Comments on: Zoe’s Tale Cover Art, Teenage Girls, and You (Yes, You)

By: Kerry

Kerry — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 23:25:49 +0000

I think cover art is a challenge no matter what. I mean you have a pretty limited space to work with and really I personally read the inner cover to find out what the book is going to be about, cover art can be misleading.
I often find the cover makes sense after I read the book, perhaps I am literally dyslexic?
I’m just waiting for the Old Man’s War movie now, so I can see the poster art!

By: Steve Taylor

Steve Taylor — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:43:16 +0000

And all other things being equal – or even being unequal – it’s a JOHN HARRIS cover fer chrissake. The man is God. Or at least the second coming of Chris Foss.

By: Pegkitty

Pegkitty — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:43:37 +0000

I just read ZT on Monday (yes, the whole thing, starting at about 7 a.m. – had to get it back to the library, where there is a waiting list) and really enjoyed it. But no, if I didn’t look for it because of hearing about it here, I wouldn’t pick it up from the cover art. (Former teenage girl here, but pretty certain I wouldn’t have picked it up then either.)

Next up is The Last Colony (order? what order?), already having read OMW and TGB.

(Was this comment too parenthetical?)

By: Susan de Guardiola

Susan de Guardiola — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:38:07 +0000

I have to come down on the “what were they thinking??” side about the cover: a big orange phallic thingy with explosions and spaceships? I agree with theWallflower @ #36 that it’s very generic space-battle art. I wouldn’t have taken a second glance at ZT if I hadn’t already been primed by enjoying the other three. It (and the other three’s matching covers) make the books look like they’re all hardware wars with no people-stuff, which I think is a disservice to your stories.

I assume someone thinks about the balance between selling to the obvious audience group and attracting new types of audience when they make these decisions and in your case decided that the former is more critical.

When ZT comes out in paperback, I will field-test it on the two teenage girls with whom I exchange books and recommendations and see what they think.

By: MightyFlub

MightyFlub — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:37:26 +0000

I’ve only read Old Man’s War so far. Can I skip ahead to Zoe’s Tale and come back to the others later? Or is it best to read them in order?

By: Morgan

Morgan — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:48:42 +0000

As an 18 year old girl who reads both YA and adult science fiction, I really liked the cover because it is appropriate for the book, and doesn’t feel condescending. Most of the teens I know are aware of the fact that publishing companies frequently manage to butcher covers of books, so we don’t judge too much on the cover alone.

Also, Zoe’s tale is an excellent continuation of the series! Thanks!

By: Willywoollove

Willywoollove — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:24:26 +0000

It’s just my personal taste and opinion but I really thin all the OMW books covers absolutly suck. I wouldn’t have picked ‘em up if it wasn’t for this site and next door at the esque. Just sayin’.

By: Nick Harkaway

Nick Harkaway — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:16:51 +0000

Cover art is weird.

I say this with the confidence of someone who cannot draw an apple with a stencil. And (watch closesly) I shall say it again:

Cover art is weird.

And you know what else? SF cover art is particularly weird.

I feel this way because – and you all know this as well as I do – in many cases, the cover of an SF novel has absolutely nothing to do with what’s in the book, a tradition inherited from pulps and comic books in the middle of the 20th century. Slam a nice cover on it, and the kids may not notice the inside is in mono and has a story about a mutant bunny instead of a story about robots.

There have been some classy efforts to do something a bit more interesting (and sane) recently – I like the covers on Jeff Somers’ books, kinda Old Penguin meets pulp meets… etc. – but basically the process seems to be: SF novel = space + raygun + explosion + Darth Vader/Luke Skywalker kinda shapes in the background.

On the other hand, there are some more ‘grown-up style’ editions kicking around for some lucky authors, and I thought the UK cover for Glass Books of the Dream Eaters was actually sexy. I wanted to buy it cocktails and put my hand on its knee. I bought the book itself instead; not something I would normally do in the course of a sexual relationship, but you have to make allowances when the object of your affection is non-sentient and entirely covered in transparent blue polyvinyl chloride.

Although now that I think about it I did once go on a date with someone who matches that description all too well. Er.

But for the most part, it’s like all those Miles Vorkosigan novels I like so much: why does a story about a guy who was damaged in the womb and never tops five foot one, whose face is sorta square-lookin’ and who uses his personality and his brain to take on the universe have a picture of a six foot three inch tall, handsome blonde guy with a raygun on the front? Or am I being dumb?

It’s mysterious. Then again, you could ask why my book is pink. People have. I do not know. I do know I think my cover rocks, but I am also aware of people who find it stinky. Stinky is in the nose of the beholder, it seems. But even so…

Thus, I return to my theme:

cover art is weird.

By: Christopher Hawley

Christopher Hawley — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:22:06 +0000

On a side note: When did Tor switch from the cover printed exactly as shown above (hint: orange lettering) to the alternate-universe cover, which features the same artwork but has lustrous, dark-forest-green lettering? [1]

I’m nearly certain that the content inside is the same book; it’s just that every time I encounter another ZT-related article with the orange lettered-cover I get this *twinge* and have to look outside to make sure the sky on this planet is still blue.

Anyone else have a (U.S.) cover which differs from the reference standard? Is this perhaps an Amazontal condition? Or am I simply overdue for my next injection of HappyDaze™?

____
[1] best guess: green hue is 120 degrees out from orange, measured in RYB color space.

By: Rosalind

Rosalind — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:16:30 +0000

My sixteen year old daughter and I have read and enjoyed all of your novels. I put the question of the cover to her and she said that she would have preferred to see a picture of the colony or of Zoe and her friends rather than an exploding spaceship. It didn’t stop her from reading the book, but she said it would be a turn off to many of her friends who prefer character-driven stories to action novels. Perhaps you should pass these comments along to Tor and have them consider another YA cover for the paperback.