Discussion
Topic: Books
After a comment from @drownedkraken, I'm wondering. What do you like 8n book cover art? What catches/draws your eye? A detailed, artistic image? Or a newer style, simplistic design?
4 comments
Brandon Reed Whatever the art looks like, I want it to give me an idea of what the genre and/or themes of the book is/are.
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Road Master See, to me, an actual, detailed image does that way better.
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Road Master For example, the comment I referenced in the ask, was about Ancillary Justice. There are at least 2 cover images. While I'm not a fan of the older one, it is more detailed than the newer one. The older one at least gives an idea of what kind of book/story it is. The newer one really doesn't.
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Brandon Reed That's often the case. I looked up Ancillary Justice, and, yes, the old cover is much more informative than the new, simplistic one.
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Ophylia St. Grey I'm from a simpler time. Books had a title, that's pretty much it. All these new books have colored page edges or designs. It's a lot of unnecessary crap.
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Sages I don't necessarily care what the art is in isolation, but as long as it appears to have been thoughtfully constructed, I'm okay without nearly anything. I do prefer titles without faces, or even bodies, as books often lend the look of characters to the readers imagination, but i know covers are hard. Do whatever sells.
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Jessica H One of my favorite authors has books with real people on them, and apparently they are absolutely cannon; the cover model is what the character looks like. I was reading book 4 in a series and they mentioned a tattoo, but not a description or mention of the meaning behind it or anything, so i asked and the answer was literally because the cover model has a tattoo. I think that may be the only author I know that is that literal about the cover, though.
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David Rachau The only thing that will make me not want to buy a book based on its cover, is when they use what looks like a stock photo, straight from the front page of Shutterstock, or similar service. There are exceptions, like if I'm already familiar with the author. Otherwise, as long as it looks good, it really doesn't matter to me. For example, I like both the new and the original covers for the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, and they couldn't be more different. The originals are like comic book covers, or old video game box art, and the new ones are more abstract. They both work for me, and they both fit the narrative.
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Road Master I see several with the comic or video game style you're talking about. I saw another with just big letters and an orange lightning bolt like design in the middle.
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David Rachau Yep, that's the new hardcover edition cover. The original covers were only available through Amazon print on demand. Now there's a traditional publisher involved. You can see Carl running in the lightning bolt with a stick of dynamite in his hand, and Donut running behind him. Plus, the skulls, and the pineapple on the cover that become meaningful if you've read the book. It's designed to catch someone's eye in a bookstore, or airport, but also have little Easter eggs to entice those who already own it to buy it again.
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