Comments on: How cover art influences book sales (at least, for one picky reader)

By: A creator’s journey: part 1 « The Aspiring Mangaka & Writers Club

A creator’s journey: part 1 « The Aspiring Mangaka & Writers Club — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:46:49 +0000

[...] most important thing is to remember that books are indeed judged by their covers. If your cover is not attractive (or looks cheap), no matter how wonderful your story is, people will overlook [...]

By: Monday Morning Stepback «

Monday Morning Stepback « — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:38:33 +0000

[...] interesting post on how cover art influences one reader’s decision to buy, featuring two very different John Scalzi covers (thanks to [...]

By: rushmc

rushmc — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:58:21 +0000

Trashy vs. classy…what’s the mystery?

By: glenda larke

glenda larke — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:05:40 +0000

My Australian covers for Harper Voyager are done by Vinnie too. Lovely use of light…And I must admit, I wouldn’t have even picked up the book with the Tikulin cover. Somehow it looks like cheap porn to me, at least when seen small scale here…

By: Jetse

Jetse — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:41:12 +0000

If you like Vinny’s art, then you may like the cover art for the Shine anthology, which Vinny did (with lots of input from me). I’ll get it your way when I have time.

And Vinny’s art will probably appear on more Solaris Books covers.

By: Marco @ Angry Robot

Marco @ Angry Robot — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:05:42 +0000

Very true about Vinny Chong deserving more exposure in the USA though. Here in the UK, he’s now won the British Fantasy Award for Best Artist three years running. And he’s such a nice guy – the first time he won it, he’d slipped off before the awards, assuming he had no chance.

Happily for us at Angry Robot, his artwork will decorate Tim Waggoner’s series featuring zombie private eye Matt Richter, which hit US stores from next July.

By: David E

David E — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 13:27:06 +0000

Neither of those covers particular work for me. But I very much agree that cover art makes a big difference. I can’t begin to count the number of times I bought a book for its cover art alone. I rather doubt any of us would have heard of a barbarian named Conan if it weren’t for the Frank Frazetta covers.

By: Rob Landley

Rob Landley — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:58:51 +0000

Actually the cover on the right says “homerotic romance novel”. Let’s see, bare chest, presenting crotch, chained down, this would be hardcore S&M? Possibly a post-apocalyptic mad max type of thing (especially since I can’t tell at first glance if that’s a beard or a muzzle).

Maybe that wasn’t the publisher’s intent, but considering I get John Scalzi and John Ringo confused when I’m not paying attention, and the whole tradition of “Oh John Ringo, No!”, it’s really not something I would have picked up to read the back cover of.

The guy on the left seems to be thinking about his problem. The guy on the right doesn’t seem capable of it.

By: Rachel Swirsky

Rachel Swirsky — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:14:51 +0000

The Chong cover is very visually striking. He does a lot with lighting, and compositionally, the tension between the ugly chains and the restful pose is much more intriguing (to me at least) than the straining, angry man. I think the Chong cover also has a better use of text, and uses the spears and the chained man to draw one’s eyes to the title in a way that keeps the eye on the page.

By: NewGuyDave

NewGuyDave — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:17:06 +0000

In this case I fully agree with you. Another example is Glen Cook’s The Black Company. I wouldn’t buy the cheesy mmp covers, but I did pick up the collected editions. The cover art by Raymond Swanland kicks.