No, I'm not asking entirely randomly, but before I get into specifics about what might look good on my own book cover, I thought I'd ask more generally what you like to see.
Myself I like simple artwork, Crighton comes to mind. But then again, maybe he can get away with it because of the name. Too much of the artwork looks the same and so it blends in with everything else. Just some random thoughts.
If it looks like a group of adventurers with a wizard, a knight, a cleric and a dwarf, no.
Classic Franzetta/Valejo style scene art is also a no. But, figures from that style imposed over a contemporary cover style are okay.
If the Author's name is two inches tall and the title is a 1/4 inch text across the bottom, no.
If the cover has a sunset, no.
A cover with two characters on it probably. I can usually get a sense of the genre and subgenre from the cover. Are there dragons? Magic? Robots? Spaceships? All this is answered on the cover art.
No worry about cliched fantasy things...the book is contemporary fantasy...or magical realism if you prefer.
As for critters...my husband told me to put a dragon on the cover. When I explained that there were no dragons in the book he said he bought books with dragons on the cover or even in the title that did not have dragons in the book so he didn't see what that had to do with anything.
There's a cat...but he's a pretty minor character.
Let me ask some more directed things.
1. I assume that covers that lie (promise something the book doesn't deliver) while they may make you buy the book, will also make you hat eit.
2. Do you prefer simple or complex images? Abstract or concrete? What about images overlaid on top of other imagse? Do you like to see scenes from the book depicted on the cover (this is something I'm thinking of doing)?
Thanks for the advice, although a lot of what you're saying basically boils down to: "If the cover is for a genre i don't like to read, I won't read it." Let's assume the book is a genre you like to read.
I thought the original covers for Garth Nix's Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen were perfect. Sabriel sold me on the cover alone, of course the book didn't disappoint. I thought the newer, plainer, more "Adult," version which they did so us grown-ups wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen carting it around, a disappointment and would not have attracted me to the series at all.
I think that the U.K. releases of novels generally have more attractive covers than their American counterparts. Harry Potter being a prime example.
Just my 2 cents.
.
If you're going for a designed cover, go all out. Say what you will about the U.S. version of Harry Potter, but I love the covers. When I see elaborate, beautiful art put all around the book, it tells me the artist thought the story was worth his/her time to make it appealing, and hence, I'm interested.
What does bug me are the covers with a picture on the front, but it's surrounded by a single color, like a picture frame. Only this color is the background when I'm reading the summary on the back. This doesn't always stop me from buying the book, but I usually do it with some qualms. Of course, this is just a personal thing.
). I have a couple of thoughts, basd on scenes from the book. (Assume these are well drawn. I, fortunatley and unfortunatley, have nothing to do with that.)
1. A ransacked office with papers strewn everywhere. One paper, prominently visible, says "I'M GOING TO DIE!" in all caps.
2. This is a symbolic one: A book of prohpecy set on fire with blood kind of oozing down over the whole thing. (The danger here is that others won't understand the symbolism I envision. None of these literally appear in the book.)
I'm still working on others...just throwing out some thoughts.
I would have to say, my most current absolute favorite book is one that isn't even released yet, but see if you can get a glimpse from somewhere online of the new Terry Goodkind book, Phantom.
In my opinion this is everything a cover should be... but that's just me.
What do you guys think?
It's very sad that the artist has passed away sometime last year. I had high hopes of (someday) getting a book published and demanding and pleading and praying that I could get him to do the cover art.
*sigh.
oh well. Sad sad days..
-leaf
edit: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0765305240.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
I mean the artwork, not the letters.. i dont care about that either way...
[This message has been edited by Leaf II (edited April 06, 2006).]
Both your ideas sound interesting.
What I would go for is simple, elegant carwork showing what the genre of the book is.
Lately when I've browsed through the new release section at my local bookstores all I see is the large printed names of the authors, the smaller title of the novel and a fallen down rose, broken glass or a skull on any book. That is a big turn away for me.
Basically, I love simple, symbolic images that tell me SOMETHING about the book, but not everything. I love discovering what relation the image has with the story. That could be one more interesting question that draws your reader on through the story: "Why is the book on the cover BLEEDING?"
I think if you had a simple cover depicting a book on fire, that would be a really mind-catching image. You wouldn't even have to write "Book of Prophesy" on the cover (and PLEASE don't! 
); you can get to that kind of thing in the book. Just be careful that the image isn't too complex...you don't want people staring at the cover trying to figure out what each part of the symbol means; you want people reading your book.
As for what attracts my eye, it varies. For reference, see British and American Cover Art: How and why they're different.
