Yet Another Cycling Forum
Off Topic => The Pub => Arts and Entertainment => Topic started by: Cudzoziemiec on 26 September, 2017, 04:35:42 pm
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Does it influence your decision to buy a book? I think it can do but I don't agree with all the opinions in this: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/26/cover-versions-why-are-uk-and-us-book-jackets-often-so-different
I think the Sugar Money cover is very good, the Harper Lee a bit unconvincing and of the two Clinton's I prefer the UK version. The US version with its bicolour design and double border looks rather messy to me. The UK cover isn't that much better though.
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I do like a good book cover. Some of the old ones were very attractive, e.g.
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4d/8c/9c/4d8c9ca421a48d06bddd593b8257b5bb--vintage-book-covers-vintage-books.jpg)
but I always want to know what's inside as well. As for the Clinton book I can only assume the publishers thought they needed the picture or us Brits wouldn't know who she is :facepalm:
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I've read enough science fiction to know that you should *never* judge a book by its cover. There's a long tradition of them being drawn by someone who hasn't even been in the same room as a plot synopsis.
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Pfff, plots melt into insignificance before Chris Foss' mighty airbrush...
(Panther paperback covers are still my platonic ideal for what a Proper SF Cover should look like.)
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I think you may be right. :thumbsup:
Also, the many works of Paul Kidby. As a PSO I used to have a poster of Susan.
(The rise of ebooks is making covers less relevant. Unless you're one of those sorting-by-thumbnail types.)
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The Nansen is good.
My standard for irrelevant covers would be Penguin Classics. They always have a painting of a vaguely 'old-master' nature on the front, sometimes with no more connection to the book than nationality but often not even that. Yet they always feel compelled to tell you, in the blurb on the back, what the painting is.
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Tastes differ. The US cover looks like a self-published Kindle book. The UK cover could have been marvellous if only the right photo was chosen, one where Mrs. Clinton looks the camera (and the viewer) in the eye with an open and honest look that suggests she is not lying. But she is a politician so perhaps that is asking too much.
Yes to that. Perhaps political books are bound to be an area where national tastes differ more widely than normal. The article seemed keen on the US cover's inclusion of blue as the Democrat colour, an association which probably doesn't come so readily to mind outside the US. Maybe there's also a UK preference for photos on covers. And it's natural that US readers have more interest in and know more about her.
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Pfff, plots melt into insignificance before Chris Foss' mighty airbrush...
Word. ;D :thumbsup:
I'm also a fan of Jim Burns' art from the 70s and 80s - he's one of the few artists who actually reads what he has been commissioned to paint a cover for.
(Panther paperback covers are still my platonic ideal for what a Proper SF Cover should look like.)
I seem to mainly have Sphere paperbacks, but yeah, anything from that era will do. Most modern art produced on a computer instead of a canvas doesn't come close.
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(The rise of ebooks is making covers less relevant. Unless you're one of those sorting-by-thumbnail types.)
Like the LP -> CD cover transition, it's changed the demands of the game; at least at my old gig marketing would check all covers at Amazon thumbnail size (though whether this is actually any different from the old requirement of being able to catch the eye across a bookshop is debatable...)
My standard for irrelevant covers would be Penguin Classics. They always have a painting of a vaguely 'old-master' nature on the front, sometimes with no more connection to the book than nationality but often not even that. Yet they always feel compelled to tell you, in the blurb on the back, what the painting is.
Yebbut what's more important for the series is that it looks like a Penguin Classic; maintaining that air of authority trumps the requirements of the individual title. I quite like the little bit of art history by stealth you get that way, anyhow.
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(The rise of ebooks is making covers less relevant. Unless you're one of those sorting-by-thumbnail types.)
Like the LP -> CD cover transition, it's changed the demands of the game; at least at my old gig marketing would check all covers at Amazon thumbnail size (though whether this is actually any different from the old requirement of being able to catch the eye across a bookshop is debatable...)
I think it's more like the CD -> downloads transition. For obvious reasons. You can use a search or hyperlink to go directly to what you're interested in, rather than visually inspecting a shelf or menu of thumbnails.
