Book Haven discussion

Most book cover designers/artists don't have access to the whole book ... if it's a particularly special project, the artist might be given a chapter or excerpt with a particularly exciting scene that the editor thinks might make a good cover. That's rarer, however, than what is essentially a boilerplate art being used.

Based on what I've read about the publishing business, no, they don't.

I think that if there is actually going to be a picture of someone that looks like the main character or a group of people they have to somewhat resemble the characters desciption.

Like what Amelia said if the main character is African American then that is what the person should look like. Unless it is stated that they had fair skin or something despite their heritage. With all this in mind the cover designer should have a desciption of the character if that is what they are going to be going for.

I have seen that on occasion where the cover doesn't match the book/characters. I think that is really horrible, because it means that the people involved in the process didn't seem to care. I usually look to the cover to get a more accurate physical description of the characters. If the characters on the cover don't do a good job at representing the book... I loose faith in the book itself. A good cover is important, but it also needs to suit the book. If I picked up a book with a wolf on the cover and there was no wolf in the book... I would get very irritated. That's why I personally think that the author should work closely with the cover artist. A lot of publishing companies don't even have the two talk!

I didn't think there would be such obvious mistakes with front covers. It is almost like tricking someone into buying the book. I will have to be more careful from now on, although I don't buy men books with people on the front covers. I prefer artwork and things a bit more unique.

All very good reasons not to judge a book by its cover, if you'll pardon the expression. Far too often I've seen covers that are totally inaccurate (The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan comes to mind, quite readily) that I don't even pay attention to them anymore. I wish they did accurately represent the book, but I really don't expect it anymore.

Huh, I've never given this a bit of thought but if all of this is true, it's kind of sad that there's this degree of intended manipulation!

Honestly this really makes me mad, especially as a young woman of color. They did that with this book called Liar by Justine Larbalestier. The main character is black with kinky hair, but on the cover, it was a white girl with long straight brown hair. The author had a huge problem with it (as did readers) and eventually the cover was changed. http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2...

To me, when publishing companies make choices like that, putting a really pretty white girl when the protagonist is an average or so looking black girl on the cover, or putting a size 0 girl and the protagonist weights 200 pounds, I find that downright offensive and it saddens me. I do you really expect me to believe you can't find dark skinned, overweight, oddly dressed, short haired (I'm blanking out on the last time I saw a cover of a girl with really short hair) models? I understand that one wants to make book covers visually appealing so people will pick them up. However, I think it's false advertisement if you pick up a booking expecting characters to look one way, and then they look another.

Don't even get me started on movies (Avatar Last Airbender cough cough, DragonBall Z Movie cough!)

I hate to say it, but I'm starting to give up on publishing companies, and movies, that continue to do this to people who apparently aren't visually appealing enough to sell. I've decided that I'm just going to have to write my own books. If I don't open up my own publishing company and get someone else to publish it, you better believe I will give them hell if they pull off crap like this. If my character is overweight, if your going to put a photo a girl, I expect too see someone that looks like her.

How strange to put a an Anglo picture on a book about an Afro American. Some book sellers just put any old cover on a book. I got a copy of my favorite Vampire Novella Carmilla. It just had a picture of a brunette in an 1800s dress on a wooded hillside. The story takes place in a 1700's Schloss. The illustration was just so unimaginative. Especially since It is my favortie Vampire story. I have it in its original form as part of a book by Sheridan Le Fanu called In A Glass Darkley. A collection of the case files of Occult physician Dr. Martin Hesselius. It was first published in the Strand Magazine, London 1875 with B & W illustrations. In a glass darkly has these illustrations. Which are in keeping with the book. Some publishers just put the cheapest cover they can get. A free one with no real conextion to the book and slap it on.

I've decided if I ever get a book published I'm just going to paint my own cover. Safer that way.

Jessica wrote: "I've decided if I ever get a book published I'm just going to paint my own cover. Safer that way."

Naw, just work closely with the cover artist. That's what I did. I was very specific about the physical trait of my character. Usually, I picked the model myself. That way I knew for a fact that the model resembled my character.