My preference, in order of appearance:
Wurts / Traitor's Knot: UK
Niven / Ringworld's Children: UK
Donaldson / Runes of The Earth: UK
Clarke / Strange & Norrell: US
Stross / Accelerando: Don't really like either, but forced to pick, UK.
Jordan / Knife of Dreams: UK
I think the last time I went through the list, I had 1 or 2 more US in there. Perhaps with Donaldson and Niven.
I've often wanted to have a book published in black, with no writing on the cover whatsoever.
EDIT:
quote:1: This would definitely make me think longer about reading another book by the same author. If the story was good enough, I'd probably overlook it, but not if it was in the next book too.
1. I assume that covers that lie (promise something the book doesn't deliver) while they may make you buy the book, will also make you hat eit.2. Do you prefer simple or complex images? Abstract or concrete? What about images overlaid on top of other imagse? Do you like to see scenes from the book depicted on the cover (this is something I'm thinking of doing)?
2: Simple/complex is probably a tossup, as long as it seems relevant to whatever summaries are presented. Abstract would probably not do much for me, unless it appeared linked to the story somehow. Layered images in the form of scenery would probably be fine. Scenes from the book are fine too.
quote:1: The "I'M GOING TO DIE!" part would probably get me to put it back on the shelf. Just seems a little too desperate, and or cheesy for me.
1. A ransacked office with papers strewn everywhere. One paper, prominently visible, says "I'M GOING TO DIE!" in all caps.2. This is a symbolic one: A book of prohpecy set on fire with blood kind of oozing down over the whole thing. (The danger here is that others won't understand the symbolism I envision. None of these literally appear in the book.)
2: I like the sound of it, but you might risk some thinking it's more horror. Maybe if the book isn't in a setting (office), it wouldn't seem like it was a bait and switch (#1 from 1st quote). Presented like this, if I didn't read about a bleeding, flaming book, I'd probably wonder why it was used, but it probably wouldn't impact future sales.
[This message has been edited by pjp (edited April 07, 2006).]
quote:
If it looks like the artist that does Robert Jordan's covers, no.
Darrell Sweet does the Jordan covers, doesn't he? I am not a fan of Darrell Sweet and have never read Robert Jordan's books partly because Sweet was the cover artist.
In fact, there are lots of books with his work on the cover that I haven't been able to bring myself to read. Those that I have read, I've read because my trust in the contents of the book overcame the cover artwork.
I have had nightmares in which I've sold a novel and found out he had been selected to do the cover. <shudder>
I like more abstract coverart than scene depictions, myself. I'd rather not have any preformed images of the characters in my head; I'd rather see the landscape through my own lens, not an artist's; and half the time the scenes aren't recognizable in the book anyway.
I've only bought two books based solely on their cover images, and neither turned out to be good reads. In fact one of them, Ceres Storm, was one of the worst books I've ever read. The cover depicts a leather-clad boy floating in a chair, attended by four priests. Or at least that was what I assumed the picture was. This image turned out not to be written about in the book at all, that I could recognize. But I still like the image somehow.
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, aren't eyecatching images in the mind of the would-be buyer?
Absolutely compelling. It spoke.
I like covers that do that. That speak to me. That arouse feelings in me. Sometimes that can be an illustration (hopefully) from the book. Sometimes it is symbolic. The doughnut on the cover of COMPANY by ?, a doughnut with a nibble taken out it -- that worked for me. I picked the book up, sampled the first page, the blurb and bought it.
In this case, the speciic words make it sound like a typical kidnapping story, which doesn't interest me, but if it had been something else then maybe the words, along with the simplicity of the blood red cover and the gold ring, would have been a great hook to read further.
Along that line, I thought of a third option for a cover:
3. The words "Futures can't be chanced." and a fancy clock. Probably a red background a bit like the Koontz book to get people thinking of blood and death, but no actual blood.
I don't read much fantasy, and I don't *find* much modern fantasy. When I was more into fantasy I could deal with florid covers like
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0441627404/sr=8-1/qid=1144420176/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-8758487-7647229?%5Fencoding=UTF8
http://www.usedbookattic.com/images/product/Thumbnails/123032.jpg
I haven't read Magic Street, but I thought the cover was arresting.
http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/magicstreet/covers/US.jpg
If something is too look classic, a simpler cover is cool
http://www.usedbookattic.com/images/product/Thumbnails/134581.jpg
Pretty sometimes works (although I hated this book, I did buy it first!)
http://www.usedbookattic.com/images/product/Thumbnails/133433.jpg
Thing is, it just depends on the book.
Anyway: are they going to let you ahve a say in it? IIRC that's unconventional.
