Gives a whole new perspective on the thousand-yard stare, eh?
(Which is actually a symptom of hypervigilance. Gosh, aren’tcha glad you read my comments? That steely-eyed warrior glare? Yup, it’s a symptom of a stress disorder.)
Melissa
8 years ago
I can’t stop imagining the hero guy running on those short little legs. Kind of like a T-Rex, only legs instead of arms.
Hi L.B.C
If you guys bothered to check out the books facebook page or massaged the author you’d find out he waited for the publisher to make the cover. After sending more then 36 long detailed emails describing what he wanted on the cover and after 9 months they still didn’t have the cover finished. The book had been ready to publish for over four months and he got tired of waiting so he found a local artist to paint the cover and a local photographer to take some hi-res pictures of the painting. As far as the short legged people on the cover, they are standing in weeds around two or three feet tall. Also his family is having a hard time money wise. He was disabled at work and can’t work anymore and his wife is working three jobs to support their family. That’s why he couldn’t wait any longer for the publisher to do the cover. I hope this helps you understand why he used THAT cover. If you have a better one he might check it out, massage him on facebook.
Have a good day.
You only put a bogus email address in your profile so I’m pretty sure you’re not following any replies to your comment, but just in case you are:
If you guys bothered to check out the books facebook page or massaged the author…
Aside from the fact that I only massage my wife, and then only when asked: 🙂
Will every possible reader/buyer of the book track down the author and find out why the cover doesn’t look good? NO. If a cover needs a pre-explanation so that its potential audience won’t react to it poorly, it’s not doing the job that a cover HAS to do: Predispose prospective readers TOWARD the book, not AGAINST it. People browsing reading material on Amazon won’t know that his family is in a poor financial situation, or that his publisher dropped the ball; all they will see is an umimpressive cover (to put it mildly), and they’ll click past it.
Remember, this book is competing for eyeballs against EVERY OTHER SINGLE BOOK IN THE SAME GENRE on Amazon. Nothing can compensate for a bad cover. The local artist hired for the task simply didn’t have the skills to produce a professional-quality illustration appropriate for this genre, and no amount of after-the-fact excuse-making will negate the negative effect this cover will have on sales.
There are plenty of artists of more appropriate skill levels displaying their work on DeviantArt.com, CGSocity.org, and literally hundreds of other artist forums. I daresay chances are that he could have gotten a better cover — by which I mean an adequate one — on Fiverr.com.
I meant message. I guess you never make mistakes! Your right though, however I believe that blindly trash other peoples work without checking into why or at lest reviewing the hole book so you might at lest say the cover such but the book is very good. I did read the book and I didn’t really like the cover but after reading the synopsis I decided to read it. I think it’s very good, even better for a first time author. This guy is just trying to help his family and people like you trash his work without even looking at the most important part of the book…. the story!!! You COULD actually hurt the sales of his book, without ever reading it. That SUCKS. You are entitled to your opinion and will be the last to say you don’t Have a good day!!!
Look, all I’m saying is it could be very bad for a first-time author to get website reviews that kind ‘of trash his or her work. Who knows how badly it could affect or hurt the guy and his family. He look’s like he was a very hard working man before his fall. I believe that every person should take responsibility for there actions and be careful not to inadvertently hurt someone or a family of someone’s just to have some fun picking on an inexperienced author. I bet this site would do well and could be very popular if you guys called out the bad book covers then helped them by matching them up with a good artiest. Authors and artiest would hanging out here all the time or at least come here to fix a bad book cover. Also I wanted you to know the email address I used is 100% real. I rarely use it, but it’s a real email address. Have a great day.
Great, but that ignores that he put this book out for sale on Amazon, in effect saying, “THIS IS WORTH $8.69 OF YOUR MONEY.” It’s not like we’re pointing fun at a painting displayed in someone’s living room; he’s put it out for all to see and judge. Once you publish, what you publish has to stand on its own. Nobody can stand in front of it and tell all potential readers, “Now, don’t judge this too harshly, he’s had a bad time.”
That’s especially important for self-publishers. If you display bad judgment in front of the whole world by putting an amateurish cover on your book and telling people it’s a professional production, you are advertising that you are not a good judge of quality, and that you don’t have anyone to turn to who will tell you hard truths for your own good. Readers can assume — and rightly so! — that the same mindset which went into your cover choice is also operative in your prose.
For your information, I DO run a site for self-publishers to submit covers for constructive critique BEFORE they publish. It’s called CoverCritics.com, and I advertise it at the top of every page. There are submissions there, at most, three times a week, and there have been no new covers there since October 7. Meanwhile, I have three new bad covers show up every day on THIS site, and I’ve got no sign of running out of content. Among other things, this tells me that self-publishers aren’t LOOKING for critiques. They don’t WANT to be told that what they’re putting out is anything less than perfect. There are plenty of places to get honest critiques of your work, just like there are plenty of places to get competent cover art. THESE ARE THINGS TO DO *BEFORE* PUBLICATION.
A minimal amount of research would have been enough for the author to realize this isn’t a very effective cover, and even where and how to get a better one. There’s no excuse for this lack of research.
Camo guy has a wild look in his eyes. I wouldn’t want him lurking in my neighborhood. I hope that’s not supposed to be the look of a “hero”.
Gives a whole new perspective on the thousand-yard stare, eh?
