Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
There might be some good books there, but if I see a cover that looks slapped together, I'm going to think that the book inside the cover is slapped together.
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I agree, and part of me tells me I shouldn't; there's no natural law that says a good writer has to be a good artist as well. But a major part of bookselling is in the presentation, and if your cover, being the absolute first thing people see, looks so incredibly bad... you can't help but assume that it'll all go downhill from there.
Another part of me is actively shouting in my middle ear:
"Shut up, you fool! You'll only draw negative attention to yourself!" Because all of my covers are Photoshopped, you see. But in my defense, I was a graphic artist before I was a writer, so I at least know my way around Photoshop, and understand the words "minimalist" and where they apply.
But on a bad day, I could see one or two of my older covers in that list...
Quote:
Originally Posted by QuantumIguana
There's the one cover "Come and Talk to Me" it isn't too bad, but the Coast Guard ship probably shouldn't be there in the first place, let alone be badly photoshopped.
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Actually, I thought less of that cover: Yes, the ship was badly-placed; but worse than that, the photo of lovers kissing is not in sync with a title like "Come and Talk to Me." The photo is the
after of the title's
before. A photo of someone looking longingly at some else, or looking lonely as someone else notices, would have been in better sync with the title.
This is the other thing about covers that people don't always think of:
The image should reinforce the title and/or the intent of the book. A title that suggests some effort involved in getting two people together, shouldn't be backed up by a photo showing two people already, effortlessly together.