Can a writer have a say over the cover art of her book?

Belle_91

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Can a writer have a say in what she wants the cover of her book to be? Can she say what she definatly doesn't want?

Example, I'm writing a historical romance and I don't want the cover of my story to have a couple embracing in a thin night-shift and breeches, while their hair billows in the wind.

Is that alright?
 

BenPanced

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Depends. Some small presses and e-pubs solicit ideas from their authors. If you're lucky enough to be picked up by a larger press, you might be asked for ideas. However, more often than not, your book will be given a cover without any input from you. Unless you're A Big Name Author, you probably won't have much say on the final decision.
 

Lucy

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Usually the writer does not get a say in the cover. There are a lot of reasons for this, the primary one being they're in the business of selling books and generally know what works. So your cover very may well have a couple embracing in a thin night shift and breeches with her hair blowing in the wind.
 
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IceCreamEmpress

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I have had experiences ranging from "That person is white and the protagonist of the book is black" (which was fixed, more or less) to "Holy cow, that's ridiculous" (to which the response was "Thanks for sharing your opinion" and nothing was done).

The author is generally invited to share feedback but rarely if ever casts a deciding vote, if any vote. (I think the time we got the cover art changed to depict the protagonist's racial self-identification was more because we enlisted the editor than because we squawked.)
 

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At RT Booklovers' Convention, I heard a couple horror stories from NYTimes best-selling authors. One's hero was a red-head but he's blonde on the cover, and another had a Scottish Highlander in full kilt on her cover even though the hero isn't Scottish. "Well, it's a historical romance, so we automatically assumed..."
 
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siouxnyc

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if your contract with the publisher is at least halfway decent, you can voice your opinion but you generally don't get the deciding vote. however, your relationship with your editor can go a long way towards making your vote count more.
 

Jamesaritchie

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Covers are about marketing. Leave it up to those who are professional marketers. Writers write, which means controlling what's between the covers. It works best when a writer does his job, and allows the marketing department to do its job.
 

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The characetr of Lt. Harris from the 1970's TV sitcom Barney Miller was beside himself with disgust when his book Blood on the Badge got published. The cover art was a juvenille rendering of dripping blood and bullet holes with a policeman's shield covered with blood. He called the publisher and reamed him out saying "The title is hemoraging all over my name!"
 

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At RT Booklovers' Convention, I heard a couple horror stories from NYTimes best-selling authors. One's hero was a red-head but he's blonde on the cover, and another had a Scottish Highlander in full kilt on her cover even though the hero isn't Scottish. "Well, it's a historical romance, so we automatically assumed..."


Makes me think of two very stupid DVD covers. While on the one hand, the movie theatre lobby posters for brand new movie releases are usually spot on. On the other hand, DVD covers --aftermarket afterthoughts-- are often chronically slipshod and thoughtless.

My first I-can't-beieve-the-did-that DVD cover was for the British crime drama called Layer Cake. That was a drop dead serious film about the British drug underworld, compared on some levels to a 21st century Long Good Friday, being very smart and very true to life.

But here's the stupid DVD cover. Notice the word "Hilarious" being highlighted in one of the pinched/borrowed film reviews. I can actually see a clerk at Blockbuster sticking this one into the "Comedy" section of the store.

layercake.jpg




As for the other DVD cover I have a complaint with ... it's for A Man Called Peter, a story about a young, idealistic man of God who lands the coveted position as head pastor of a very blue-blooded church in Washinton DC. And during his first day on the job he shows up for Sunday services in a very nice business suit. And then one of the "old guard" from Washington DC's ranks of wealth and properness warmly welcomes him and says "By the way, aren't you supposed to be wearing a white collar and black vestments? Where's your collar?" But the new pastor replies: "I would never wear a collar. I couldn't breathe, let alone preach, in one of those things." And that one statement becomes his undoing. The rest of the film, he is dogged mercilessly by that meddlesome congrgegant who wants him out out out for not conforming to proper decorum by wearing a collar.

And here's the stupid DVD jacket for that film:




A_Man_Called_Peter__1955_big_poster.jpg
 

Wesley Kang

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Haha, the pastor wearing the collar thing is hilarious! I've definitely wondered on occasion, do you think the author likes their cover? (Usually I think that because it's an unmitigated disaster...)
 

Anne Lyle

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It depends on what your contract says. Mine says I'll be consulted but that the publisher has the final say. What has actually happened so far is:

1. The publisher asked me for a shortish description of my protagonist and of the non-humans who appear in my book. He also mentioned the artist he had in mind, and luckily it was someone whose cover of a similar book I had recently admired!

