I would really like to keep this a CRITIQUE site, and not a solicit-your-friends-to-stop-by-and-shower-you-with-empty-praise site. Just saying. Kudos to my regulars for keeping it real. The authors and cover artists featured here can benefit from meaningful comments, if they listen, so let's please try to keep the comments meaningful.
Thanks!
Jude
Very well said Jude.
ReplyDeleteFor all those "friends" who are just stopping by to give praise let me say that you are doing a disservice to the author. If there is something wrong or something that needs improvement the author and publisher NEED to know this.
Jude, thank you! And in addition to Eric's comment; this is not a book review site. This is a book COVER review site. We are not looking at or discussing anything at all about the book. If the cover does not match the genre or looks amateurish, the content of the book is immaterial; it will sell fewer copies than if the cover was professional and well done.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Jude, but IMO authors shouldn't submit covers to this site if they don't really want to consider any changes or input to their cover. If they are ONLY using it as a way to generate reviews of the book itself, I personally feel it's pretty disrespectful of the site purpose and of those of us who take our time to try to help authors make their covers more effective.
Excellent point! Of course I'd love feedback on my small-press published book covers, but as I've no chance of getting them changed regardless of feedback, I'd rather not submit them. For me, it'd be an exercise in frustration, with me going, "OMG, I so agree with that. I wish they hadn't used that font etc etc." I believe this website is a brilliant forum for independently published books because authors do have the ability to make changes and tweak their covers. I always stop by every few days to see what's featured, and to read the comments. (But if I know the book and the author, I don't tend to leave a comment because for me, I feel I can't be objective as I already know the genre etc. Anyway, thanks for the clarification, and, as always, the excellent feedback from regular visitors.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Maree's comments about being a brilliant forum for indie published books, but I do have a slightly different take regarding traditional covers. I did submit my traditionally pubbed book, Pandora's Gift (the post directly after this one!) and it has been extremely valuable to understand what people see when all the promo is stripped away and only the cover is left. For me, that insight will help not only in the development of my future indie books, but also when I am at the 'author approval' stage of cover design for my traditional books. It will hopefully give me more confidence to question things, rather than assuming the publisher knows better than me.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Jen
@Jennifer, yours is a very good (and thought-provoking) point!
ReplyDelete