Mind you, you didn't get to see the covers on the radio, either.
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I do like a good book cover. Some of the old ones were very attractive, e.g.
(https://i.pinimg.com/736x/4d/8c/9c/4d8c9ca421a48d06bddd593b8257b5bb--vintage-book-covers-vintage-books.jpg)
but I always want to know what's inside as well. As for the Clinton book I can only assume the publishers thought they needed the picture or us Brits wouldn't know who she is :facepalm:
Off topic but this is a really excellent book. Nansen is as near as I get to having a hero - microbiologist, oceanographer, Nobel peace laureate, polar explorer and international diplomat etc. He worked with a fellow Norwegian on famine relief called Vidkun Quisling, before Quisling went off and got all Nazified and became synonymous with treachery.
I have a copy of Farthest North, and also a biography (hagiography frankly) by his daughter Liv. He led a most interesting life.
In a similar vein, this book about polar explorer Tom Crean has a fantastic photo portrait of the man on the cover which just invites you to find out more. Maybe it's the pipe... https://www.kobo.com/gb/en/ebook/tom-crean-an-unsung-hero-antarctic-survivor?utm_campaign=shopping_feed_gb_en&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI36nlpYvF1gIVJbXtCh0kOgIJEAQYASABEgKFCvD_BwE
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I used, for my sins, design books (including covers) for academic publishers. I just scrolled back in time and some of them weren't half bad. I'm not sure why we put much effort into the covers they were mostly assigned course materials. That said, a lot of effort went into the innards. I used to quite enjoy it, but it didn't pay very much (not as much as Tidy Haired Thought Leadership™ and drawing kittens with lines). I doubt many people realise the mental perspiration that goes into these things.
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My standard for irrelevant covers would be Penguin Classics. They always have a painting of a vaguely 'old-master' nature on the front, sometimes with no more connection to the book than nationality but often not even that. Yet they always feel compelled to tell you, in the blurb on the back, what the painting is.
Yebbut what's more important for the series is that it looks like a Penguin Classic; maintaining that air of authority trumps the requirements of the individual title. I quite like the little bit of art history by stealth you get that way, anyhow.
Yes, I suppose so. Perhaps from that point of view the old (like 1960s and earlier) Penguin covers were ideal; just a background colour identifying it as fiction, non-fiction or whatever, the title and author's name in standard font. Instantly identifiable as that publisher and series, with nothing to distract you from or give misleading cues about the actual writing.
But I do want to learn more about Nansen now.
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I think it's more like the CD -> downloads transition. For obvious reasons. You can use a search or hyperlink to go directly to what you're interested in, rather than visually inspecting a shelf or menu of thumbnails.
Mind you, you didn't get to see the covers on the radio, either.
I was told that a fair number of customers buying online were either going after something they'd seen in the bookshop, or else following a 'if you liked this' type link on Amazon etc; whether this is true or just voodoo UX, it has informed cover design to some extent. Though as mentioned in the article upthread the print processes used on covers have become more elaborate in recent years, as the book-as-physical-object aspect has become more important. Pity that the paper and bindings used are still often crap (on UK-printed books at least; continental printers are generally better, and were where we sent most of our colour printing, having lost our in-house capability.)
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I've read enough science fiction to know that you should *never* judge a book by its cover. There's a long tradition of them being drawn by someone who hasn't even been in the same room as a plot synopsis.
Ah yes, the 1970s/80s "It's science fiction. Get Chris Foss to paint a bloody great spaceship for the cover. I don't care if all of the story takes place on a giant hollowed out asteroid in deep space, I want to see a big yellow spaceship flying over a city"
Bonus points for anyone who can guess the novel...(I mean the specific one I'm thinking of)
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Captive Universe, by Harry Harrison.
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N just got this in the post - a competition prize. It's bloody lovely, (about A5 size) and looks like a good read too :) :thumbsup:
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/91ko0LIVJNL.jpg)
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Ooh, I do like a nice bit of foil blocking...