Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

I used the word 'weak' but I think you know what expletive I'd rather insert in that sentence. I'm being kind.

Seriously, what is up with this trend of lame, vapid, insipid cover art always befronting e-book editions?

Take a look at the e-version of Jules Verne's '20 000 Leagues Under the Sea'.


What kind of two-legged scumsucker proposed that cover? Its a photograph from an aquarium. Obviously a photo taken with someone's i-Gadget.

Who are these individuals? Who proposed this idiocy, who signed off on it, who allowed it? A webmaster? A javascript programmer? Someone playing with Adobe photoshop?

Its a disgrace.

Reminds me of that great anecdote from life back before nonstop 24-hour news channels--from the days when classic movies were run late-at-night, for insomniacs, in syndication on local affiliate stations. Typically, it would be a skeleton crew on duty and the main goal was that the film running on 'The Late Show' should be edited to fit the required commercial breaks every fifteen minutes.

So one evening some station is airing 'Casablanca' and the idiot doing the editing casually deletes some minutes out of the first scene in the nightclub. But this time, people called with outrage the next day demanding answers. The station manager wakes the guy out of bed, and quizzes him about it.

"What's the matter? It was just a song," the guy splutters.

please check out the covers of my ebooks and feel free to criticize them. I am against any kind of generalization and your topic is an example of such.

I suspect the thinking is you are not buying the book for the cover but the content.
It is a lame cover...but what would outrage me more than something I'm going to look at once and move on into the book, is whether or not the book has been abridged!

I must be in the minority. I read an average of three ebooks a week. I couldn't tell you what is on the cover of any of them. I don't notice the cover. It's an ebook! I'm sorry, I don't get it. What's the big deal about a cover? I could care less about the cover.

I think all the covers I've been published between (short story collections, individual short stories, novellas) have been awesome, so I suspect you're generalising just a tad. Or it could be that other people thought they were great and your tastes differ...

I must admit, that cover isn't just weak it is weird for 20,000 leagues under the sea.

However, there are plenty of ebooks that have good covers.

by the way, there are 704 editions of the book and one of them may possibly have an subpar cover :)

Hmm..What a bland and boring cover. I agree Feliks. One of the biggest things an author should do is get an appealing and eye drawing book cover. This is the first thing people see when coming across a book so if its not appealing how can it expect to sell? More originality and creativity!

This made me smile - not just e-book covers, though. http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/19-...

This cover is pretty crap, but what you're looking at is one of the many, many public domain classic books that are being regurgitated by 'publishers' in an effort to bulk up their presence in ebook stores. Someone downloaded the text from Project Gutenberg, grabbed some bogus clip art, and threw it up for sale.

In a more general sense, ebook covers have changed because they have to. You're not looking at covers designed to look good at the size of a hardback or even a paperback - they have to look good as a thumbnail. That means a legible title, maybe a legible author's name, and a visual that doesn't muddy things up too badly.

I read something like five ebooks a week and, to be honest, never even see the covers outside of that thumbnail. I read on the Kindle app on my iPad and it jumps right to the first page of actual text when I open a book.

Do I miss super fancy book covers with foil-embossed letters and paintings by well-known artists? Sure, but in the same way that I miss phonograph album covers and liner notes.

Things change, you gain some, you lose some.

I agree...things change and frequently the fine details are the first to go....if I saw a lame cover like the one Feliks hunted up I just look for something else.

The last two covers I had have been provided by a great service http://www.amygdaladesign.net/

For example

I design my own. Jumping in the Puddles of Life is my first book onto Amazon, but the cover is slightly different from the covers on my profile.

I wrote a book about a victim of the modern-day slave trade and wanted it to sell, so I hired a coach to make sure it became a best-seller on Amazon. It did -- in a mere five weeks! One of her best pieces of advice was, have a cover that will look great in a one-inch thumbnail: nothing too complicated, just striking.
Covers designed for traditional print books often do not translate well for online marketing.

