OP-ED: Can I Be Blunt? I Can’t Stand Modern Cover Design · 7:55pm Mar 21st, 2019
There, I’ve said it. This post has been a long-time coming (it was actually planned for the week after LTUE, but then that big bit of metal fell …) but today we’re finally getting to it. And the title pretty much sums it up.
I don’t like modern cover design for books. At all. And the more books move toward this modern design, the less I enjoy it.
What’s not to like? First and foremost, the size of everything. There was a time when a book had three primary things on the cover, in addition to some smaller things that could sometimes appear. You had the name of the book. You had the name of the author. And you had the cover image itself. And these were displayed with a decent hierarchy in mind. The cover image was usually foremost, followed by or sharing equal billing with the title.
Now, however … that’s not the case. One of the trends right now is that the author’s name has to be AS BIG AS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE, dominating as much of the cover as it can. At first it was just under the size of the name of the book. Then it became the same size. Now? On a lot of books, it’s even bigger. You can find book covers with the author’s name taking up over a third of the cover. Or more.
Personally? I can’t stand it. I get that there are “reasons” behind it (I heard about them at LTUE, and you’ll definitely hear them from the Indie crowd), but even with those “reasons” I still can’t stand it. Especially as the driving force behind it is … well, it’s kind of childish personally. It’s the old “Bigger is better” idea.
Personally i agree, the change in book covers has been shockingly petty over the years. And i quite enjoy the cover art more then a fancy name on the front. Makes the book more memorable with good art. As you stated the writers name is hardly important for the cover of a book and if it is their name selling books the size doesn't matter.
Whenever i look for a new book its more about good cover art and a detailed synopsis. Those more often then not will be quite telling about the books quality...At least in my experience.
Honestly, I really hate when the Author name is bigger than the title, and when the cover, as you put it, isn’t really a cover for that book. Whenever I’m looking into starting a new book, I first look at the image, then the title, and then.... no wait, that’s it. I don’t even care who wrote the book as long as it’s a good book. Sometimes I look to see if the back cover (of a printed book) has reviews or a synopsis, but that has very little effect on whether or not I read it.
An "amalgamation cover" that has stuck with me for a long time was our own fandom's Past Sins, which actually had scenes forming a chronology of the first half of the book or so. It's spoilery, sure, but I found it rather fun to be reading along and referencing back to the cover to go "aha, we're at this point now..." while each time also nervously glancing to the bit at the end of the cover where Twilight's standing on the gallows with a noose around her neck and worrying about how the story was going to play out. Then I actually reached that scene, and it was only halfway through the story. I got catharsis, but then I also got the realization "I have no idea what's going to happen from here onward!" And that was neat too.
So out of curiosity, what about fic covers? Any particular opinions on whether or not an author here nabs some fanart / cropped screenshot / shell out cash for a commission? Just took a look at my recommended vs my "I'm only reading it to finish it" tagged stories, and while a majority of my rec's have custom art, there does not seem to be any rhyme or reason for the ones I have lost interest in.
But yeah, eyes do kind of glaze over books with GIANT NAME on them, as it feels like they are advertising the author rather than the story. An author you like has a higher chance of a story you like, but it shouldn't be the main point.
I say the same thing about short descriptions here on this site. If you can't be bothered to root typos out of the 150-ish characters that are supposed to be drawing me to read your work, how can I expect you to have anything resembling a polished story?
On covers, here's an amalgam cover from a book I've loved:
images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91-CktwB4wL.jpg
And here's the full image (sans text):
i2.wp.com/www.tor.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/jim_burns_startide_rising.jpg?fit=740%2C+9999&crop=0%2C0%2C100%2C385px&ssl=1
And here's a lame version of the cover that follows all the latest trends:
images.gr-assets.com/books/1171482088l/101889.jpg
(It's one of my favorite books ever, and I have no idea what that thing in the last cover is supposed to be.)
5031412
Fanfic cover art hits a weird spot. Some folks contest that you have to have a custom cover, have to go all out like a real book, but ... crud, it's fanfiction. It's a different realm. I think that one comes down to the audience and how much of a distinction they draw between free fanfiction online and walking into a library/bookstore/browsing Amazon to purchase something.
People say that fanfic art matters, but the only trend I've noticed with it is that most of the time a piece of fanfic without a cover will miss out on folks who only click because of a cover. Description, characters, etc, don't seem to matter to that crowd.
There's probably a lot of variables someone could do a study with if they really wanted to, but I don't think a fanfic cover is as valuable in fanficion, no.
5031564
That's just ... AGGHHH! Why would you do that!? Why!?
5031568
I'm sorry, but I have to know which thing, exactly, caused you to cry out in agony. For science.
5031640
The butchering of Startide's cover. What is that on the new one? A lunch tray?