New Cover
This is the launch book in my new Borderlands series, which I'm very excited about bringing to the shelves. Moonstruck is quite dark and emotional. This is the cover I received today. Your comments?
posted by Susan Grant at 9:47 AM
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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- The Mother of All Blog Posts
- [FLYING] Bloody Sydney
- [FLYING] Sacrificing to appease the gods of aviati...
- [WRITING] Santa Came Early
- Fly Without Ever Leaving the Ground
51 Comments:
I like the cover but it makes the female look like she's enticing the man. I don't know enough about the book to really say, but from the blurb it sounds like the lady lead is a tougher woman than the cover represents. It does not present dark or emotional. Without the blurb, just the graphic, I'd expect almost a chick lit kind of thing.
Susan,
The artwork is beautiful but it's not "Science fictionany" enough for me. But I'm a HEAVY SF reader, much more so than romance. I'd buy it 'cause I love your books but if I was looking for SF or SFR I probably wouldn't pick this one up. And, as far as I'm concerned, it does NOT fit the blurb on the back. The female hand/arm looks too soft and seductive, NOT a warship's captain.
KPON
It's the contrapositive of Mike Flynn's song, "There's a Bimbo on the Cover of My Book!" which includes, "There's a spaceship on the cover of my book...." when there is no spaceship in the book.... Traditionally one of the ways to denote that something was SF was to put a spaceship on the cover--and if the story didn't include one, so what, it wasn't as if covers were supposed to actually be illustration [sarcasm there. Donato Giancola, who's a cover artist, has explicitly said he remembers how disappointed he was at the age of eight that the cover of a book he was reading had nothing to do with the story inside].
Your cover, though, goes in the other direction--spaceship inside, a cover from contemporary drama outside. Someone looking for "futuristic romance" likely run eyeballs over it and have the vision processing reject it without even consciously noticing, someone who doesn't get turned off by SF won't have a clue in a bucket from the "illustration" that there is anything non-contemporary about it, and someone who picks it up thinking it's contemporary romantic adventure/suspense/drama, will either turn the book over and see the blurb and shove it back on the shelf as false advertising of cover, or if buying or starting to read it without looking at the backcover, will be annoyed that the book is military space adventure fiction and feel very cheated.
In any of those cases, the readership most likely to find the book entertaining gets shut out by the cover, and the audience attracted to the cover, are the core readership for such books.
The publisher may be trying to foist the book off on unsuspecting readers, trying to get them to reaed it and then change their mind about what they claim their tastes are... but it looks like a really bad strategy to me, that isn't going to work, if that's the publisher's intent (or perhaps the marketing department belongs to that segment of marketing which regards the cover and content of a book as irrelevant to one another, that whatever the latest trend in covers is, should be on the book, and who cares what's inside, it's all "product" and marketing's job is to sell generic product....
oops, that should be "not the core audience"....
If I hadn't read your other books, I would even pick this up to read the blurb on the back.
Lorna
Looks like they are gonna stick with the guy in the black t shirt. Sure can't tell if its a scifi romance or just a romance by either title or picture. I never buy a book by the cover, especially if I am familair with the author. If the book is going to be scifi based I would have like to see a little bit more 'alien' or 'spacy' look
At first look, I thought it was a werewolf paranormal with that big full moon in the background and the title Moonstruck.
Then maybe romantic suspense - the gun and black outfit sorta point in that direction.
Does not evoke SF or SFR at all to me.
Certainly not dark and emotional. I would expect light and humorous from this cover. The female hand is flirtatious and in no way authoritative or commanding, not a good choice for representing a starship captain IMHO.
I really try not to judge a book by the cover, as I know the author has little input and it's some marketing person who makes the decision (who doesn't read the genre anyway).
But...there is the unconscious like/dislike factor that has input into which books you will pick up when browsing at the bookstore. I would pass this one by if not for your name on the cover.
Too bad the marketing folks are not docked for bad covers instead of the author catching the flack.
