OK, got some basically inside-baseball book marketing stuff going on here. Topic: the cover imagery on an author’s hard won, sweated-blood-from-his/her-eyeballs new book. We all want our books to put their best book-foot forward, eh? Doesn’t always work out. Espesh if the publisher isn’t really paying attention to the minor issue of WHAT THE BOOK’S ABOUT.
But if we gripe and whine and/or demand OUR vision for said book’s art-on-front, won’t our publisher hate us and mock us and generally despise us? And won’t this hating result in, at best, apathy from the sales crew or, at worst, active vengeful sabotage, and so even worse sales numbers? Be not afraid, says thriller master-word-maker Barry Eisler. He was, in fact, sufficiently horked off at the French publisher of his books, that he wrote ’em an open letter offering a little advice. Well, a point-by-point take down, full-nelson and choke-hold throttling concerning the cover they stuck on his seventh novel, Fault Line. The letter is here offered in an article on the Dear Author blog (a worthy resource authors should check out). To get you started: the French cover below, left. So, a novel about garage doors? Cameras? Olive green garage doors? Who knows? On the right, the U.S. cover. You be the judge.