To be fair, this one might. Crystalwizard? I would honestly have no idea what that was if ‘by’ wasn’t beside it. I would just think that Crystal was the Wizard of Bane, or something.
And I suppose I should be glad you only gave half a zombie-like review.
Come on, Nathan. If you’re going to pretend to be a professional reviewer, at least do more than give a one line comment with nothing to back up your opinion as to why something is either good or not.
not valid. You have no qualifications to review anything as far as I can see. Where’s the link to your portfolio of book covers you have done? Where’s the link to your professional credits and experience doing reviews of anything? Where is anything that says you are qualified to pass judgement in public on other people’s work without a disclaimer that states it is just your own opinion?
YOU have no qualifications to criticize this site. Where’s the link to your portfolio of blogs you have written? Where’s the link to your professional credits and experience criticizing blogs like this? Where is anything that says you are qualified to pass judgement in public on other people’s opinions without a disclaimer that states it is just YOUR own opinion?
Actually, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of comments about a person or their work can be made in a public forum. So far the books I see on here are not from large publishers so he’s not likely to wind up in court, but he might want to tread very carefully… and so might the other commentators… because public insults can wind up costing large dollars if the wrong person winds up the target.
OOh, the e-lawyers so soon? This escalated quickly. You know far less about the laws regarding the content here, than you think you do. Since it offends your delicate sensibilities, there’s no reason for you to be here, is there?
Shoo! Shoo! Back to the bridge you crawled up from.
And so it begins. Another author upset over being criticized.
Here’s a suggestion: While it’s easy to get offended, try to learn something from it. Nathan (and others) just gave you some valuable input on your cover. Make some changes and try posting it over on the “Cover Critics” companion site (which is there to help you develop a good cover).
Another suggestion: NEVER criticize a critique. It never ends well for the author (or the book).
Oh dear. The laws apply only if the comments are false and damaging to a person or organisation. In your case, it certainly does not apply: your cover is ugly and the damage was made by yourself when you published it. Criticizing something that was voluntarily displayed in public is legal, our right, and fun as hell.
The fact that most of the covers displayed here are from self-published authors is quite understandable: certain naive authors think self-publishing is a cheap way to achieve the status of published author. They think they can learn in one day all the skills that publishing a book demands.
And then, when they fail, they complain about the people who criticize their halfass, ham-handed results. Instead of learning from those comments and trying to do better.
Guess what, Kelly? I even have the right to comment on your writing. No surprise there: clumsy book cover, clumsy copyediting.
“Kheri opened his mouth to protest, noticed the expression that flickered over Dale’s face, nodded once, and then dropped the pouch next to the drunk. His gaze wandering over Dale’s strange attire.”
“He flung one are around the thief’s throat, grasped the knife hand with the other, bent the smaller man backwards and forced his hand open.”
See what I mean? Hum probably not. But those would never have passed a copyeditor’s red pen.
And I don’t need to be a writer or a book designer to criticize your work. You’re asking 5 bucks for it, so it’s a product now and thus open to critiques.
No, there are no such laws, but as others have pointed out you clearly do not know how libel and slander work. Saying that your cover sucks is not against the law since that is (a) an opinion and (b) true.
You might want to Google “The Greek Seamen”. You could learn from that author’s mistake.
“Actually, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of comments about a person or their work can be made in a public forum…”
SURE there are! (Snort,) And in MY fantasy-world, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of ugliness and rank incompetence you can inflict on the public via self-publishing. So you might want to tread very carefully, because public insults to esthetics and good taste can wind up costing “large dollars.”
Waffles
9 years ago
I can also restate this important fact as criticism. Look at your nom de plume. Crystalwizard? Are you serious with that? How do you expect anyone to take that seriously. I am tempted to buy your book to give you the $5 needed for you to buy that expensive ‘space bar’ button press.
I suggest changing that pen name to something that might actually be a name.
My top picks thus far from my brainstorming session are:
Crystal MacWizard – because it sounds just like a real name someone might have!
kelly wazizzard – because capital letters are also expensive, as demonstrated by your posting name here.
C.W. Peterson – the CW stands for Crystal Wizard, just don’t tell anyone that.
