Gulag
> Is this guy ever going to release a new book and get this group posting
> again?!
How about a thread about the slightly rubbish cover art?
http://www.timewarnerbooks.co.uk/covers/large/0316860557.jpg
Martin
~sebastiaan~
Martin Lewis <mar...@theculture.org> wrote in message
news:x_RG8.757$o%.83017@news8-gui.server.ntli.net...
Hmm, have you seen the cover that Amazon.co.uk have?
http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0316860549.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
> > How about a thread about the slightly rubbish cover art?
> >
> > http://www.timewarnerbooks.co.uk/covers/large/0316860557.jpg
>
> Hmm, have you seen the cover that Amazon.co.uk have?
>
> http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0316860549.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
>
>
Surely these are just conceptual images, unless Peter Brown (the guy who did
all the striking black and white covers), has ended his contract. Anyhow,
I'm sure Iain Banks wouldn't go for a mug shot on the front cover!
--
Jez
Surely not!!! That'll most likely be some sort of promotional poster. The
"Iain Banks will be signing his new novel...." type.
As for the first pic, is anyone else reminded of Pink Floyd?
--
Adrian
A bit iffy that. With the twin chimneys and the 'plane, it
looks like an allusion to the WTC.
Magnus
Since that's what the book is about, it's not an unreasonable allusion.
--
Daniel.
The typeface and layout is reminiscent of Ian McEwan's books.
--
Daniel.
Magnus Paterson wrote:
--
"If its not deep enough to cartwheel it's not a proper river"
Ouch! That'll teach me to pay attention.
Magnus
>
> --
> Daniel.
>
>
This is really not so bad. Nothing like the indescribably ghastly cover
on the US ed of _Look to Windward_, which I'm sure you've all seen, but
which I'll link to anyway, in case your retinas don't get enough
punishment in the course of a day.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0743421914.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
--
Marc Dionne, Ph.D. | dio...@stanford.edu | (650) 724-8064
Schneider lab, Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University
Yeeuch, looks like an L Ron Hubbard cover.
Halmyre
Actually, it's worse than that. The picture on the cover is really
amateurish in execution, to an extent which fails to come through in
the jpg. It's embarrassing. It looks like they decided to save money by
canning the graphic designer _and_ the artist, and turning the whole
thing over to the editor's 13-year-old son.
>>
>> A bit iffy that. With the twin chimneys and the 'plane, it
>> looks like an allusion to the WTC.
>>
>> Magnus
>>
>
>Since that's what the book is about, it's not an unreasonable allusion.
>
>--
Hmm. Don't think any terrorist would bother crashing a jet into
Battersea Power Station (which is where those chimneys are). That
would hardly bring the Western Imperialists to their knees. Maybe if
it was a terrorist who had a thing about early Pink Floyd publicity
stunts...
Rob Knell
Wasn't there something posted here, or perhaps in The Culture fanzine, to
the effect that the artist who did all the excellent b/w designs was going
back to Australia or something? But I thought he'd agreed to continue doing
the covers wherever he was.
Ginnie
>
> Effing hell!
> Now I'm truly grateful that we get the British editions here in Oz.
> Why on earth do they put awful crap like that on American editions of
> paperbacks, anyway?
>
A few weeks ago I asked rec.arts.sf.written why book covers vary from
country to country. The author Lawrence Watt-Evans was kind enough to
give a detailed answer, which I reproduce for your edification. (Of
course this only tells us why the US covers are different, not why they
are crap).
<cut-and-paste from Google>
On Thu, 09 May 2002 21:42:38 +0000, David Cowie
<david_co...@lineone.net> wrote:
>I have often seen discussions here about books having different covers
>in different countries, but I don't recall anyone ever saying _why_
>this is. Some possible reasons:
>Something to do with the cover-artist's copyright.
Yes.
>Different publishers in different countries.
Yes.
>Editors and publishers wanting to mark their territory by changing
>something.
No.
>I expect that the writers and editors who post here can elaborate on
>these, and give more reasons.
>
>Note that different printings of a book within one country can have
>different covers, without even the excuse of international artists'
>copyright to fall back on.
What? No, it's still the artist's copyright that matters.
>Most records manage to keep the same cover picture through the years
>and across international borders, so why not books too? Why is it that
>the picture on the front of a CD is part of the identity of the
>product, but the picture on the front of a book is not?
No, it's because it's customary in the recording industry to buy all
rights to the cover art, and it's not traditional in publishing.
A work of art, regardless of whether it's text or a painting or a
piece of music, belongs to the creator. Publishers or record
companies buy or lease specific rights from the artists.
Publishers buy the rights to publish the book in _one_ market, in
_one_ language, because what's an American publisher going to do with
the rights to publish a book in Tagalog or Croatian?
When publishers commission cover paintings they want to spend as
little as possible, because the cover painting is not considered an
integral part of the work. They therefore buy _only_ the rights to
use the artwork on the editions they actually intend to publish, and
if the work goes out of print those rights revert to the artist. When
a publisher in another country wants to publish that book, they buy
the rights to the text from the author, and then the rights to cover
art from an artist -- there's no pre-created package deal. If they
can get the rights to the original cover painting cheaply enough,
they'll use it, but usually it's cheaper and easier to use a new
painting, or an old one they had in stock, rather than track down the
artist and negotiate with him.
In music, albums are seen as a complete package, and the record
company generally buys all rights to everything they can, just on
general principles. Music doesn't get translated, and record
companies tend to be huge international affairs, rather than limited
to one continent. Therefore, the record company generally bought the
cover art outright and can use it everywhere.
It had never occurred to me that there was anything obscure about
this, but I suppose I should have known better.
--
The Misenchanted Page: http://www.sff.net/people/LWE/ Last update
4/15/02
My latest novel is THE DRAGON SOCIETY, published by Tor.
</cut-and-paste from Google>
If you want to see the whole thread, google rec.arts.sf.written for
"why do book covers vary so much"
--
David Cowie 0 4 8 12 16 20
david_cowie @ lineone.net |---|---|---|---|---|
|
My enthusiasm has gone OFF THE SCALE! ^
Which is also why you see the same cover art on two different books
occasionally
<huge snip>
>
> Which is also why you see the same cover art on two different books
> occasionally
In one of the follow-up postings to this, a German poster told us that
the German editions of David Weber's "Honor Harrington" books have the
US covers, but _on different books_.
--Jenny Jo
Drink up babe, look at the stars--
I'll kiss you again, between the bars,
where I'm seeing you there,
with your hands in the air,
waiting to finally be caught.
--Jenny Jo (grumble)
> > How about a thread about the slightly rubbish cover art?
> >
> > http://www.timewarnerbooks.co.uk/covers/large/0316860557.jpg
>
> This is really not so bad. Nothing like the indescribably ghastly cover
> on the US ed of _Look to Windward_...
>
> http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0743421914.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Hmmmm: you got me checking the UK Amazon site, which has different cover
art for _Dead Air_:
<http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/0316860549.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg>
I think I prefer Martin's "slightly rubbish" version. :-)
doug
--
---------------douglas bailey (trys...@world.std.com)---------------
this week dragged past me so slowly; the days fell on their knees...
--david bowie