Wow. If you wrote contemporary romantic suspense, that would be a great cover. It doesn't say dark and emotional or otherworldly to me.
On the plus side, the-borderlands.com has a great look. You should push the website in your advertising. Where did that tatooed image come from? A cover based on that image would really sell some books. Love the "Love your Enemy" tag.
There isn't a thing in this cover that says "science fiction" to me at all. It is a nice cover, but it's so generic, it could go with any contemporary romance. And there's the rub. I love your books and know pretty much what I'm going to get when I read them and this cover doesn't say that. But I'll get it anyway. :)
Vicky B
I like the colors, and I think it is somewhat consistent with your other covers, Susan, but the images don't scream SF. It could also be interpreted as romantic suspense, or some kind of action adventure.
I think there's too much emphasis on the gun (forgetting the symbolism for a moment). Visually, the lines draw me to the gun, and then the focus on the relationship is lost.
But fwiw, I don't give a rat's behind about covers. I investigate the story blurb and that factors into my buying decisions...or I'm already in the SF or romance aisle looking at books regardless of covers. If I let covers dictate my buying habits, I'd have missed quite a few great books!
My immediate reaction was that I really liked it, but on reading the other comments, I can totally see their points.
I was coming at it backwards. Susan Grant's got a new book so I'll buy it. Then I read the blurb to see what it was about and liked the premise. Then I looked at the cover and liked it. But I was already expecting a good book from Susan which I knew was SFR.
Just seeing it on the shelf, I'm not sure what my reaction would be.
Can I make a blog suggestion in the interests of increasing your accessibility on the web?
When I click to an individual post, like this one (http://susangrant.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-cover.html) you listed on http://www.aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/, I have trouble getting to your blog's main page where your website links are - I had to manually edit the web address. I couldn't use the back button because I came from the other site. Most websites have the title bar linked to the home page so all you have to do is click and reset. I've noticed this lack of a home page default on other Blogger sites, and maybe it's not something you can fix.
Fixed! That was easy--thank you, Mary K.
(wish other things were as easily fixed)
It does not match the blurb. If I did not know your work I probably would not pick up the book.
Much, much prefer the graphics on your borderlands page. Gorgeous. The picture of the man with a tatooed back would have sold me on the book, knowing nothing about it. The cover looks contemporary suspense to me.
I have to agree with most of the comments, this cover doesn't say SF to me, it looks like a romantic suspense. The back cover blurb really sells me on the book, but I don't know if I'd ever get to the back with that cover. It is a nice looking cover, but just doesn't fit the book.
To me the moon, the faceless hunk, the woman's reaching hand, all shout Romance. The translucent frame on the otherwise conventional looking sidearm hints at Futuristic, but I don't get SF from it. I get flirty, and inherently dangerous, sure, but not SF/SFR. Having read Susan's work, I would buy it, but the cover itself wouldn't draw me to it. Moreover, as others have commented, the cover simply doesn't match the blurb.
It's the plight of all SFR books - more SF than romance or more romance than SF? Seems like none of the covers match the book blurbs.
It does look like a werewolf cover. I can picture silver bullets in the gun. All she needs is a furry hand.
I can't wait to read it though. I'll make sure to preorder it.
Sue,
I like the cover but it reminds me too much of the ET cover which I know this one isnt connected to. Besides that, there is nothing SF about it. It looks more like a contemp police procedural or rom suspense. Nothing dark or emotional here.
Maybe if they made the gun something otherworldly would help...and maybe have a small planet circling that moon.
Also that hand says nothing that your heroine is kick-butt warship captain. Looks more like she's trying to entice the man into...her bed?
Now you KNOW I'll get it just cause it was written by YOU...but HQN needs to take another look at this one if they are hoping to attract SF readers.
I agree with most of the earlier comments, especially David's.