) I also prefer covers without random people on them because they are inevitably meaningless until I have read the book. Sometimes a face can show something, but I would generally have to agree that I didn't like the Robert Jordan covers, for example. Then again, since my book has nothing to do with high fantasy, those sorts of covers aren't on the table. (Or if they are, I got an inept artist.) I kind of like simple in terms of uncluttered but at the same time I like slightly abstract, symbolic, or at least something that could have multiple meanings. I like it when I look at a cover before I read the book and after I read the book and have two different impressions of it.
First, I don't care what the cover of a book looks like. It doesn't sway me one bit. I tried to think of something other than this, but I can't. It seems, however, that I'm a rarity here. I'd never not read a book because I didn't like the cover.
Second, though a cover doesn't sway me, there are some books I wouldn't take into public because of the covers. Look at the recent covers of Richard Matheson's HELL HOUSE and I AM LEGEND. Or the old Del Ray covers on the H. P. Lovecraft collections. I like very much, but I'm not going to be reading any of those books on the bus or at the doctor's office.
My boss said, Oh, well, Will's taken to reading pornography.
[This message has been edited by wbriggs (edited April 07, 2006).]
Well, it seeme like your typical lurid SF pulp cover. But then, a few years ago, I saw J. Lo wear that very same outfit, as illustrated, to the Oscars...life imitates art, I suppose...
So my inexpert opinion is:
a) No pictures of characters please, unless they are sufficiently shadowy and vague (see The Shadow of the Wind for example). Though this does not necessarily stop me from buying a book, I feel distracted by them. Sorry but true.
b) Simplicity, for example the fabulous “Noughts and Crosses” by Malorie Blackman.
c) In agreement with others, I don’t want to be embarrassed to be seen reading this book.
d) Lastly, what you yourself wrote about understanding covers better once the book has been read, is true. I love that feeling.
Quiz
[This message has been edited by Quizzical (edited April 12, 2006).]
The cover got me in, fulfilling the financial end of things, I suppose. But I didn't stay in.
quote:
I...maybe it's just me, but could you clarify why and in what manner you'd like him to be attacked from behind by this werewolf? I may have something a little wrong with my perceptual filter, but...clarify, please.
Well, actually, I was just trying to poke fun at the romance book covers and get a laugh. But what I meant was---I'm just assuming you've seen the covers I'm talking about---that when Fabio or whomever else is depicted on such covers is gazing deeply into the eyes of his latest lover, a hairy paw is reaching over his shoulder, about ready to drag him to who knows where.
I think that would add a bit of suspense to those covers. Consequently, the book that would be written to match the cover, would be a lot more up my line.
My favorite covers have something suspenseful on them--a cowboy who looks like he's about to get shot at---a monster lurking in the trees---glowing eyes of a creepy cat---that kind of thing.
[This message has been edited by Smaug (edited April 12, 2006).]
quote:
Oh, okay then. Doesn't make any sense to me, but neither did what you seemed to be suggesting.
Okay, Survivor. You've got me intrigued. What did you think I "seemed to be suggesting"?
(Oh, yeah. "arriki": "The Road to Corlay" was by Richard Cowper...maybe you saw the Don Maitz cover, which certainly was compelling, though that's kinda old now...)
The style of illustrator will really (REALLY) send a message to the reader. It is like POV, it tells you a little about the lens through which we will be viewing your world.
It is subjective but can be broadly categorised the way genres can be. Think about how specific your story is to your genre and that will tell you how much wiggle room you have. I prefer simple but clever designs. I often dislike covers that try to portray the main characters, especially in a Brothers Hildebrandt way.
Just me.
As to the psychology of fonts, (as Franc Li called it) that is an important consideration too. Make sure all the elements support the story and its intended 'mood'. Here's the trick though, sometimes it is better to choose a powerful illustration and keep the font relatively plain; let the image speak. At other times, as with an esoteric or clever title, it may be best to let the typography take a front seat and have some clever visual foil happening.
[This message has been edited by hoptoad (edited April 26, 2006).]
Not sure if anyone has picked up a book called 'Voice of the Martyrs,' endorsed by the Christian band D.C. Talk (it came out a number of years ago, I think). It's bound in laminated psuedo-leather, with graphics that made the cover look like it was worn and had been burned at some point. The pages were raggedly arranged for an uneven edge effect (which was annoying when I tried to find a specific page, though it really added to the 'ancient tome' look).
It was interesting enough to catch my eye at a yard sale...I bought the book simply because of the cover (and because the seller only wanted a dollar for it).
Inkwell
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"The difference between a writer and someone who says they want to write is merely the width of a postage stamp."
-Anonymous
When I publish a novel, I pray, PRAY that I quickly get say in the cover design. Bad covers make me cry a little bit inside.