I really wish American Sci-Fi covers were as interesting.

The first problem was never fixed, but they made little stickers to fix the second.

Thanks. Interesting links and discussions. Just from my long history of visiting bookstores, I’ve seen various cover fads come and go– not so much at the houses that specialize in sf/fantasy, but the “major” publishers. I was curious about that whole aspect of publishing and I wondered about the acuracy of the marketers predictions of what sells versus what inspires readers to pick up a book.

Personally, I prefer less of a spacewar type cover, but I respect what TOR is doing because the art is telling the prospective buyer that the books might appeal to them because other books they know of had similar covers with impressionistic colored space battles. This is why John Harris is on more covers than Donato (which is on my edition. you can see both covers here) . I like the Donato better, but I’d wager that the Harris is more marketable. Not that Donato isn’t marketable. He did a great run for Mike Resnick, to the point where, if I see a guy who’s not in uniform toting a gun and looking bad ass, and it’s Donato’s style, I figure it’s probably a Resnick, or someone like him.

John Harris did the covers for what’s probably the most recognizable edition of Ender’s Game. You can read about why Irene Gallo like Harris’ work so much here and her general feelings on cover art and what “sells” here.

BTW my daughter pronounced the cover “Very cool!”

John, I’ve been meaning to ask: Do authors have any control over the covers of their books or is it whatever the marketing department of publisher decides?