On Cover Art (and titles).

I'm not sure how much attention publishers give to cover art and book titles. I would expect it to be a lot, (though I doubt the authors get much choice about either of these things) because they almost always give credit to the cover artists. I'm not even sure how much attention other readers give to these things.

Oh, I know that a good cover can draw the eye. A spectacular cover can pull prospective readers to a book they may not otherwise have noticed. That's why "face forward" is so important on bookshop shelving. And why cover illustrations always feature on websites.

I'm not really talking about covers from that point of view. And I'd be willing to bet that there are very few people who feel the way I do about the thing I'm about to whinge about.

I love Jane Fletcher's Celaeno series of books. I've loved them for a long time. I bought the originals when they were first published - The World Celaeno Chose (published in the UK by a small press), and The Wrong Trail Knife (published in the USA by the excellent, but regrettably short-lived Fortitude). And I've bought all of the titles published since then (by large publishing company Bold Strokes Books - hereinafter called BSB). I re-read them regularly. I like to read them in chronological (by story setting) order, rather than publication order. BSB have issued new editions of the first two titles. They've made changes, UK English to USA English mostly (though there are other slight changes - hardly noticeable and in no way changing the story). And they've changed the titles (of which more later).

I like matching sets. I bought some of SX Meagher's IFMHISF books twice because the first three were published with green covers and then re-issued with blue covers, which matched the remainder of the series.

The nice thing about the BSB editions is they seem to like matching sets too. All the titles (new and re-issued) in this series have covers in a matching style. So it makes sense that I would want to buy the matching editions. And I do.

But there's small problem.

The cover of The Temple at Landfall (the new title for The World Celaeno Chose) is obviously designed by somebody who has not read the book, has not even skimmed the book, and has no idea what the book is about. And not only that, they have portrayed the main character as a typical white girl with free-flowing hair, a short dress and the stupidest straps-on-shoes I've ever seen.

The cover of The World Celaeno Chose is designed by somebody who quite patently has read the book.

I suppose I shouldn't have expected any better - the cover of Walls of Westernfort for example - artist obviously has checked enough to know what colours the Temple Guards wear - but not enough to get the uniform right, instead preferring a kind of quasi-Roman breastplate and what seems to be a long skirt.

Rangers at Roadsend (the new name for The Wrong Trail Knife) hasn't suffered quite as badly, but it still suffers.

I want the set to match - but I honestly don't think I can stand to buy a book with such a dreadful cover.

That's a sale lost. A sale to a dedicated reader who buys a tonne of books.

Covers matter.

Oh and the titles?? The Wrong Trail Knife is marginally better than Rangers at Roadsend but isn't too far from the book's subject.

But The Temple at Landfall?? No. Less than one-third of the book is set in the eponymous temple. The book is not about that temple. The whole of the book is set on the world Celaeno chose. The fact that that world was chosen and what Celaeno is are important in the context of the book. The original title was much, much better. But what else could I expect from a publisher who takes a perfectly good title like The Golden Tiger (happy to read on the bus) and turns it into Love's Tender Warriors (wouldn't be seen dead reading in public!!)