Y’know, I can’t tell you how often I see this kind of thing, conceptually, with the folks that come to my shop. They see some bit of wallpaper (computer wallpaper, for those of you that aren’t savvy ’round those things) that some budding 3D artist, or whatever, put up for free, for someone to use, for computer screen wallpaper, and they seem to think they can just grab it and use it. It’s boggling.
“Well, they said I can use it for free.” (Yes, for your desktop computer screen, not your commercial, for-sale book.) Not to mention, they are invariably 72dpi, and don’t print worth two damns.
I had an entire, not-kidding, five-month-long debacle, with a customer that found the “perfect yellow abstract cover art” in a desktop wallpaper and REFUSED to settle for anything else. She went through 3 cover designers, one at my shop, two more elsewhere, and never was happy. Unflippingbelievable.
and what’s even more annoying is that a lot of the writers pulling this shit are all, “I don’t use an editor [critique partner/beta reader/proof reader] because they might steal my work!” But it’s okay for them to steal other people’s work, hmm?
Well, worse was, she could never actually articulate what she WANTED. She was wild for the (unusable) yellow abstract, but she also wanted the cover to convey all these “feelings.” Like “majesty, awe, nature, beauty…” (and on and on and on) and could never give us any constructive feedback on the cover mockups she received from us. I finally told her we couldn’t design to either amorphous words and feelings and “I’ll know it when I see it.” I’ve now had two like that and that’s no fun. It’s…it’s nightmarish.
(She went to another cover designer, after I refunded her shekels, and paid, wait for it, 4x the amount she was paying us, and guess what happened? Yup, she wasn’t happy with that designer’s covers, either. Couldn’t understand the problem, no matter how many times I explained it. Lost my shirt on that one, in all possible ways. I don’t even know how many HOURS of emails I had with her, trying to explain the problem. SO frustrating.)
Yeah. We’ve been lucky–we’ve done…gosh, I don’t know, 700 covers, maybe a thousand? And only had things go horribly awry twice like that, but it still scars you for life. (Hah, hyperbole much?)
Aaaaand… somebody actually looked at that and said “Perfect!” OMFG! Nothing here should surprise me any more. But still… OMFG!
If you look around the Net, there’s probably someone, somewhere, having a screaming fit about how the cover designer is a FATOPHOBE!!!
It appears to have been stolen from this.
Oh, my, it certainly does. Nasty bit of lifting, there.
Well, that puts paid to the last bit of the benefit of the doubt.
Y’know, I can’t tell you how often I see this kind of thing, conceptually, with the folks that come to my shop. They see some bit of wallpaper (computer wallpaper, for those of you that aren’t savvy ’round those things) that some budding 3D artist, or whatever, put up for free, for someone to use, for computer screen wallpaper, and they seem to think they can just grab it and use it. It’s boggling.
“Well, they said I can use it for free.” (Yes, for your desktop computer screen, not your commercial, for-sale book.) Not to mention, they are invariably 72dpi, and don’t print worth two damns.
I had an entire, not-kidding, five-month-long debacle, with a customer that found the “perfect yellow abstract cover art” in a desktop wallpaper and REFUSED to settle for anything else. She went through 3 cover designers, one at my shop, two more elsewhere, and never was happy. Unflippingbelievable.
and what’s even more annoying is that a lot of the writers pulling this shit are all, “I don’t use an editor [critique partner/beta reader/proof reader] because they might steal my work!” But it’s okay for them to steal other people’s work, hmm?
They know perfectly well what kind of lowlifes are out there.
Opus esse uno, unum cognoscendi, after all.
Well, worse was, she could never actually articulate what she WANTED. She was wild for the (unusable) yellow abstract, but she also wanted the cover to convey all these “feelings.” Like “majesty, awe, nature, beauty…” (and on and on and on) and could never give us any constructive feedback on the cover mockups she received from us. I finally told her we couldn’t design to either amorphous words and feelings and “I’ll know it when I see it.” I’ve now had two like that and that’s no fun. It’s…it’s nightmarish.
(She went to another cover designer, after I refunded her shekels, and paid, wait for it, 4x the amount she was paying us, and guess what happened? Yup, she wasn’t happy with that designer’s covers, either. Couldn’t understand the problem, no matter how many times I explained it. Lost my shirt on that one, in all possible ways. I don’t even know how many HOURS of emails I had with her, trying to explain the problem. SO frustrating.)
Story of my life. That’s why I have a cringe reflex whenever someone wants to commission anything.
Yeah. We’ve been lucky–we’ve done…gosh, I don’t know, 700 covers, maybe a thousand? And only had things go horribly awry twice like that, but it still scars you for life. (Hah, hyperbole much?)
Yikes!
Update: it was stolen from this. (Do not click on that other link anymore; for some reason, it redirects to a porn site now.)
They could have at least researched the artist and asked permission, if not also found a more suitable version for a book cover.