I've seen some pretty bad "homemade" covers in my time.
I have no visually creative talent whatsoever so I decided to hire a cover artist for my latest book. It wasn't that expensive and I think if you want someone to pay money for something you should do your best to try and put out the best product you can.
Authors need to understand that the cover sells the book just as much if not more, than the content itself.

Nancy wrote: "One of her best pieces of advice was, have a cover that will look great in a one-inch thumbnail: nothing too complicated, just striking"

I can't claim to have the best covers for my books yet (working on a shoestring and have not yet bitten the bullet to hire a professional graphic designer), but Nancy hit upon one of the toughest parts about covers - for ebooks or any book where it's going to appear with a thumbnail image. It's really hard to get an image that looks reasonably good and has a readable title when it's that small. A cover that looks gorgeous on a print book can be an unidentifiable blob when it's shrunk down.

Yes, many are correct, that is truly a horrendous cover. I may be in the minority on the subject, but I like my ebooks to have decent covers, as often that's another way for me to remember them.

I have probably judged far too many books by their covers, refusing to read them because to me, a cover should hint at what's inside. A lot of today's covers feature some impossible model with a shirtless, eye candy looking guy, both of them smoldering either at each other or out at the reader. I instantly think: little to no plot, too much high-school relationship drama, and the same old shit trying to be new shit. I won't even bother reading a sample.

Well the covers may be the same old shit but I try to read the back cover blurb..or what is traditionally the back cover blurb to give the author a chance to convince me their tale is worth reading.

Arabella wrote: "Well the covers may be the same old shit but I try to read the back cover blurb..or what is traditionally the back cover blurb to give the author a chance to convince me their tale is worth reading."

Sound advice, I've tried it a few times, and unfortunately the blurb only confirms what I first thought.

Julie wrote: "I've seen some pretty bad "homemade" covers in my time.
I have no visually creative talent whatsoever so I decided to hire a cover artist for my latest book. It wasn't that expensive and I think i..."

I know some home-made covers are not good, but some professional ones aren't to my taste either. I think mine look pretty professional. Hopes, Dreams & Medals photo was taken by a professional though, my co-author. I can't add my ebook on here atm, but here's what two of mine look like. Jumping in the Puddles of Life



I'm pleased with them, and people seem to like them. The ebook cover is similar, but I have moved the print.
I think if we are able to create professional looking covers we should go for it, but if not then it is best to hire someone. Basically, I suppose I'm saying, trust your instincts. What is right for one is not right for another. Also, what one person absolutely loves, another will loathe - just like the old saying "One man's meat is another man's poison."

As far as covers with people on them: I can't stand novels that show the characters. Call me crazy, but I would much rather see the main character in my head.

One person's 'gorgeous' is another person's 'eh,' after all. Even a hint of a body with no face is preferable to the cowboy-with-open-shirt-and-ripped-abs cover. And if I don't happen to think guys with blond hair are as attractive as dark-haired men, then a cover with a sandy-haired guy might have me skipping the book's description altogether.

Add to that the number of books with supposedly-hot photos on the cover which have nothing to do with the story. Now I'm skipping a book I might have enjoyed, simply because the cover is a turn-off.

I get tired of book covers telling me what I'm supposed to see as a main character; that's the author's job.

I get tired of book covers telling me what I'm supposed to see as a main character; that's the author's job.


I mostly agree with your statement. I will say I like Patricia Brigg's covers of Mercy and her tattoo's. She has a different tat with each book. I also like Carrie Vaughn's covers of Kitty, whoever she got to be the model, closely matches my mental image of how the author describes her character.

"Listening" to all the comments here it seems to me to boil down to one persons hottie is another persons meh. I'll admit sometimes the model is too hunky or too curvy...but this happens all the time in traditionally pubbed books...where the hunk even has the wrong hair color...
Great covers can also mask boring books...so I'll try to rely on the blurbs more than covers

vardan...I am against any kind of generalizations and your topic is such...

That made me giggle.