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Bad book covers revisited

I have mentioned on several occasions my dislike of bad cover art. Well, I'm not the only reader who feels insulted when publishers put something tasteless, confusing or just plain butt ugly on a book cover. Click on the link (the post title) to see the results from the annual All About Romance worst cover contest. Unfortunately I somewhow managed to miss the 2005 voting, but never mind - I plan on voting in the 2006 contest.
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Sandra Scoppettone said…
I've written about this in my blog. The covers are awful now because no one draws anymore. At least that's true in the U.S. I believe what they use is clip art. My last two covers were done this way. But I was lucky because they worked. Still, I miss the days of original covers.
November 29, 2006 4:38 pm
Jeff said…
The trouble is, like the book itself, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I remember a certain magazine, famous in one sector of the computing fraternity, which recently ran an issue with a picture of a bellydancer on the cover. Now, being a bellydancer, the lady in question was showing her midriff. I and thousands of others didn't mind one bit, but the magazine nevertheless got vehement complaints from readers and passers-by who saw the cover, and certainly DID object. Point being that I'm sure SOMEONE is going to complain no matter what you do.
December 01, 2006 12:36 pm
Bibliophile said…
Quote:
Point being that I'm sure SOMEONE is going to complain no matter what you do.
Unquote.

I agree and I think your magazine cover is a good example. If you click on the link and look at the contestants for best cover, there are a couple there that I would have rejected because of being too cheesy or too generic. The thing is that with book cover design, and especially romances, thrillers and science fiction, there is just so much sloppy design that could have been avoided by spending a little more time and money on it. Covers are a big selling point with many readers and I for one definitely think twice when I see a cover like the one that won the worst covers contest, because a bad cover design can easily mean that the editing and proofing are bad and the publisher simply isn't expecting that much from the book.
December 01, 2006 12:50 pm
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