Cover art

[serria]

There was a little bit of discussion on Fandom!Secrets about book cover art. I guess a lot of new authors have the misconception that their publisher will let them have some say in the cover art - but unfortunately, it seems that authors have next to no input. Cover artists are, if I understand correctly, usually given a short summary of the book or a scene, and told to go from there.

I admit, if I'm in a book store glancing around at thousands of books, it's going to be the cover art that makes me notice a certain book. I think that's normal - I don't have time to read the back of every book just to give them a fair chance. But I once heard a fantasy/sci-fi author speak, and he mentioned how horrified he was his first couple books at the atrocious art (and that was in the 80s, and there is nothing like 1980s cover art), and I wonder how many awesome books have been screwed over by a terrible cover. Or maybe a cover did successfully get a potential reader's attention, but the author feels like it doesn't represent his or her work.

Anyone have any experiences?

What's the worst cover art you've seen?

How about the best?

If your novel was published, what would you want to be the cover art?

Comments

[sarillia]

I've heard horror stories about authors who hate the cover of their book but the one person I know who got a book published had a good experience. You can see it here (I swear I'm not just plugging my friend's book again :p).

If I was published I would probably want something like that. Something simple. Though I suppose it would depend on the story. I have some that might not be suited to something like that. I'm pretty easily pleased though so I would probably be fine with whatever the art department of a publisher came up with. Which is good since I probably wouldn't have much say anyway.

[serria]

That's a pretty cover your friend has!! I think I tend to like covers without people - especially not real models - better. Real models just make it look artificial to me. Close-ups of an items that represents the story is just easier, doesn't threaten to mess up a character or scene, and lets the reader imagine how everything actually looks.