Writing isn’t easy. It’s f*ing hard work. And if you think that’s bad, you should try editing. It’s twice the burden, if not more. Publishing is a hard game with few rewards beyond personal satisfaction. The only way to get the bigger rewards is by doggedly perfecting your work, always improving, and admitting that no matter how good one might become, there’s always more to learn
Graphic design isn’t easy. Having the software isn’t enough; you have to have an eye for it too. Plus the sense to look at what others are doing and learn from it. You don’t have to be formally trained but you do have to realize when something’s not working and take another approach.
Ahem. And accept that sometimes other people who have studied, looked at, designed, or else-wise gained personal taste are needed to alert you to design shortcomings.
As has already been eloquently stated here: If you put it in public and/or for sale, critics have the right to criticize it–publicly or otherwise. It happens to all forms of “art” from chalked sidewalks to museum exhibits to the new color for the bridge down the road (everyone’s a critic, even drivers crossing a bridge). It’s not maligning anyone’s character or releasing confidential information or even walking over a copyright. It’s fair use (just like if someone took a pic of the awful sidewalk art and posted it on facebook with a big comment about how the dude next door can’t draw trees or dogs or whatever).
Look, kelly, if that’s your real name, I write; I’m also a professional editor, mentor, ms. critic, and I do graphic design. (I learned design in the trenches at agencies and corporations; my work’s not perfect, but I got skills). You feel dinged because someone didn’t love, love, love your masterpiece. We get that. It happens to all of us whether it’s distaste of our art or bad reviews of a proposal at work. What matters is how you absorb and learn from the criticism. Accept it graciously and your critics will think well of you, even have a discourse with you, and maybe offer to help repair what’s broken.
You have popped in here with willow wands blazing, knowing nothing about Nathan or any of us hangers-on, and started tossing around “I’ll call my lawyer” behavior (futile thrashing and angry noise that it is).
If you don’t like the criticism of your work, if you can’t initially appreciate it for what it is, sleep on it and come back the next day. Then, sit on the other side of your desk and pretend you’re someone just seeing the item for the first time. Do you see an artist or author? Nope. You see their product. A 5 x 8 window of success or fail.
Successes get praised, somewhere (although in the self-pub world mostly they just languish with poor sales because so the industry goes). Failures, near-misses, and the outright awful messes, well, many of them find their way here via Nathan’s sharp trolling eyes.
Your book cover landed here. Sniffle. It’s taken some crap, but it’s also scooped up some useful suggestions for your next attempt. Open your mind, get a sense of humor, and learn from this experience. Plus, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. None of us here would’ve ever heard of Crystalwizard or this damn book, and by now most of us have gone to Amazon or Smashwords to read more about it. No doubt that’s more attention than the author or book received in the previous days-weeks-months combined!
Above all, author, be gracious in success and failure so people will think well of the person no matter the quality of the art.
But it look like kelly has run away, rather than hear any more negative comments about her inappropriate nom-de-plume, or the creepy fake human with half a face.
And regardless of all the comments and the discussion that went far left of my original post, I STILL want a real review of the cover. Not a one line opinion.
Something I know Nathan has the ability to do, and do well.
Here’s a review: Your cover is shit. The face looks just real enough that its fakeness is accentuated, a phenomenon known as “uncanny valley”. The way just under half of it is erased looks half-assed. The font used for “Wizard’s Bane” doesn’t work in all caps. And what kind of nom-de-plume is “Crystalwizard”?
You could have found all of these points and more if you bothered to read the comments on this post.
I don’t know where you got the idea that this was a review site, Kelly. Or why you feel entitled to more than what we already gave you.
Try Covercritics.com, next time. Before you publish.
I might not be Nathan, but since you insist, here’s my review:
The line where you cut the face in half is not straight, and it’s not wiggly enough to look like you intended that. The top of the head is not symmetrical and I don’t see why you felt you had to leave more of it. The hair looks painted on. The eye doesn’t look real and the square reflexion with the photographer and his flash is too precise to be real. It just attracts our eye away from what’s important.
You forgot to give your guy a neck. If you intended that, we should see stars there too, instead of black space. It would have looked way better if you’d pushed the half-face to the left and shown only stars to the right.
