those things. ;)

[jeff_preston]

While I think cover two isn't "perfect", it's pretty goddam good. I'd certainly be hard pressed to do any better at all. Cover one looks like ass, feet and corn chips.

[scatteredlogic]

Oh, yes, I agree with you so very much.

[jeff_preston]

I don't want to look at a cover and say to myself "well shit, I can do better than that". I'm a little biased in that respect due to what I/ we do. I look at yours and say...that's nice work, I dig it. It inspires me to do better.

[scatteredlogic]

Exactly. I don't want to look at a cover and cringe. So many ebook covers make me wince because they're either poorly assembled or just in bad taste.

Melissa Findley's cover is gorgeous, and I envy her talent so very much. I have no artistic ability of my own, so I can only admire from afar. ;)

[_lady_narcissa_]

Well if I'm buying an ebook I probably wouldn't care what the cover looked like. I mean that's the joy of the ebook, it doesn't sit out and take space and I'd never have to actually look at the cover. So I'd probably buy whichever version was listed first.

Covers on print version...well that's a whole different story.

[scatteredlogic]

Hmm, that's a good point. However, it does play a part in the selection of the book for many people. Unfortunately, I was limited to only one book in my poll, since she's the only author that I know who has commission additional artwork for her book. If I'd had a wider selection, I would have done a "choose between these books" poll and offered a selection of several different covers for several different books.

I will say that I've seen ebooks that had cover art so awful - and in some cases I found them outright offensive - that I wouldn't even consider buying the book itself. Which is terribly unfair, since the author rarely has any say in the cover. That's something I only learned recently. :(

[_lady_narcissa_]

Does it with ebooks? See the only people I know who buy ebooks buy them for the author. I don't know anyone who just goes and browses ebooks the way they do print copies. So my experience with ebooks is that the cover has very little to do with the selection. Especially since they aren't continually confronted with the cover the way they are with a hard copy

[scatteredlogic]

It does for me, at any rate. I won't support things I find offensive, so no money for them from me. But that's something I'm going to talk about more tomorrow. ;)

I think this is why we are now seeing the trend of "headless" heroes and heroines on a lot of romance covers these days.

I've noticed that trend, and I think it was fine when it first started, mainly because it was something different, but it's become so prevalent that now I find it boring. I just look at them and think, "Meh. Another headless body." ;)

in which I show my callow nature

[bloodcult]

I voted for number one. When I buy a certain sort of fantasy/romance/porny type novel the cover needs to convey the primary qualities I'm looking for in the book, namely steamy sex.

Cover one looks like steamy sex to me. It is exactly the sort of think that would make me pick up the book and read the back cover.

For my shallow self cover two is too digital looking, on a gut level I have a distaste for images that don't "look" drawn or painted by human hands, secondly it lacks the blatant sex I am looking for in a novel.

Like I said, I am shallow and I have definite preferences and there they are. I like number one.

Re: in which I show my callow nature

[scatteredlogic]

Heh, you're not shallow - you're honest. If Cover 1 appeals more to you or more readily depicts exactly what you're looking for in a book, then that's the one you would buy, and it makes sense that it would be the one you'd select. ;)

Re: in which I show my callow nature

[bloodcult]

I wouldn't say it exactly depicts what I'm looking for but I'm very turned off by digital painting, it looks "wrong" to me, probably because of the many years I spent looking at pigment on canvas before I was exposed to pixel on view screen.

I also would that sex is important to me, in that if I will forgive a lot if a book has well written and explicit sex scenes, where as a book without explicit sex scenes had better be freaking Dostoyevsky if it wants to keep my limited attention span engaged.

As previously mentioned I am horrendously shallow.

Re: in which I show my callow nature

[scatteredlogic]

I also would that sex is important to me, in that if I will forgive a lot if a book has well written and explicit sex scenes, where as a book without explicit sex scenes had better be freaking Dostoyevsky if it wants to keep my limited attention span engaged.

I think I have almost (but not quite) the opposite reaction. I have specific preferences in my reading, and I rarely read for the sex scenes. However, if they're there, they'd better be done extremely well, or I just find them boring. Otoh, if a writer has gone the route of building erotic tension between the characters, by the time they reach the, erm, climax of that tension, I dislike it if they take the fade-to-black route, and I tend to feel cheated by the writer.

[kiri_moth]

I voted for #2...beyond the far superior artwork, I MUCH prefer the design of the text and copy.

One of the reasons that ebook covers tend to look amateurish and unskilled is that the publishers aren't paying enough. So they either get 'artists' with no skills, talent, or training, or they get artists who are good, but who can't devote the time and energy that they would to a job that actually pays.

And if they do stumble upon a great artist? Chances are someone else will soon sweep that deserving artist away to the land of better paying work. ;)

[scatteredlogic]

One of the reasons that ebook covers tend to look amateurish and unskilled is that the publishers aren't paying enough. So they either get 'artists' with no skills, talent, or training, or they get artists who are good, but who can't devote the time and energy that they would to a job that actually pays.

~nods~ And by doing so, they can actually hurt their bottom line. As I mentioned below, there are ebooks that I won't buy simply because the cover art is appalling.