Does it bother me? 100%, absolutely, no doubt about it, it drives me nuts! I've talked about the accuracy of cover art a bit in the past, where I evaluated covers of The Picture of Dorian Gray, but I get very bothered if simple details are not kept in mind when designing a cover. If the main character has blond, curly hair, and the cover has a person on it, the person should have blond, curly hair (unless they are evidently depicting a different character of course).
Why does this matter? Well, I like to visualize the characters and scenery in a book, as I'm sure 98% of us do. If a cover doesn't match, or at least come quite close, to the descriptions in the book, this is a rather jarring experience and negatively impacts my visualization. So for me it's like my brain is trying to process both the description in the book as well as the cover image together and just becomes a jumbled mess.
Am I looking for a perfect match between the cover and the book content? No, I'm actually not (I promise!), however I do expect it to be pretty close. So, if a character is supposed to be blond, red hair will not do. A wild and rocky landscape? Don't give me wheat fields. Yet if they are supposed to have dark brown hair, I can accept medium brown. Freckles aren't mentioned in the book, but the cover contains a light dusting? Absolutely fine. I know that often a painting that is unrelated to the book is used for a cover image, and I am not against that - I just think they need to be chosen carefully. Otherwise, in all honesty, I would just prefer a generic pattern rather than any picture for a cover.
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What are your thoughts? Do cover-book mismatches drive you batty, or could you care less? Is lovely cover art great regardless of if it matches the content? Let me know!
Totally agree, when the covers don’t match up with the author’s vision, it makes me think that someone doesn’t care. It is important to get it right and make a good impression!
ReplyDeleteThey are supposed to enhance the story, not take away from it, so I want it to match the original vision.
DeleteI agree completely! I don't mind small changes but if there's a blatant disregard of every description, it just feels like the artist didn't even bother to pay attention to story.
ReplyDeleteAbbsolutely! I also mind when simple details are changed for no discernible reason.
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