Why no covers?

[avantman42]

I've just spent some time going through my books in Calibre, getting covers for most of them.

One thing struck me - all the books that I've bought didn't have proper covers, they had generic covers. For each publisher, the cover was the same, with just the book name being different.

Does anyone know why covers aren't included? Is this a Amazon/mobi/Kindle thing? Do e-pubs include covers? If not, the bookcase view on iBooks must look pretty rubbish.

[SensualPoet]

I expect the publisher did not buy electronic rights for them and cannot include them. Daft, I know, but almost certainly the reason.

[SeaBookGuy]

I've found with library books that most arrive @ ADE with only a "generic" cover, so I have to add one at Calibre after de-crypting them.

[DMSmillie]

I tend to ascribe the lack of covers on many "mainstream publisher" ebooks to quick-and-dirty" batch processing from the electronic book content data, which doesn't include the cover image.

- Donna

[twowheels]

If they included the cover the ebook would have to be 80% more expensive than the paper book instead of only 30% more expensive.


Edit: Seriously though... I wonder if this is why Amazon hasn't put a cover browsing mode on the Kindle... no reason to highlight the problem.

[Luke King]

Some kindle books I've bought have come with covers. I always include my own covers when I publish my books.

[FF2]

Dear Mr King - thanks for the free book. It is now on my reading list. And it does, indeed, include a cover.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

I expect the publisher did not buy electronic rights for them and cannot include them. Daft, I know, but almost certainly the reason.

Yes, that's the reason, at least in many cases. They license the rights to use the art for promotional and marketing purposes, which is why you see the art in the online listings*--but many of these contracts were written before anyone was thinking seriously about the ebook market. The art director at one publisher told me that they did, in the last year or so, starting including ebook rights with art contracts. But they're not likely to go back and amend old contracts.

It does seem a little like bait and switch to see the cover in the store, but not get it when you buy the book.

*And which is why I can use my covers for the little display you see to the left of this message.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Yes, that's the reason, at least in many cases. They license the rights to use the art for promotional and marketing purposes, which is why you see the art in the online listings*--but many of these contracts were written before anyone was thinking seriously about the ebook market. The art director at one publisher told me that they did, in the last year or so, starting including ebook rights with art contracts. But they're not likely to go back and amend old contracts.

It does seem a little like bait and switch to see the cover in the store, but not get it when you buy the book.

*And which is why I can use my covers for the little display you see to the left of this message.

Thanks for the explanation!

[kiwipippa]

I contacted one of the publishers about this (Hachette) and got the answer starrigger mentioned. Some of hachette's covers are rubbish - almost courier font basic black title only. I actually think it is false advertising - the books in the e-book store have beautiful covers and they get sold to you with no cover. It's like taking a book up the counter in a normal store, paying for it and the shop assistant ripping the cover off and giving it back to you and saying "Sorry, we have the rights to the pages but not to the cover so I have to take it off".

No excuse if you ask me, they should at least warn you. And I would say that over 50% of the books I buy, perhaps more, have no covers, so I liberate them and add covers in calibre.

[avantman42]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Yes, that's the reason, at least in many cases. They license the rights to use the art for promotional and marketing purposes, which is why you see the art in the online listings*--but many of these contracts were written before anyone was thinking seriously about the ebook market. The art director at one publisher told me that they did, in the last year or so, starting including ebook rights with art contracts. But they're not likely to go back and amend old contracts.

It does seem a little like bait and switch to see the cover in the store, but not get it when you buy the book.

*And which is why I can use my covers for the little display you see to the left of this message.

Thanks for the explanation. It had never occurred to me that they might not have the rights to include the cover art. It doesn't bother me a great deal, I was curious rather than annoyed. I never look at covers on my Kindle, and can add covers in Calibre easily enough.

So, can anyone answer a related question? Does iBooks on iPad/iPhone have a work-around, or does it display a load of generic covers on the bookcase view?