Wednesday, March 15, 2017

I Have Joanne Fluke Covered!


This week in Crime Fiction Cover-Off, I thought we'd take a look at two-- one from the US edition of a mystery, the other from the UK edition of the same book-- that are almost identical. Sometimes I think it's easier to have a preference when the two covers have quite a few differences rather than when they're a lot alike, don't you?

I chose a mystery by Joanne Fluke. One, because I've never read any of her books and thus will be a completely impartial judge, and two, because these covers are so much alike.

Let's take a look and see what you think....







See what I mean? Not much difference at all, although the US cover continues the American publishing tradition of Blurb Love. I know I'm not alone when I say that I don't care if a book is written by a bestselling author or not, but I do think I'm the member of a minority. Evidently, most people want to read a "winner" if they're going to spend their valuable time with a book, and the bestseller list must be the tried-and-true way of determining winners. This is the only so-called blurb that the UK cover has, while the US cover also tells us that this is a Hannah Swenson mystery with recipes. 

The rest deals with a bright orange cover, a brownie with a bite taken out of it, the author's name, and the title. Which one do I prefer? