on the continuing coverfail

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

Yo. I keep seeing the excuse that well the publishers don't give the cover artists any info about the books protags. My question is...why not? They give the cover artists some small summary of what the story is about right? Some signpost so that they have an idea of what to shoot for? What is wrong with adding the fact of the protags race to those signpost? Is it going to take that much ink? Not specifying the race of the characters to the cover artist is a stupid, hurtful and rather easily correctable practice. Change it. Now.

Comments

[zahrawithaz.livejournal.com]

Granted I never published original fiction or worked in a major corporate press, but when I was in publishing I as the book's editor had to fill out a form that included a section on cover suggestions (did we have cover art? should the cover be art-based or typographic or conceptual? What typefaces were OK or to be avoided? What concepts?). If the book was fiction, the cover designer read the manuscript and usually picked a scene to illustrate.

I always made a personal point to ask the authors for cover suggestions (a principal that, while fine in theory, I often lived to regret--people who are good with words are often TERRIBLE with visuals). While I and the author got nominal cover approval, the final say rested (with some justice) with marketing--the cover, like the index, is fundamentally a marketing tool.

What we need people to understand is that people POC on covers is good marketing.

[the-inkslinger.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but that is the lousiest excuse I have ever heard. It smacks of BS (and scapegoating-- it's not OUR fault, blame the cover artists, or the system, but noo not us!). -____-

[bork.livejournal.com]

Hey - just wanted to share a link with you.

CoverFail has made the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, one of the major sources of mainstream news in the Puget Sound area, so it looks like the issue is getting some recognition.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/191805.asp for the link, and apologies if you saw this before.

[unusualmusic.livejournal.com]

thanks!!!!

[linkspam-mod.livejournal.com]

Your post has been included in a Linkspam roundup (http://linkspam.dreamwidth.org/18742.html)