This time the short answer is, it doesn’t matter.
The cover does not illustrate my book, it advertises my book. A good cover sells the book to people who will like the book. A bad cover either doesn’t sell the book to the right people or (worse) does sell it to the wrong people. continue reading…
I’m frequently asked what control I have over cover art. The short answer is, all I want. There’s nothing about cover control written into my contracts, but I’m on terms of friendship with both my publishers. If I said, ‘I want Smith to paint the cover, and this is the scene I want him to illustrate,’ that’s what I’d get.
I never do that, and I think that writers who do are being foolish. (Unless there are other factors: I know of cases where writer and artist were in a relationship, in which case the writer got benefits which perhaps counterbalanced the cost to the book.)
I’m neither an artist nor an art director. Even if the artist and art director were bad at their jobs, they’d still be better at their jobs than I would be at their jobs.
Dear People,
I’m in the middle of the third chapter of MONSTERS OF THE SEAS, the second (of four) novels in my new fantasy series for Tor. It’s moving along at the usual comfortable rate… which as usual isn’t nearly as fast as I wish were the case. continue reading…