(Which is actually a symptom of hypervigilance. Gosh, aren’tcha glad you read my comments? That steely-eyed warrior glare? Yup, it’s a symptom of a stress disorder.)
I can’t stop imagining the hero guy running on those short little legs. Kind of like a T-Rex, only legs instead of arms.
Proportions. They matter.
Hi L.B.C
If you guys bothered to check out the books facebook page or massaged the author you’d find out he waited for the publisher to make the cover. After sending more then 36 long detailed emails describing what he wanted on the cover and after 9 months they still didn’t have the cover finished. The book had been ready to publish for over four months and he got tired of waiting so he found a local artist to paint the cover and a local photographer to take some hi-res pictures of the painting. As far as the short legged people on the cover, they are standing in weeds around two or three feet tall. Also his family is having a hard time money wise. He was disabled at work and can’t work anymore and his wife is working three jobs to support their family. That’s why he couldn’t wait any longer for the publisher to do the cover. I hope this helps you understand why he used THAT cover. If you have a better one he might check it out, massage him on facebook.
Have a good day.
Devon
Hi Devon,
You only put a bogus email address in your profile so I’m pretty sure you’re not following any replies to your comment, but just in case you are:
If you guys bothered to check out the books facebook page or massaged the author…
Aside from the fact that I only massage my wife, and then only when asked: 🙂
Will every possible reader/buyer of the book track down the author and find out why the cover doesn’t look good? NO. If a cover needs a pre-explanation so that its potential audience won’t react to it poorly, it’s not doing the job that a cover HAS to do: Predispose prospective readers TOWARD the book, not AGAINST it. People browsing reading material on Amazon won’t know that his family is in a poor financial situation, or that his publisher dropped the ball; all they will see is an umimpressive cover (to put it mildly), and they’ll click past it.
Remember, this book is competing for eyeballs against EVERY OTHER SINGLE BOOK IN THE SAME GENRE on Amazon. Nothing can compensate for a bad cover. The local artist hired for the task simply didn’t have the skills to produce a professional-quality illustration appropriate for this genre, and no amount of after-the-fact excuse-making will negate the negative effect this cover will have on sales.
There are plenty of artists of more appropriate skill levels displaying their work on DeviantArt.com, CGSocity.org, and literally hundreds of other artist forums. I daresay chances are that he could have gotten a better cover — by which I mean an adequate one — on Fiverr.com.
Hay Nathan
I meant message. I guess you never make mistakes! Your right though, however I believe that blindly trash other peoples work without checking into why or at lest reviewing the hole book so you might at lest say the cover such but the book is very good. I did read the book and I didn’t really like the cover but after reading the synopsis I decided to read it. I think it’s very good, even better for a first time author. This guy is just trying to help his family and people like you trash his work without even looking at the most important part of the book…. the story!!! You COULD actually hurt the sales of his book, without ever reading it. That SUCKS. You are entitled to your opinion and will be the last to say you don’t Have a good day!!!
Devon
Way to ignore the substantive parts of my message. I guess I’ll have to continue to live without your personal approval.
So, did you tell yourself to have a good day or not? Don’t leave us hanging.
Hay Nathan
Look, all I’m saying is it could be very bad for a first-time author to get website reviews that kind ‘of trash his or her work. Who knows how badly it could affect or hurt the guy and his family. He look’s like he was a very hard working man before his fall. I believe that every person should take responsibility for there actions and be careful not to inadvertently hurt someone or a family of someone’s just to have some fun picking on an inexperienced author. I bet this site would do well and could be very popular if you guys called out the bad book covers then helped them by matching them up with a good artiest. Authors and artiest would hanging out here all the time or at least come here to fix a bad book cover. Also I wanted you to know the email address I used is 100% real. I rarely use it, but it’s a real email address. Have a great day.
Devon
Great, but that ignores that he put this book out for sale on Amazon, in effect saying, “THIS IS WORTH $8.69 OF YOUR MONEY.” It’s not like we’re pointing fun at a painting displayed in someone’s living room; he’s put it out for all to see and judge. Once you publish, what you publish has to stand on its own. Nobody can stand in front of it and tell all potential readers, “Now, don’t judge this too harshly, he’s had a bad time.”
That’s especially important for self-publishers. If you display bad judgment in front of the whole world by putting an amateurish cover on your book and telling people it’s a professional production, you are advertising that you are not a good judge of quality, and that you don’t have anyone to turn to who will tell you hard truths for your own good. Readers can assume — and rightly so! — that the same mindset which went into your cover choice is also operative in your prose.
For your information, I DO run a site for self-publishers to submit covers for constructive critique BEFORE they publish. It’s called CoverCritics.com, and I advertise it at the top of every page. There are submissions there, at most, three times a week, and there have been no new covers there since October 7. Meanwhile, I have three new bad covers show up every day on THIS site, and I’ve got no sign of running out of content. Among other things, this tells me that self-publishers aren’t LOOKING for critiques. They don’t WANT to be told that what they’re putting out is anything less than perfect. There are plenty of places to get honest critiques of your work, just like there are plenty of places to get competent cover art. THESE ARE THINGS TO DO *BEFORE* PUBLICATION.
A minimal amount of research would have been enough for the author to realize this isn’t a very effective cover, and even where and how to get a better one. There’s no excuse for this lack of research.