Monday 9 April 2012

Caustic "Independent" Cover Critic

Coming soon will be a guest post illustrating a specific case of effective cover design for an ebook. In preparation, let's look at some three examples of wildly ineffective cover designs for some self-published books, taken from a recent issue of catalogue/magazine Shelf Unbound.

Book design modelled on CD-ROM covers from 1991 is not the best idea. And never have the words "international best seller" been more meaningless. (My suspicion is that the author's claimed biography is probably his most entertaining work of fiction...)


Not a horrifying midnight fever dream, but someone's idea of a good cover.

Possibly the most mystifying cover I have ever seen. What is that? Some sort of trophy? A sex toy shoved through a frozen Pop Tart? A mutant banana promenading on some toasted Swiss cheese? What connection does it have to the book? Why would anyone think this was a cover that would sell books? And is the sentence "Can an iPad become the key to the mystery?" the least exciting hook line ever? It's quite sweet, though, that the author describes himself on the cover as 'Author'. Presumably he was worried that otherwise we might think that he was the cruising serial killer. Also, when serial killers recruit their victims while cruising, there are usually no boats involved.

Maybe that thing's an iPad skin? You kids with your weird fashions.

3 comments:

Ian Koviak said...

I'm going with "sex toy shoved through a frozen Pop Tart". This would explain everything and make me want to pick up the book. If for nothing more than to shove a sex toy through it.

JRSM said...

Ha! If I was more tech-savvy I would set up a poll...

Scarlett said...

I truly am dying to know what it is on that front cover. I know it's a horrible cover but I would open up the book just to figure out the mystery.