See, this is why cover art is important

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by uebyn

The website owner is right: Just because you CAN design your own book cover doesn't mean you SHOULD.

The book cover matters a lot..... cover art is important.

I absolutely agree with what you say but, for me, the cover with the day-glow Annie Lennox clone would have put me right off - the one that would sell the book to me is the tabby tail.

Just goes to show how random it all is!

Cheers

MTM

[Penforhire]

Check out the cover over in http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=192842 . Is it just me or does that cover belong firmly in this thread?

[VydorScope]

Eh, maybe I am not picking enough but I do not think its bad. I would pick that book up in a store and read the back of it, and that makes good enough, IMO.

[gmw]

We have quite a number of Agatha Christie books here in paper back (old now and well worn now) - and a few of those have ghastly covers that really do put me off while reading them, I tend to always put them face-down when I leave them. I love the books, just can't stand the covers - if it was an unknown author they would never have been bought.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by uebyn

The website owner is right: Just because you CAN design your own book cover doesn't mean you SHOULD.

The book cover matters a lot.

I can still remember my first Murakami book, the Wind Up Bird Chronicle. I was browsing at the bookstore, and the cover caught my eye:



And so I flipped through it, read the first page, and immediately knew I had to buy it. But if the cover had been one below, then I probably wouldn't have noticed it:



It's not terrible, but it's not eye-catching. The ones with half-naked Asian women on the covers are the worst - I wonder who approved them as the book cover in the first place?

So yes, cover art is important.

I'd see the first cover and pass the book by without a second look. It's blindingly bad. The second has a cat tail and I'd also bypass it as it's boring and features a cat.

[QuantumIguana]

[Image deleted - MODERATOR]
The premise is intriguing, a planetary romance on Mars, but instead of a fighting man, he's a Quaker pacifist sent there. But the cover doesn't do the book any favors.

[VydorScope]

Not very practical clothing for Mars.

[banjobama]

Originally Posted by gmw

We have quite a number of Agatha Christie books here in paper back (old now and well worn now) - and a few of those have ghastly covers that really do put me off while reading them, I tend to always put them face-down when I leave them. I love the books, just can't stand the covers - if it was an unknown author they would never have been bought.

I think we need a picture!

[gmw]

Originally Posted by banjobama

I think we need a picture!

You asked for it. I am attaching what I think is one of the worst ones.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by gmw

You asked for it. I am attaching what I think is one of the worst ones.

That is an astonishingly bad cover. The current cover's very jolly in comparison.

http://www.agathachristie.com/story-...bbean-mystery/

[banjobama]

Originally Posted by gmw

You asked for it. I am attaching what I think is one of the worst ones.

HA! Almost looks like it was drawn by Stephen Gemmell, the guy who did the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark illustrations:

[Mod: Scary Illustration put in spolier tags]:

Spoiler:

[gmw]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That is an astonishingly bad cover. The current cover's very jolly in comparison.

http://www.agathachristie.com/story-...bbean-mystery/

Much better. That one I'd be happy to leave laying anywhere around the house.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That is an astonishingly bad cover. The current cover's very jolly in comparison.

http://www.agathachristie.com/story-...bbean-mystery/

I actually like the Captain Kangaroo like head in the other cover. It gives it an air of PBS meets Jason feel to it.

[julid]

A few of those aren't really that bad (note I said "a few"). Here's the sad part....I see a couple in this list that I know had "professional" cover artists. And one of those vaguely resembles an artist's style I've seen doing cover art for the Big Six. So the term lousy cover art might just be a matter of opinion. But yeah, I thought some of those are really bad, myself. *lol*

[M T McGuire]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Check out the cover over in http://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=192842 . Is it just me or does that cover belong firmly in this thread?

I've seen worse but at the same time it is quite scary, the synopsis is all about a bloke and there's some rubber-clad cyber babe on the cover... hmm... Then again, the two paragraphs quoted on the thread appear to deliver exactly the kind of thing the cover promises...

Cheers

MTM