I don't know if you've ever noticed seeing a book cover you liked and then a while later while scanning the book shelves you see the same cover or a similar cover on the shelf but it's for a completely different book. I feel a little cheated by this and think of the book as cheap when I see this. Like the publisher didn't care enough about the book to give it an original art work cover or just tweaked a few things in a used cover so it looks a little different...like we as readers wouldn't notice. makes me think that the publishers think we are stupid or just won't care.
Now I want to say I know this in no way reflects on the author because they have very little say most times on the covers, cover art, cover models.
Don't believe me? Go to any authors website, blog ect..on the day they see the cover for the first time and read what they write. They are excited to be seeing it for the first time...they don't have a lot of say in the cover most times.
So this is to the publishers of the books..not the authors.
To me when the publisher has an original cover it says to me that they believe in the book and they know they money the put into the cover they will be getting back ten fold because they know the book is going to be great. I don't really know why they choose cover stock for some covers, I really don't. All I know is I don't like it.
Yep, have been noticing that a lot lately! One thing the publishers should also realize, sometimes when I see a cover that I recognize...I figure I've already read that book so I don't bother looking at it!
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point about seeing a cover and thinking you've read the book.
ReplyDeleteCovers can be very frustrating for authors. We do have a little input, but often our ideas or suggestions aren't used. A lot of publishers use stock covers, and in the case of a historical one like Mr. Darcy there aren't many available. Therefore, the same one gets used over and over.
Wow. I never noticed this before. A very cool post. For the ones that are blatantly thieving concepts, that's pretty bad. The others though, I think are using stock images. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by. There are so many more books out there that have done this and I realize that the authors don't have much say in the matter. I would think that there would be some cover shoots so this wouldn't happen but I'm guessing that costs quite a lot, but if they are going to make the money back in book sales..I would think the publishers would want to do it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a rip-off. I think all covers should be genuine and authentic. It shows pure laziness when one finds duplicate cover art. Is there not enough talent to glean inspiration from? I think there is.
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