The title font is illegible in large format, worse in thumbnail format. Your “name” is too small and pro covers never mention “by author”. Have you ever heard of a successful author with a made-up name like that? Nope. You’re asking costumers to pay for this book, the least you can do is show them that you’re proud of it. Even if you don’t use your given name, readers want to feel that they know you, that you are real.
Thank you, Luci. THAT was useful information and much appreciated.
What gave me the idea this was a review site? The way it’s set up. It’s either a review site or a free publicity gallery. And I really didn’t think Nathan put the blog up with the intention of just giving out free publicity and added google rank to the covers on here.
Huh? I just reiterated what everybody told you. That’s exactly the same information you were given but dismissed.
The name of this site is LOUSY Book Covers dot Com. It’s not Book Cover REVIEWS dot Com or Book Cover GALLERY dot Com. It’s kind of obvious what you’re going to find here: LOUSY Book Covers.
And I speak French, so my name is not Luci, it’s Lucie. Please pay attention. Thank you.
If they get rid of the face/hair this might be a decent cover.
Oh and remove the ‘by’ really do not need this on the book
Or on ANY book!
To be fair, this one might. Crystalwizard? I would honestly have no idea what that was if ‘by’ wasn’t beside it. I would just think that Crystal was the Wizard of Bane, or something.
The Wizard’s Bane eats your face.
In Nelson’s voice: ^^Haw Haw!^^
And I suppose I should be glad you only gave half a zombie-like review.
Come on, Nathan. If you’re going to pretend to be a professional reviewer, at least do more than give a one line comment with nothing to back up your opinion as to why something is either good or not.
Check the tags. They function as a sort of checklist.
not valid. You have no qualifications to review anything as far as I can see. Where’s the link to your portfolio of book covers you have done? Where’s the link to your professional credits and experience doing reviews of anything? Where is anything that says you are qualified to pass judgement in public on other people’s work without a disclaimer that states it is just your own opinion?
Oh for Christ’s sake – not another one.
Once you placed this in the marketplace, anyone, even a buffoon like me can – and does – have an opinion. I dislike this cover.
I would not buy a book with this cover.
That is the only real criteria a book cover must meet. This book cover fails.
“Haw Haw!”
YOU have no qualifications to criticize this site. Where’s the link to your portfolio of blogs you have written? Where’s the link to your professional credits and experience criticizing blogs like this? Where is anything that says you are qualified to pass judgement in public on other people’s opinions without a disclaimer that states it is just YOUR own opinion?
The moment you offer something for public consumption, you are giving the members of that public the right to criticize it.
Actually, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of comments about a person or their work can be made in a public forum. So far the books I see on here are not from large publishers so he’s not likely to wind up in court, but he might want to tread very carefully… and so might the other commentators… because public insults can wind up costing large dollars if the wrong person winds up the target.
OOh, the e-lawyers so soon? This escalated quickly. You know far less about the laws regarding the content here, than you think you do. Since it offends your delicate sensibilities, there’s no reason for you to be here, is there?
Shoo! Shoo! Back to the bridge you crawled up from.
And so it begins. Another author upset over being criticized.
Here’s a suggestion: While it’s easy to get offended, try to learn something from it. Nathan (and others) just gave you some valuable input on your cover. Make some changes and try posting it over on the “Cover Critics” companion site (which is there to help you develop a good cover).
Another suggestion: NEVER criticize a critique. It never ends well for the author (or the book).
Public insults? Because I criticized your cover? (And yet, by your earlier comment, I didn’t criticize it *thoroughly enough*.)
Your cover is only lousy. You, personally, are an ass. Take that to any attorney you want and see if it’s actionable.
Perhaps you need to add a ‘Panty Twist’ tag or something of that ilk Nathan?
No. This site is for commenting on the book, not the author.
What a stand up fellow you are!
You can only believe half of the rumors about me.
Oh dear. The laws apply only if the comments are false and damaging to a person or organisation. In your case, it certainly does not apply: your cover is ugly and the damage was made by yourself when you published it. Criticizing something that was voluntarily displayed in public is legal, our right, and fun as hell.
The fact that most of the covers displayed here are from self-published authors is quite understandable: certain naive authors think self-publishing is a cheap way to achieve the status of published author. They think they can learn in one day all the skills that publishing a book demands.
