More Coverage
Following up on the post below, the cover debate continues here, here, here and elsewhere. I left a comment at Lou Ander’s blog that explains a bit more on our approach to cover design.
One thing to add: a few people have expressed the view that for a publisher the most important thing about a cover is that it appeals to buyers (those people in the book industry who determine whether or not–and in what quantity–a book gets on to the shelves). For us, that’s not true. Of course, it’s a great advantage if a buyer loves a cover we’ve come up with; and it makes things more challenging if they don’t. However, we–and I’m talking only about Orbit here, to be absolutely clear–have one thought in our mind when we’re thinking about covers: how to make it as effective as possible for the widest possible readership. And by “effective”, I mean visually exciting, distinctive, and appropriate to the book’s content and style.
Of course, we listen to buyers, we talk to buyers, we take buyers’ feedback very seriously, and we’ll sometimes change a cover as a result. But we don’t ask ourselves: what kind of cover would the buyers like? We ask ourselves: what kind of cover would potential readers like?
Another aspect of this issue that’s sometimes overlooked is what the author thinks of their cover. Some authors are more interested in their covers than others–some prefer to leave it to their publisher, others have very strong views on what they would like. Either way, I’m often struck by how revealing an author’s reaction to seeing a visual representation of their work can be. In my experience, authors themselves can be great judges of whether a cover works or not. One author reaction to seeing her cover for the first time summed it up for me when she said: “That’s exactly what my book looks like!” For her, the cover had captured something exciting and important about the book and made it instantly recognizable. If a cover doesn’t achieve this–at least to some degree–I think it’s unlikely to be a particularly effective cover.
I guess it all comes back to what one considers to be an effective cover.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:51 pm
I have to say, I completely love Orbit’s bookcovers because they are fresh, exciting, visually impactful, and they pretty much across the board would make me pick up the book if I saw them on a bookstore shelf amongst all the others. When I talk to people about them I liken it to effective movie posters. “That looks really interesting/beautiful/original” is a great first reaction, and then people would pick up the book to learn more about it. Movie posters don’t try to appeal to a small group of people or to “preach to the choir” of those who might already want to see the film; rather they try to appeal to the widest possible audience so the widest possible audience would want to go and see that movie. I think Orbit’s covers are definitely straying away from more commonplace or expected SF&F artwork styles and I think this is a good thing. Like it or not, covers to my mind play an important role in that first interface between reader and novel — if the reader isn’t someone that a) knows about the book beforehand and will seek it out to read it anyway, or b) is a reader who follows authors regardless of packaging. In an attempt to expand readership outside of regular circles, I think the visual impact of a cover (or a spine) makes a huge difference when the book’s sitting on a shelf amongst hundreds of others.
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:15 am
Thanks for the kind words Karin! It’s interesting that you mention the movie poster connection — we talk about that quite a bit when we’re looking at covers.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Have you guys thought of getting an Orbit MySpace? I’ve been slowly garnering my readers onto a promotional MySpace site for myself and I think they’d be interested in getting updates from the publisher for good titles you have out now.