To me, the gun and the holster rig put together with the street clothes scream "police detective". The translucent gun is slightly futuristic - what a police-issue Colt or Glock would look like a century from now. Add in the full moon, the title "Moonstruck, A Tale of the Borderlands", and the conclusion is obvious even before I see the "Paranormal Romance" category on the spine -- Susan Grant is dipping into the now-overdone werewolf genre. This is her version of a futuristic werewolf hunter / cop. And, from the hand on his arm, his relationship with some dizzy female. Obviously a light-hearted comedic take on paranormal mysteries -- sort of like MaryJanice Davidson did with vampires in her "Undead & Unwed" etc. series.
Boy would I have been wrong.
And irritated if I bought the book expecting a light-hearted supernatural creature romance and got a dark military SF one instead.
Except that would never happen because I would have ignored the book as just another of those cookie-cutter too-cutesy werewolf romances that are popular now and found a nice dark military SF or SFR book to read instead. And it wouldn't have been yours, Susan. Sorry. Blame the marketing department for that one.
If I actually picked up the book and read the back blurb, I would buy it in an instant (and now that I know about it I will), but I would likely have just zipped right past it on the shelves without even slowing down, because I would have subconsciously written it off based on the cover without even getting close enough to notice who the author had been.
The artwork is beautiful, but if I saw it and didn't read the blurb, I wouldn't think SF at all. Coupled with the title, and the weapon, my first thought would be werewolves and silver bullets.
Honestly, since I adore SF and not weres or vamps I'd pass this one by if it weren't recommended as sfr or if I didn't read the blurb on your site first--and I do read the blurbs on your site.
Something about the coloring of the back makes it seem like a lighthearted story to me. It's pretty, really pretty, but definitely doesn't say "Dark SF" to me.
MA
Sigh. It would work for romantic suspense but not for a science fiction romance. There's no sense of the future about this cover. The back cover blurb says Bandar is a strong woman, captain of her own spaceship so a hand begging for the gun does not fit that type of person at all. Since they were enemies before the cover should have them facing off in an aggressive scene with sexual overtones, in my opinion.
Just looking at the front cover, it looks like romantic suspense; not particularly dark, and definitely not emotional.
Knowing your writing, I'd pick a book up for a look-see without any cover, but I think this cover and the blurb are not congruent, and might confuse people as to what lies between the covers.
I'm looking forward to the book. How likely is it that the cover will remain as is?
Nice art - as a cover goes. However - do agree about the cover not being 'sci-fi' enough. hmmmm - what if? what if it was a woman in the black T with the gun - and a masculine arm/hand reaching for the warship captains hand? or would that be counterproductive to the story? just offering an idea. ;-) ps. love your other books, and will most likely get this one when it hits the shelves!
This cover looks like some of the openings for James Bond movies
Lorna
It looks like it would be the cover of a Cop or Spy Romance to me not SF Romance.
Mfitz...
It looks like alternate DVD case art for the Pitt/Jolie movie Mr & Mrs Smith
(DVD art at e.g. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B000AP04FG/ref=dp_otherviews_0/104-7293644-6215908?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&img=0 )
My first thought was "Oh, lord! Where is she going with that hand? I cannot let me preteen daughter see that book." (She wouldn't let me buy How to Lose an Extraterrestrial until I made a book cover).
My second thought was...Mmm Nicholas Cage. You know, his movie with Cher, also titled Moonstruck, with heavy full moon imagery and in which he always wore black (but doesn't he always wear black...and shouldn't he? I digress).
Nothing SF about it. Definitely contemporary cop romance with maybe a sexy villainess?
That said, I'm so excited for another one of your books set in the Coalition world!
Beth
This is excellent! Thanks to you I have such a wealth of input. Plus, quite a few ah-hahs on my part, things I hadn't considered.
Thank you, too, for all your kind words!
OK, decisions for covers and most importantly tone are made by sales and marketing By the time an author sees the covers, most of the time they are pretty much a done deal. Apparently my publisher had much success with the "ET" cover in the marketplace and wanted to piggy-back on that momentum (I actually suspect it was the same photo shoot). I agree it looks like a lighthearted Rom suspense, but then so did ET, HOWEVER, as mentioned by one poster, the title on that book indicates its genre. "Moonstruck" does not have that strong of an association with SF. Therein lies a potential problem, I think, which many of you have pointed out as well.
