Mal: You know, you ain't quite right. River: It's the popular theory.

'Objects In Space'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Aims - Sep 14, 2009 10:50:03 am PDT #10015 of 28384
Shit's all sorts of different now.

Covers like this, Connie? [link]


Connie Neil - Sep 14, 2009 11:00:56 am PDT #10016 of 28384
brillig

Covers like this, Connie?

Exactly.


Aims - Sep 14, 2009 11:10:36 am PDT #10017 of 28384
Shit's all sorts of different now.

It was the first author I thought of when I read your post - almost all of the covers of her books look like that. Although, recently, her books have switched to no person covers like this: [link]


Barb - Sep 14, 2009 11:15:18 am PDT #10018 of 28384
“Not dead yet!”

It was the first author I thought of when I read your post - almost all of the covers of her books look like that. Although, recently, her books have switched to no person covers like this

They've also started branding her covers (much in the way that Diana Gabaldon covers are branded) with her move more into Women's Fic:

[link]

[link]

[link]


Steph L. - Sep 14, 2009 11:17:46 am PDT #10019 of 28384
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Although, recently, her books have switched to no person covers like this: [link]

Interesting that her name is so much bigger than the title. Is that common? I guess maybe bestsellers, but even then, the Dan Browns of the world seem to have their name the same size as the title, not massively bigger.

That seems really ego-trippy for such a hack. (Sorry; I really dislike Jane Green.)


Amy - Sep 14, 2009 11:19:26 am PDT #10020 of 28384
Because books.

That seems really ego-trippy for such a hack.

It's not up to her, though. It's all based on sales -- if you're selling enough books, and especially enough backlist, the publisher wants readers to know you wrote this more than what the title is.

It's common to start with a bigger title, smaller name until you gain a readership.


Steph L. - Sep 14, 2009 11:22:11 am PDT #10021 of 28384
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

That seems really ego-trippy for such a hack.

It's not up to her, though. It's all based on sales -- if you're selling enough books, and especially enough backlist, the publisher wants readers to know you wrote this more than what the title is.

Yeah, but I was looking at Amazon's bestseller list, and the only fiction authors with names bigger than the title are Nicholas Sparks and Charlaine Harris, and even their names aren't so insanely huge as Jane Green's. (Also Glenn Beck, but that doesn't surprise me.)

I guess I don't understand why Dan Brown's name wouldn't take up the whole cover of the book, if it's based on sales.


Barb - Sep 14, 2009 11:23:53 am PDT #10022 of 28384
“Not dead yet!”

It's not up to her, though.

Yeah, nothing about covers are ever up to an author, although if you have some pull, you can get some things changed. I had a friend who hated her latest cover, in part because the primary color was, as she put it, "Gamma radiation green." Her editor tried to tell her that the art department had wanted to transition to something a little different from the blue hues the previous book covers had had, but she put her foot down on the green. It was bad.

But for whatever reason, that shade of green has been popular over the last six months. That's another thing you'll see with covers-- not only the styles, but the primary colors will also trend. Right now, red dresses are very popular in historicals.


Amy - Sep 14, 2009 11:26:25 am PDT #10023 of 28384
Because books.

Yeah, but I was looking at Amazon's bestseller list, and the only fiction authors with names bigger than the title are Nicholas Sparks and Charlaine Harris, and even their names aren't so insanely huge as Jane Green's.

Yeah, it's weird. But it's still not her decision.

The stupid thing is, I'm sure it went through, like, seventeen meetings to get it to precisely that size, and there will never be any recognizable difference made.


Steph L. - Sep 14, 2009 11:27:21 am PDT #10024 of 28384
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Yeah, but I was looking at Amazon's bestseller list, and the only fiction authors with names bigger than the title are Nicholas Sparks and Charlaine Harris, and even their names aren't so insanely huge as Jane Green's.

Yeah, it's weird. But it's still not her decision.

I'm just annoyed because I dislike her books so much.