3/11/11

The Cover Dilemna

Wednesday was only the prequel to my cover dilemna.

There was once a lovely blog called The Word is My Oyster by a lovely lady named Lydia Kang. She wrote about medicine for writers on Mondays (too valuable to miss, if you're a writer) and about writing the rest of the week. Brilliant blog. Anyway, Lydia had a contest that I won...ten whole Amazon dollars.

I decided early I would spend it on a book. I don't buy books often, but it wasn't right to take a chance to 'buy the book I wanted' and spend it on music. What book? I wondered. What book would be the perfect prize? I finally settled on one of my ultra-favorites, THE QUEEN OF ATTOLIA. And then here came a quandary, all because of my cover obsession:

<-- This one? No...that's not what Gen looks like, although the quote is a good one. A very good one. But no. I don't like faces. They're almost always inaccurate with my imagination.

This one? -->
It's not bad. It's what the library has. Rather brilliant, with all sorts of hidden meaning. But a hand, really? Seriously? Too gray, and Papyrus font is way overused.
<-- This one's not bad, but it feels way too much like a paperback. And that's Attolia? I don't think so. Green peplos, yes. Face? Not so much. No, doesn't work, sorry.
This one. I must have this one. -->
Her dress is stunning. It's so regal. The whole thing is regal. And beautiful. Her hands are so...queenly. Must have this cover. (Must have whole series with this cover design.)


Dear Amazon... *sigh* As much as Amazon promises, it's hard to trust that out of the four available covers, this is the one I'll be getting when I buy from USBookDeals (or whatever). So I splurged (given that it was a prize, and most prizes are brand new, right?). I got it brand new, straight from Amazon. Oh, happy day.

You'll know when it arrives in the mail. There will be smiles all around. :) :) :)

Buying a book? Do you care about the cover, or just the words? Or does your cover obsession vary?

2 comments:

Stina said...

I'm definitely cover obsessed. I prefer the one you picked, too.

I love covers that are photos. Artwork feels more MG to me.

Anonymous said...

I am SO picky with my book covers if I don't like it I take it off! I can't stand covers with a picture of the character on it. it kinda ruins my idea of what he/she looks like