2. I also sent him a sketch, and we discussed ideas for the design.

3. He commissioned the artist. Mostly he went with his own concept, but it was more about what was technically feasible within the budget, since the artist in question uses photographs rather than being a painter.

4. He sent me a set of first drafts, which varied slightly in colour/lighting. There are some tiny differences in appearance from how I envisaged my protagonist, but only very trivial ones (the model has blue eyes, not brown - big deal!). Mostly it's spot on!

5. I told him which I thought worked best, both in an artistic sense (I liked the feel) and practically (looked good at smaller sizes, e.g. as an Amazon thumbnail).

6. He agreed with me! So that's the one we're going with.

7. I sent him some mockups with lettering on.

Right now I'm waiting to hear back on the finished version. Mostly it's been his decisions, but I've certainly been consulted. I should point out though that I'm with a smallish independent publisher, not one of the big houses. My experience is not typical, I suspect.

Ultimately it's about what will sell the most books. In my case, that means having a sexy but tough-looking guy on the cover who will appeal to both men and women readers, and I'm totally OK with that since it's perfectly in character. I sympathise with anyone who is lumbered with a book cover they hate, but that's marketing for you...
 
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Wesley Kang

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Worst cover I've ever seen:

Ironsword_cover.png


I had this game when I was a kid, and I was so confused, because the game features a guy who wears full armor, you never see him out of the armor. I got this from Wikipedia:

For the game's cover, Acclaim hired Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni to pose as Kuros; Fabio was presented on the cover bare-chested and without armor. When Zippo Games saw the image of the cover a week prior to its release, they were perplexed. According to Ste Pickford, "Our jaws hit the floor when we first saw this image (which was, being merely the developers, probably about a week before the game's release). Why on earth did they choose a photograph of a bare-chested barbarian to promote a game starring a knight in shining armour?" Pickford added that "We used it as an example of the lack of imagination of Americans", while suggesting that having an actual suit or armor would be too costly to use for a photo shoot.

The game's cover, which features Fabio, has received significant coverage from many gaming websites. IGN listed Ironsword as having one of the most notable covers in video game history, listing its cover as the 2nd best of all time behind Ninja Golf. Conversely, 1UP.com listed Ironsword as having one of the worst covers of all time, comparing it to the cover for Mega Man. GameSpy listed it as the 4th worst video game cover in history, saying that "thanks to the presence of Fabio on the cover, gamers got confused and thought they had accidentally picked up one of their mom's romance novels". In a retrospective of the NES for the console's 25th anniversary, Nintendo Power wrote that "the game's quality will be forever overshadowed by Acclaim's choice of Fabio as the cover model".
 

macdonald79

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Covers are about marketing. Leave it up to those who are professional marketers. Writers write, which means controlling what's between the covers. It works best when a writer does his job, and allows the marketing department to do its job.

Umm...marketing departments routinely make bone-headed decisions. Does anybody remember Barry Eisler screaming bloody murder over his publisher's decision to use a close-up of an olive-green garage door as the book cover for his sexy, action-thriller, Fault Line? ---
http://dearauthor.com/features/letters-of-opinion/lets-give-them-something-to-talk-about/

Graphic design is not easy. But I would take a plain white cover with the title of my book over the crap most of these marketing departments churn out.
 

Cathy C

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Ultimately, it's not what the author wants, or what the art department wants. It's what the READER wants--and many, MANY readers of historical romance really do like the sweeping gowns, the tight breeches and the wind-swept hair. I sat in on a panel at one Romantic Times conference where we talked about "cover expectations" and readers want to have clear knowledge about the inside text by the cover style. And yes, the readers of historical liked those very elements. They love, love, LOVE pretty dresses and muscled men on the cover.

So yeah--you can ASK the cover not include those elements, but 9 out of 10 chances, it will if the publisher is hoping for a bestseller on a debut release. :Shrug: Sorry.
 

Anne Lyle

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What Cathy says. It's historical, it's a romance - it has to say that on the cover in no uncertain terms or the reader will pick up something else.

You have literally a few seconds (6? 7? I forget how many) to grab the reader's attention and make them pick up the book. They're not going to get even as far as the blurb if you don't pass that test. Sad but true.

To me, it's far more important that whatever design is chosen is executed in a professional manner. I would be very upset if my publishers used an amateurish artist who can't even draw properly proportioned human beings (and I've seen a few of those on fantasy paperbacks over the years!). Perhaps that's why Photoshopped photography has become so popular?
 
