Funny stuff! Two covers, same idea (and it was mine)

Perks · Sep 1, 2016

How funny is this?

I'm not much of a visual thinker. I have very limited design skills. So it was fun and gratifying to have had an idea that they loved (and used) when they wanted to redesign the cover for the paperback release of my second novel. It was based on something I'd seen on the internet a while back. I described it to them and they took it and made something really cool out of it, I think.

Two days ago, Simon & Schuster (of which my publisher is an imprint of) put out a new book, a YA horror anthology.

Think my idea lived on?

Cyia · Sep 1, 2016

Honestly, yours is better. It's far more symmetrical, and the black and white gives it weight.

I would never think that the one with the guy's face is horror, or YA. It looks like - maybe - something about a person with mental illness, but the lack of symmetry in the hands ruins any effect they might have gotten out of the framing.

Perks · Sep 1, 2016

It's hideous. I can't stop laughing. It's really awful.

But I love what they did for mine.

Gilroy Cullen · Sep 1, 2016

Definitely like yours better. The other... The face is the wrong shape for the idea, the hands just don't align right... And unless that is the villain of the piece, that doesn't say YA horror to me.

Perks · Sep 1, 2016

It's the sneer, I think, that's killing me. It makes me laugh. I can't take him seriously.

Maryn · Sep 1, 2016

Another vote for yours. (Plus it's a good book. So there!)

Perks · Sep 1, 2016

Maryn said:
Another vote for yours. (Plus it's a good book. So there!)

That's very sweet. Thank you. xoxo

mrsmig · Sep 1, 2016

Yours is far more effective. Everything about the second cover seems off - the color, the expression, the perspective. Just ugh.

MaeZe · Sep 1, 2016

I absolutely love your cover. The other one makes no sense to me.

Tazlima · Sep 1, 2016

Well looky there... you just got yourself a heaping dose of the sincerest form of flattery! I guess that's just the price of being awesome.

And ditto what others have said. Yours is way better.

jjdebenedictis · Sep 1, 2016

Okay, I'll be the oddball and say I really like both of them.

On the guy's face, the lack of symmetry makes the sneer disjointed and it's not clear whether he's giving the camera his best bitch-face or that's a side effect of the photography. I think that ambiguousness works well for a cover that is supposed to be creepy. It's just a little "off", and a lot of what makes horror disturbing to us is when a person or situation is portrayed as just "off" enough that your subconscious starts bugging you but you can't consciously say what's wrong.

Perks · Sep 1, 2016

Tazlima said:
Well looky there... you just got yourself a heaping dose of the sincerest form of flattery! I guess that's just the price of being awesome.

And ditto what others have said. Yours is way better.

Thanks! It was only my idea. The coolness of the actual piece is down to the cover designer. She's a terrific artist and I can easily say who I think wore the idea best!!

Raindrop · Sep 1, 2016

Similar concepts, but OMG the difference in execution. Yours is brill'. I always feel a tad envious of your forum av.

juniper · Sep 1, 2016

Reminder for me to get this. Is this a sequel to your first or different characters?

Perks · Sep 1, 2016

juniper said:
Reminder for me to get this. Is this a sequel to your first or different characters?

Ha! Happy unintended consequences.

Well, thank you and it's a totally different story. No overlap whatsoever.

Liosse de Velishaf · Sep 1, 2016

Perks, yours is so many miles ahead on composition it makes me wonder what S&S was thinking. Like, how in the world could Jonathan Marberry have signed off on that train wreck. Okay, is there a RYFCD rule I should be following. I just personally find your cover so much better it shocks me.

Glass Valkyrie · Sep 1, 2016

Wow. I've always liked your cover, thought it was really different. It's cool they liked your idea, but... wow. Not much of a fan of the other.

tiakall · Sep 2, 2016

Putting in another vote for Perks's cover being far superior.

aruna · Sep 17, 2016

maybe it's my iPad acting up, but I don't see a link?

Funny stuff! Two covers, same idea (and it was mine)

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Gilroy Cullen

Handsome servant of a redhead

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Maryn

Baaa!

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

mrsmig

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

MaeZe

Tazlima

jjdebenedictis

is watching you via her avatar

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Raindrop

juniper

Always curious.

Perks

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Liosse de Velishaf

Glass Valkyrie

tiakall

lurk

aruna

On a wing and a prayer

Funny stuff! Two covers, same idea (and it was mine)

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Rewriting My Destiny

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Handsome servant of a redhead

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Baaa!

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Write. Write. Writey Write Write.

is watching you via her avatar

delicate #!&@*#! flower

Always curious.

delicate #!&@*#! flower

*lurk*

On a wing and a prayer

lurk