Kobo's Best Indie Cover Contest

[JSWolf]

What I get ou the the Twilight cover is that someone was flexing his/her Photoshop skills but without a good idea. Here have an apple is a lousy cover idea for a book about sparkly vampires.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I get ou the the Twilight cover is that someone was flexing his/her Photoshop skills but without a good idea. Here have an apple is a lousy cover idea for a book about sparkly vampires.

I think that says more about you than it does the cover.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by hobnail

I'm sort of amused/bemused that all of these covers are in color while Kobo's ereaders are 16 levels of gray...

But:

1. Paper books still exist
2. Browsing on any screen other than an ereader will show you the covers in color.

I recently read Wrath of the Bloodeye by Joseph Delaney... and the top of each chapter start page had a graphic that was done in etching/woodcut/engraving style with solid fine lines, in black. I was very impressed by how nice they looked on the ereader.

I like when books do little extras like that.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

But:

1. Paper books still exist
2. Browsing on any screen other than an ereader will show you the covers in color.

Expanding on your second point I think it's more that the covers are meant to be appreciated on their store, i.e., a web page you'll be looking at with your phone, tablet, computer.

Given that it's a maker of ereaders what I think what they should have done is have the requirement that the cover look good with 16 levels of gray; allow the artist to submit two covers, one in color and the other in 16 levels of gray.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Expanding on your second point I think it's more that the covers are meant to be appreciated on their store, i.e., a web page you'll be looking at with your phone, tablet, computer.

That's what I meant by 'browsing' but I wasn't clear enough.

Given that it's a maker of ereaders what I think what they should have done is have the requirement that the cover look good with 16 levels of gray; allow the artist to submit two covers, one in color and the other in 16 levels of gray.

I don't think Kobo has the pull to make such demands. And really, does it matter? I mean yeah, with Kobo's the covers are used as the sleep screen. But you don't see the cover that much. And unless you purchase directly on the reader, the cover has already done its job. You bought the book.

The books I've read typically look fine converted to black and white.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by hobnail

[...] Given that it's a maker of ereaders what I think what they should have done is have the requirement that the cover look good with 16 levels of gray; allow the artist to submit two covers, one in color and the other in 16 levels of gray.

That the cover works in grey scale is certainly a requirement of publishers that care about their covers. (Some trad' publishers are known to put plain covers in the epub and so bypass the requirement - and I really dislike that.) That and the ability to look reasonable in a thumbnail are all just part of what makes a cover good as opposed to merely being a pretty picture.

Of course non-publishers being asked to pick their favourites are going to use their own rules, as we've seen discussed here, and can't realistically be expected to take into consideration what the cover is actually there to do. So we will get people who vote for the prettiest, shiniest covers even if they are completely useless for their task.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by gmw

Of course non-publishers being asked to pick their favourites are going to use their own rules, as we've seen discussed here, and can't realistically be expected to take into consideration what the cover is actually there to do. So we will get people who vote for the prettiest, shiniest covers even if they are completely useless for their task.

Exactly. But at least the eye candy covers do their job of grabbing eyeballs on the web store.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by hobnail

Exactly. But at least the eye candy covers do their job of grabbing eyeballs on the web store.

But, as per an earlier comment of mine, you want them to be the right eyeballs. If you attract the wrong audience the reviews will reflect their disappointment and adversely affect sales. Covers try to achieve contradictory aims: stand out from the crowd, but still attract people interested in that crowd.