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Mr Flibble

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FWIW, I'm looking forward to seeing my Viking with his kit off :D

Plus, as Carina (and many other epubs) ask for pictures as a rough guide to see how you see your character, I get to surf for hot Vikings and call it work! Win win!

I write, I don't know much about marketing. But I know a hot dude when I see one. If you're writing romance, then there will be some expectations re cover. The cover is there to show the reader what sort of book to expect. You can always ask for something, though. Just be aware that marketing has the final say.
 

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I hope so! After the hot messes of Liar and other WTF cover screw ups,I would hope that a writer has some input,especially with racial identification of the character. That's the one thing that concerns me most about cover art. But then I also hope that the outrage these snafus inspired are something marketing departments are aware of and they won't pull this kind of fuckery ever again.

Other than that,I am not worried about cover art.
 

V. Greene

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But then I also hope that the outrage these snafus inspired are something marketing departments are aware of and they won't pull this kind of fuckery ever again.

Thank you. I believe that you have given me my best laugh all week.

(I was once asked if I actually liked a cover I'd gotten. I replied that I had been tactful in my dislike. My friend answered, "You threw up quietly, then?" And no, it didn't sell particularly well, either.)
 

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FWIW, I'm looking forward to seeing my Viking with his kit off :D

So am I :D

When I accepted the offer from TEB, there as a form with questions about the book, specifically for the art department. I told them where the story was set, gave a rough idea what the MCs looked like and what they did for a living. The resulting cover exceeded my wildest expectations. The cover artist even depicted the right mountains (Karakorum range in Pakistan). I'm still blown away by the cover. :Hail:
 

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I hope so! After the hot messes of Liar and other WTF cover screw ups,I would hope that a writer has some input,especially with racial identification of the character. That's the one thing that concerns me most about cover art. But then I also hope that the outrage these snafus inspired are something marketing departments are aware of and they won't pull this kind of fuckery ever again.

Absolutely - there's been some egregious whitewashing out there. I love that the US cover of Lauren Beukes' South Africa-based UF Zoo City has an unashamedly black girl on the cover!
 

frimble3

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Worst cover I've ever seen:

Ironsword_cover.png


I had this game when I was a kid, and I was so confused, because the game features a guy who wears full armor, you never see him out of the armor. I got this from Wikipedia:

For the game's cover, Acclaim hired Italian male model Fabio Lanzoni to pose as Kuros; Fabio was presented on the cover bare-chested and without armor. When Zippo Games saw the image of the cover a week prior to its release, they were perplexed. According to Ste Pickford, "Our jaws hit the floor when we first saw this image (which was, being merely the developers, probably about a week before the game's release). Why on earth did they choose a photograph of a bare-chested barbarian to promote a game starring a knight in shining armour?" Pickford added that "We used it as an example of the lack of imagination of Americans", while suggesting that having an actual suit or armor would be too costly to use for a photo shoot.

The game's cover, which features Fabio, has received significant coverage from many gaming websites. IGN listed Ironsword as having one of the most notable covers in video game history, listing its cover as the 2nd best of all time behind Ninja Golf. Conversely, 1UP.com listed Ironsword as having one of the worst covers of all time, comparing it to the cover for Mega Man. GameSpy listed it as the 4th worst video game cover in history, saying that "thanks to the presence of Fabio on the cover, gamers got confused and thought they had accidentally picked up one of their mom's romance novels". In a retrospective of the NES for the console's 25th anniversary, Nintendo Power wrote that "the game's quality will be forever overshadowed by Acclaim's choice of Fabio as the cover model".
Wow! Fabio has a last name! Things I never knew!. Besides, I think once you've decided to use Fabio on your cover, 'shirtless' is sort of automatic. Probably have to pay him more to cover up.
 

Kitty27

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Absolutely - there's been some egregious whitewashing out there. I love that the US cover of Lauren Beukes' South Africa-based UF Zoo City has an unashamedly black girl on the cover!



Amen and I truly thank the people and authors that were brave enough to speak up. They have made all the difference.

I don't mind rewriting and other things that writers have to do. But a cover is one thing I will speak up about. Hopefully whitewashing is now a thing of the past.
 

Mutive

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Have you read "Bimbos of the Death Sun"? (If you haven't, I'd highly recommend it...)

In it, this poor professor who writes a hard science fiction novel has it retitled "Bimbos of the Death Sun", complete with a cover of a scientist fending off bikini clad babes. ;)

That said, I'd guess that if you're either a) working with a small press or b) a big name author, you have some say. But if it's your first book, the publisher decides, I think.