And then, when they fail, they complain about the people who criticize their halfass, ham-handed results. Instead of learning from those comments and trying to do better.
Grow up.
Guess what, Kelly? I even have the right to comment on your writing. No surprise there: clumsy book cover, clumsy copyediting.
“Kheri opened his mouth to protest, noticed the expression that flickered over Dale’s face, nodded once, and then dropped the pouch next to the drunk. His gaze wandering over Dale’s strange attire.”
“He flung one are around the thief’s throat, grasped the knife hand with the other, bent the smaller man backwards and forced his hand open.”
See what I mean? Hum probably not. But those would never have passed a copyeditor’s red pen.
And I don’t need to be a writer or a book designer to criticize your work. You’re asking 5 bucks for it, so it’s a product now and thus open to critiques.
“Actually, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of comments about a person or their work can be made in a public forum.”
No there aren’t. You’re confusing freedom of speech and libel/slander laws. If I were to go about claiming ‘Crystalwizard’ raped my dog (or any other claim that sets out to defame or harm the reputation of someone else) without good evidence to back it up, it would be libel and there are laws against that. There are no laws to prevent me from saying someone’s book sucks and its cover is shite. And books published by big publishers aren’t exempt. The cover of this book is shit, and it’s published by a ‘real’ publisher. http://www.amazon.com/Child-River-First-Confluence-Trilogy/dp/0380792966/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409855174&sr=1-1&keywords=child+of+the+river and this book I read and I thought it was a load of rubbish http://www.amazon.com/Perseus-Spur-Rampart-Worlds-1/dp/0345395107/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409855373&sr=1-1&keywords=perseus+spur
No, there are no such laws, but as others have pointed out you clearly do not know how libel and slander work. Saying that your cover sucks is not against the law since that is (a) an opinion and (b) true.
You might want to Google “The Greek Seamen”. You could learn from that author’s mistake.
“Actually, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of comments about a person or their work can be made in a public forum…”
SURE there are! (Snort,) And in MY fantasy-world, there are laws in most countries about what sorts of ugliness and rank incompetence you can inflict on the public via self-publishing. So you might want to tread very carefully, because public insults to esthetics and good taste can wind up costing “large dollars.”
I can also restate this important fact as criticism. Look at your nom de plume. Crystalwizard? Are you serious with that? How do you expect anyone to take that seriously. I am tempted to buy your book to give you the $5 needed for you to buy that expensive ‘space bar’ button press.
I suggest changing that pen name to something that might actually be a name.
My top picks thus far from my brainstorming session are:
Crystal MacWizard – because it sounds just like a real name someone might have!
kelly wazizzard – because capital letters are also expensive, as demonstrated by your posting name here.
C.W. Peterson – the CW stands for Crystal Wizard, just don’t tell anyone that.
Writing isn’t easy. It’s f*ing hard work. And if you think that’s bad, you should try editing. It’s twice the burden, if not more. Publishing is a hard game with few rewards beyond personal satisfaction. The only way to get the bigger rewards is by doggedly perfecting your work, always improving, and admitting that no matter how good one might become, there’s always more to learn
Graphic design isn’t easy. Having the software isn’t enough; you have to have an eye for it too. Plus the sense to look at what others are doing and learn from it. You don’t have to be formally trained but you do have to realize when something’s not working and take another approach.
Ahem. And accept that sometimes other people who have studied, looked at, designed, or else-wise gained personal taste are needed to alert you to design shortcomings.
As has already been eloquently stated here: If you put it in public and/or for sale, critics have the right to criticize it–publicly or otherwise. It happens to all forms of “art” from chalked sidewalks to museum exhibits to the new color for the bridge down the road (everyone’s a critic, even drivers crossing a bridge). It’s not maligning anyone’s character or releasing confidential information or even walking over a copyright. It’s fair use (just like if someone took a pic of the awful sidewalk art and posted it on facebook with a big comment about how the dude next door can’t draw trees or dogs or whatever).
