Judging books by their covers

[valarltd]

Let's talk about covers.

The good. The bad. The ugly. The whitewashed. The boring.

A cover helps sell a book. People will pick up a cover that catches their eye, and read the back cover.
A bad cover, and a bad blurb, turn people off.

I've had really good covers. I've had bad covers. I've written for anthologies just to be under that cover.

jimhines does a series where he re-creates cover poses. http://www.jimchines.com/cover-posing/ It's brilliant.

All books under the cuts can be found at http://www.brooksandsparrow.com or http://www.inkstainedsuccubus.com


The bland.
A bland cover isn't good or bad. It can be pretty. But it doesn't tell you much about the contents of the book.






None of these are bad covers. They're just not informative. Then again, it's hard to put a good cover on an SF anthology, or almost any anthology.

Whitewashing is a perpetual problem in covers. I've been fortunate.
My characters of color have mostly stayed the right shade. I had to go to the mat to make sure Chuck Hummingbird didn't end up a white gym bunny, but for the most part, my artists are good about it.





I've only had a few covers I really didn't like. And some of them grew on me.





Nikolai took a while to grow on me. I wasn't sure I liked it, but I went with it. I still think Flipped Fables is a little goofy, but cute.


And then there are the good ones. The covers you want to be under. The ones that make you happy every time you look at them.








Tell me about your favorite book covers. From any genre, any author.

Comments

Cover Artist

[vik_thor]

I think Michael Whelan hands down.
http://www.michaelwhelan.com/shop/reproductions/all-reproductions/trantorian-dream/

http://www.michaelwhelan.com/gallery/illustration/science-fiction/
Nor Crystal Tears nor The Smoke Ring seem to have prints available, like Trantorian Dream. I like the artwork for them a bit better, but almost anything by him is worth a look.

At one point in time, I was trying to get a copy of each book Mr. Whelan did the cover art to. Not still trying, though I do have quite a few. He always seems to capture the spirit of the book, I think.

I especially like the artwork for The Smoke Ring as it almost gives you the feeling of what it might be like to live in that environment.

Re: Cover Artist

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

I like Michael Whelan. I have a number of the books he's done covers for and I especially like his Lovecraft work. His are what I think of as the "new" covers for the John Carter series.

I'm also partial to Larry Elmore as a fantasy artist. Chris Achillios does good covers, if he doesn't have to draw bare feet.