ARWZ

Buy the Cover? (9/5)

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:11 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:11 pm

Look at the following cover. Imagine that you have only the cover and the information it provides (including images, title and author name) to decide whether to buy this (or any) book.

Would you buy this book having looked only at its cover? If so, what on this cover sold you? If not, what on this cover turned you off?

If you have, in fact, bought and/or read this book, tell us how well our verdicts guided us. Did the cover lead us rightly into great fiction? Or did the cover wrongly steer us toward a bad story or away from a great one?

So, would you buy this book by its cover?

Regular posters are invited to join our "official" Buy the Cover game:
http://www.arwz.com/arwz/viewtopic.php?t=422

Favorite Authors of the Opposite Gender

Richard H. Fay — Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:02 pm

Author: Richard H. Fay

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 5:02 pm

Ursula LeGuin and Tanith Lee.

When SF gets it wrong

Richard H. Fay — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:56 pm

Author: Richard H. Fay

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:56 pm

Here's an obvious one - the moon didn't blast out of orbit in 1999. As a matter of fact, we don't even have a Moon Base Alpha! We don't even have spacecraft as capable as the shuttles in Space:1999.

Sold by Synopsis (9/5)

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:53 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:53 pm

We've already weighed in on the cover; now, let's taken a look at the whole marketing package by checking out the cover alongside the publisher's synopsis:

In the tenth year of The Change, the survivors in western Oregon have learned how to live in a world without technology-but there are those who would exploit the new world order. On one side stands Michael Havel's Bearkillers and their allies, Clan MacKenzie under the leadership of Juniper MacKenzie. On the other is the Lord Protector, Norman Arminger-the Warlord of Portland, whose neo-feudal empire rules over much of the Pacific Northwest.

The tensions between factions have been building for some time, and the only reason they haven't met on the battlefield is because Arminger's daughter has fallen into Clan MacKenzie's hands. But a plan to retrieve her threatens to plunge the entire region into open warfare.

Favorite Under-Recognized Author

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:36 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:36 pm

Any of those available on audio, do you know?

Matching Covers

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:24 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:24 pm

What about when they actually change the cover design part way through publishing the first editions of the series?

Marsbound by Joe Haldeman

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:22 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:22 pm

So, no cover could turn you off to his books?

Apologies for absence...

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:12 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:12 pm

Have fun, Nik! We'll see you when you get back.

Help !!

Violanthe — Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:10 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:10 pm

That means that someone signed up for email notification of replies to a particular topic and for whatever reason the system is having trouble sending those email notifications. Thanks for bringing it to my attention, though it should resolve itself. If incidences of this error message increase, please tell me.

Sold by Synopsis? (9/4)

Nik — Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:42 pm

Author: Nik

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:42 pm

I've read it, and would say that synopsis gives a fair description. But, don't expect a 'Starship Troopers' BootCamp, this is very different...

Buy the Cover? (9/4)

Nik — Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:35 pm

Author: Nik

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:35 pm

Per subject, sorry...

Kept saying 'failed', I kept back-paging and retrying, but the failure must be elsewhere...

Nation by Terry Pratchett

Violanthe — Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:15 pm

Author: Violanthe

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:15 pm

What does that extra layer of Terry Pratchett-ness tell you that would inspire you to be interested?

Mage-Ground of Hamor by L.E. Modesitt

Mervi — Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:30 am

Author: Mervi

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:30 am

Well, there are some things I actually want to continue: character development and setting development. Possibly minor storylines on the back ground. But not the main storyline.

Buy the Cover? (9/2)

Mervi — Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:27 am

Author: Mervi

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:27 am

The first is still in my to-read-pile so no, at least until I find out if I like the first one.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

Mervi — Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:18 am

Author: Mervi

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 7:18 am

I my case, I don't like teenage protagonists.