You may have seen the discussions around the 'net lately about the emerging subgenre of SF Romance. One of the biggest challenges for us authors who write it is that often the romance publishers often are unsure how to package it. Will we scare away female readers with SF? (Linnea Sinclair had the most hilarious come-back to that: "You know, us wimmin be a-scareded of science fiction so we’s gotta froth it up to make it attractive.
" So, marketing may ask do we make it paranormal looking? Do we create a generic look, like suspense, so as to attract the largest group of readers? As for me, MY challenge (if it is even possible to accomplish) will be to make sure Moonstruck finds the readers who may want to find it.
(And to answer another question, Moonstruck is very similar in tone and scope to my book Contact, if you are familiar with that one. I happen to think its the best book I've ever written. But what do I know? :))
Thanks again! You were so helpful. And, please do keep any additional feedback coming. I plan to use it all, either for this cover or for future ones.
There are some other pieces to the equation--years ago, Avon was supposed to publish a novel which if I recall correctly, involved a romance between the female lead, and an android or robot. The cover art was quite pretty, except.... As I recall it showed a pretty heroine, and the "male" lead, with a sense of romance to it.
Avon cancelled publication, because the two big bookstore chains at the time, which represented something like half the sales potential, declined to order any--unable to decide whether to slot the book in the romance section or SF section, they decided to avoid deciding by declining to order any. Thus, they didn't have to decide where to shelve the book.
Eventually the author resold the book to Baen, which published it with a different cover, one that that chains didn't cause to chains to balk at making orders.
There used to be the factor, also, of (almost exclusively male and not sensitive new age males, either, generally) truck drivers who were the ones who picked which books went onto shelves and racks in supermarkets and such. If they liked the cover, they'd put the books out. If they didn't, the books stayed on the truck and never got onto shelves and racks for shoppers to browse, and from the truck, eventually get the cover stripped off and sent back to the publisher as unsold destroyed inventory.
http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/bn/board/message?board.id=vpttn&message.id=2078#M2078
Flying off the shelves--YES! I always knew we were not alone in our reading tastes. But it takes sales to spur the publishers to get MORE BOOKS into the market place.
A quick scan says "cop mistery" to me. Where's the sf?
I would pick it up only because your name is on it.
I did eventually buy "Your planet or mine" despite the cover that screamed "chick fiction".
"ET" sold because it was the third (and best) book in a series.
NOT because of the cover. I would never have bought it beause of that cover.
I like the cover but I am biased as I WANT that book :D More so now that you say it is similar to Contact which is my favourite title of yours :D
Like others I do believe that it could have been a little more sf in appearance though so as to let readers know what kind of genre it is before readignthe blurb. Mind you, with that blurb you might even get a few chick lit readers to try it :D
This cover represents a dark and emotonal story? Those people who select the covers don't read do they? Anyway, your name is the reason I too would stop to look at it. But I don't really like dark stories too much. However...I think you of all authors could convince me, just not with this cover :)
Susan -- I have to agree with you that Contact was your best book.
But I think that Banzai McGuire was your best character. And your preface to that book was absolutely great.
Marcia
GREAT comments. While we may not be able to change the cover, I may be able to change...the author quote on front to better reflect WHAT this book is. Brilliant idea. Gena is so clever!
Marcia, thank you. Until I wrote Moonstruck I felt as you did. I think Moonstruck surpasses Contact--but that's just me saying that as the creator. A reader may come away with an entirely different opinion. We'll see!
Oh, not dark like vampire dark. More like gritty, say, like Contact was. War and loss, that sort of thing. But as always, I always shine a ray of light with spots of humor. I don't like relentless gloom in either my own work or what I choose to read for pleasure. Thanks for the nice words!
