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Lament and Ballad

Posted by aine | Friday.20.03.09 | Book Covers

I am so excited. I get to meet Maggie Stiefvater tomorrow! So… I decided to post about her book covers.

This first cover is the cover to Lament. Personally, I love it. It’s very interesting and different than a lot of other covers out there.

They made a new cover for Lament that matches the cover to Ballad, the second book in the series, so that they look like a series. I love the new cover: the falling clover, the knife, and the intricacy on the handle. I love the Celtic design at the bottom. I like the cover of Ballad, though not as much as the new Lament. The colors really stand out, and I think it’ll be eye-catching. I can’t wait to read this book. And I can’t wait to see these covers in person. They are always more beautiful when they are in your hands.

What do you guys think of the covers? Do you have a preference over the covers of Lament? What draws your eye?

I wanted to include this, too. This is the German cover to Lament. I think this one is actually my favorite of all four covers posted.

What do you guys think?

Twilight Series

Posted by aine | Wednesday.18.03.09 | Book Covers

I am so honored that Ivy asked me to come here and blog about book covers. I love books, and I think covers are important. They are definitely a factor in selling books. The cover does not make the book, but it definitely will put the book in your hand.

I spend a lot of time online, reading author blogs and comments on websites like yareads about books. And there was a post by someone (I can’t remember who or where) that commented on the Twilight books. Without repeating what was said concerning the actual book, they said that the covers sold the books. I’m not sure if I buy into that.

I like the black, red, and white color scheme the books use, and I love the title font, but I’m honestly not drawn to them. Out of the four of them, my favorite cover is Breaking Dawn. New Moon is my second favorite. The other two really do nothing for me. But I’m curious… Did the covers draw you to them in the book store? And which cover is your favorite?

What’s on the Web?

Posted by Ivy | Wednesday.18.03.09 | Book Covers

From now on every Wednesday, we will have a feature called “What’s on the Web?”.  We will be posting links to other interesting sites or posts that is relevant to jacket designs.

First link is graphic designer Henry Sene Yee’s blog post about the making of The Other Side of the Island cover art.  I already posted about this at the forum, but I’d like to share this article to the rest of the world.

You will get an insight as to how book cover designs are made particularly in the young adult fiction world.

Read the article here.

Fade Out

Posted by Ivy | Sunday.15.03.09 | Book Covers

This was already posted at the yaReads News section, but I just want to discuss it more here.  Take a look at the cover of  Fade Out by Rachel Caine, book 7  of The Morganville Vampires series:

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Isn’t it gorgeous?  Out of all the Morganville books, this is the best cover so far.  Check out the other books:

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What do you think of the cover of Fade Out?  Love it or Hate it?  If you haven’t read the Morganville Vampires series or never even heard of it, would you pick this book up based on the cover?

Illustration Vs. Photography

Posted by Ivy | Friday.13.03.09 | Book Covers

Let’s face it, most of us at some point in our lives, has bought a book just because we are attracted to the book cover. There was a survey organized by the National Endowment for the Arts*, they found out that book cover design and title are extremely important for younger book shoppers.

So, I would like to ask which type of book cover appeal to you more? Illustrations like the Harry Potter books?

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Or designs that uses photographs like these:

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Personally, I am more attracted to photographs.  However, as in more and more cases nowadays, designers tend to use stock photos especially if the budget is limited.  Illustration covers have more originality and are more distinguishable.  Some just doesn’t work though.  They make the book look childish even if the target audience include the older demographic.

What about you? Which do you prefer?


* YPulse article about NEA gathering.