Yes, they will, if you get it wrong. If you say something that's slightly off, but not completely, they'll likely let it go. If you claim it's a "true story," and you put a crucial location in the wrong place, they won't let it go. It's all relative. Do you need to be Tom Clancy, on the 'Hunt for Red October?' No. But there's a bloody good reason that people--me included--couldn't put that thing down.
Ditto. If you're writing space fantasy or Space Opera, you can probably get away with a lot. You can have people have "anti-grav" magical stuff. You can make aliens appear. You can stretch the limits of the imagination. On the other hand, if you're the screenwriter for Gravity, you can't. (
n.b.: that wasn't a movie that I enjoyed, but I'm
simply making a point here.
Please don't leap all over the technical mistakes in that film, thanks.)
Vis-a-vis your Ballerina--getting all of that right will be absolutely necessary. If you screw that up, you're likely toast.
By the way: I think your assumption that somehow, Americans won't read the book because the word "London" is in the title is kind of insulting. Not everyone in this country is some sort of slab-sided jingoistic nut-job that won't or can't read a book set in another country. I could name 20 authors off the top of my head (Elizabeth George, anyone?) without leaving my chair who write about locales, countries, climes, etc., that aren't in the US that seem to do quite well. My client Timothy Hallinan writes a series set in Bangkok, (the Poke Rafferty series) that was Edgar and Macavity nominated two years ago.
Well, I'm not sure that I agree with you. What type of cultural accuracy do you think would take precedence over factual accuracy? In fact, what's the difference in those two?
Back on topic: sorry, I don't love the cover. Too much murk, not enough GRAB ME on it. I get where it is, and all that, but...I simply feel that you can do better. I think we've gabbed before about this, and for genre (and even non-fiction), I'm a huge fan of Derek Murphy's terrific blog piece on Covers and Cover design:
http://www.creativindie.com/8-cover-...-buying-books/ . I firmly believe that if you stick to his guidelines, you shan't go far wrong. I give this link to every client that doesn't yet have a cover, in the hopes that at least they'll read it.
To me, for what it's worth, the cover does not need to have ANYTHING on it that points directly to the story (e.g., something British or something at the Barre/Ballet). What matters is that it gets buyers to CLICK. Too many authors, IMHO, make the mistake of trying to tell their story on the cover, as if it's an IMAX screen, when it isn't. (When you read that article, look at the covers for
Allegiant or
Ignite Me, for example). I think, given you have a would-be Prima in the book, you should be able to find nicely creepy images that you could use, to convey a sense of dread anticipation. (P.S. Getty has one of a ballerina, in boots smoking a ciggie, that's hilarious. Not suitable for you, but...hey.) What about the usual toe shoes? Bloody toe shoes, abandoned toe shoes....or, this is one of the few times I'd think a silhouette might work, IF (big if) the rest of the cover was sublimely perfect. Getty does have another one, in B&W, of a girl in a ballerina's aspect, in a big, empty, abadoned-looking room/building, that
might work...(don't know the plotline that well, so...guessing here.)
What about this one?:
http://www.canstockphoto.com/woman-b...-15731395.html
I should think that that could be adequately creepy/tension-filled, depending on what you do with the rest of the cover...
Ah, well, back to work for yours truly. Enough goofing off.
Offered FWIW.
Hitch