I completely agree that it should have been Brit with the gun with the guy after her. Oh well... maybe some words on the front could catch the not-yet-Susan Grant-fan's eye a little better, particularly those who don't know what "The Borderlands" are.
"Apparently my publisher had much success with the "ET" cover in the marketplace and wanted to piggy-back on that momentum"
How do they judge the success of a cover independent of an author's work? Maybe people just wanted to read about Reef. Can they tell?
How do they judge the success of a cover independent of an author's work? Maybe people just wanted to read about Reef. Can they tell?
Nope. It's all assertion with the occasional anecdote.
I like the cover. Certain elements indicate it might be in the future, not contemporary. It looks like romance with a heroine who goes after what she wants--as in gun, not man. Reading the back cover--what I could read--made me smile.
Maryk, the publisher comes up with a "total package" they think will sell. If that "look" also happens to match your plot and characters then you've hit the jackpot!
I'm with Vicki - I know I love your writing, so the cover is not going to effect my decision, one way or another(meaning I'll get a copy, period). But, my thoughts are that the cover says, "light romantic suspense" - guy with gun, female on the side (the way her hand is positioned makes it look like she's a bit of a tease). The gun looks a little too normal to signify "outer space", to me, unless you enlarge the photo and are looking specifically to see whether that gun is a laser gun or a regular one. But, then the cover blurb clarifies things nicely.
Linnea's cover quote is great - "can't-put-down" is a phrase that always piques my interest. :)
It's a great cover, but it doesn't relate to the SF elements of the story. I think Susan's readers will still find her, and will still tell other people about her books. I'm really coming around to believing that it's ultimately word of mouth that pushes an author into higher sales.
I do like the torso shots for more than just the obvious reasons -- it kind of reminds me of some of the recent Elizabeth Bear covers. Many readers are going to miss that the gun is a futuristic one though.
It has to be very difficult to find the right balance of imagery for SFR novel covers. Lou Anders, editor at Pyr books, and other in SF have been discussing SF book covers recently and how to reach an author's core audience as well as attract new readers.
SFR has an even more difficult balancing act, I think.
"I completely agree that it should have been Brit with the gun with the guy after her."
That would have been a great cover!
I'm also eager to see what the Borderlands artwork will look like. It comes across as much grittier and darker.
I have to agree that it doesn't scream sci-fi. Like, at all. But, it is pretty and I wouldn't kick the dude out of bed (hey, ask the erotic author a question...)
Thank you!
I have news...and it is that this WILL be the cover. On the positive side, a number of expert booksellers have viewed it and deemed it a good one, SO while it doesn't reflect the story, it IS a good cover and may attract some readers who might not otherwise have given it a try!
I'm going to be making up small, clear sheets of stickers imprinted with a tattoo and give them out to friends and fans so we can stick a tattoo on the guy's virgin-clean bicep on the cover--in the story he has many. :)
Susan, the cover is great, even if Brit isn't the one shown as the tough one -- can't wait to read the book. You're right, point is to get people to pick it up and buy it and you've already got your fans hooked regardless of the cover.
Very nice. I love the colors. I'd pick it up even if I didn't already read your stuff.
:)
Hey, Susan!
I think this is a very good cover for the most part.
1) The colors work very well for those of us who are visually sensitive. It draws my attention without irritating my senses.
2) It seems to 'brand' you. What I mean is it's similar to your last couple of book covers. This is also good for us visually sensitive types. Imagine a reader rushing into the bookstore on her way home from picking up the kids at daycare after a long hard day at the office. She spots your book on the shelf. "Ahhh! A Susan Grant book!" She grabs and buys, because it's just what she needs after the day she's had.
3) Hopefully, it draws in the non-SFR readers to check out the blurb and give the sub-genre a shot. I think it could do this without misleading the reader, because, yanno, readers just hate buying a book thinking they're getting one thing only to find out it's something else.
Negative - It doesn't say 'Science Fiction Romance.' I think this just means you and your readers will have to spread the word that it is and I think you're doing a fine job with that already.
;)
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