Look, kelly, if that’s your real name, I write; I’m also a professional editor, mentor, ms. critic, and I do graphic design. (I learned design in the trenches at agencies and corporations; my work’s not perfect, but I got skills). You feel dinged because someone didn’t love, love, love your masterpiece. We get that. It happens to all of us whether it’s distaste of our art or bad reviews of a proposal at work. What matters is how you absorb and learn from the criticism. Accept it graciously and your critics will think well of you, even have a discourse with you, and maybe offer to help repair what’s broken.
You have popped in here with willow wands blazing, knowing nothing about Nathan or any of us hangers-on, and started tossing around “I’ll call my lawyer” behavior (futile thrashing and angry noise that it is).
If you don’t like the criticism of your work, if you can’t initially appreciate it for what it is, sleep on it and come back the next day. Then, sit on the other side of your desk and pretend you’re someone just seeing the item for the first time. Do you see an artist or author? Nope. You see their product. A 5 x 8 window of success or fail.
Successes get praised, somewhere (although in the self-pub world mostly they just languish with poor sales because so the industry goes). Failures, near-misses, and the outright awful messes, well, many of them find their way here via Nathan’s sharp trolling eyes.
Your book cover landed here. Sniffle. It’s taken some crap, but it’s also scooped up some useful suggestions for your next attempt. Open your mind, get a sense of humor, and learn from this experience. Plus, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. None of us here would’ve ever heard of Crystalwizard or this damn book, and by now most of us have gone to Amazon or Smashwords to read more about it. No doubt that’s more attention than the author or book received in the previous days-weeks-months combined!
Above all, author, be gracious in success and failure so people will think well of the person no matter the quality of the art.
Hear hear, Sirona!
I concur!
But it look like kelly has run away, rather than hear any more negative comments about her inappropriate nom-de-plume, or the creepy fake human with half a face.
I have not. I just don’t live on this website.
And regardless of all the comments and the discussion that went far left of my original post, I STILL want a real review of the cover. Not a one line opinion.
Something I know Nathan has the ability to do, and do well.
Here’s a review: Your cover is shit. The face looks just real enough that its fakeness is accentuated, a phenomenon known as “uncanny valley”. The way just under half of it is erased looks half-assed. The font used for “Wizard’s Bane” doesn’t work in all caps. And what kind of nom-de-plume is “Crystalwizard”?
You could have found all of these points and more if you bothered to read the comments on this post.
>what kind of nom-de-plume is “Crystalwizard”?
*shrug* it’s the name I go by. Actually, I usually just go by wiz. Have for many years.
I don’t know where you got the idea that this was a review site, Kelly. Or why you feel entitled to more than what we already gave you.
Try Covercritics.com, next time. Before you publish.
I might not be Nathan, but since you insist, here’s my review:
The line where you cut the face in half is not straight, and it’s not wiggly enough to look like you intended that. The top of the head is not symmetrical and I don’t see why you felt you had to leave more of it. The hair looks painted on. The eye doesn’t look real and the square reflexion with the photographer and his flash is too precise to be real. It just attracts our eye away from what’s important.
You forgot to give your guy a neck. If you intended that, we should see stars there too, instead of black space. It would have looked way better if you’d pushed the half-face to the left and shown only stars to the right.
The title font is illegible in large format, worse in thumbnail format. Your “name” is too small and pro covers never mention “by author”. Have you ever heard of a successful author with a made-up name like that? Nope. You’re asking costumers to pay for this book, the least you can do is show them that you’re proud of it. Even if you don’t use your given name, readers want to feel that they know you, that you are real.
Thank you, Luci. THAT was useful information and much appreciated.
What gave me the idea this was a review site? The way it’s set up. It’s either a review site or a free publicity gallery. And I really didn’t think Nathan put the blog up with the intention of just giving out free publicity and added google rank to the covers on here.
I suppose you think Engrish.com exists to teach proper English to people in foreign countries, too.
::snort::
Huh? I just reiterated what everybody told you. That’s exactly the same information you were given but dismissed.
The name of this site is LOUSY Book Covers dot Com. It’s not Book Cover REVIEWS dot Com or Book Cover GALLERY dot Com. It’s kind of obvious what you’re going to find here: LOUSY Book Covers.
And I speak French, so my name is not Luci, it’s Lucie. Please pay attention. Thank you.