One of the reasons I started indie publishing is that I wanted to control my covers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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This piece gives an insight from an editor into the trad-pub process as regards covers, and how things changed over time for one writer’s books. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Originally shared by Kam-Yung Soh<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n A look at the covers for Octavia Butler’s books.<\/strong> “From an editor\u2019s point of view, it\u2019s vital to obtain a great piece of cover art for every book you publish. An outstanding book cover can make a first-time writer. It can separate an author from the pack on crowded bookshelves. It telegraphs the right message to the perfect readership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Given all that, why do some book covers go so wildly astray? More than thirty years in New York publishing have given me some answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n […]<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original 1987 cover from Warner Books [for Dawn<\/em>] shows a white woman awaking from what appears to be a medical procedure of some kind. However, early in chapter 1 of Dawn we read this very clear description of Lilith, the main character, from her own point of view: \u201cOnce, they put a child in with her\u2014a small boy with long, straight black hair and smoky-brown skin, paler than her own.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, was this a case of artistic error, or was it an example of a publisher deciding that a black woman on a book cover would turn off too many potential purchasers? If it was the latter, it\u2019s far from the only case of cover art designed to avoid the depiction of characters of color. Octavia\u2019s editor and art director from that time are no longer alive, so we can\u2019t be sure of the thought processes involved. But we can take a look at Butler\u2019s other covers from early in her career to see how they were handled.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n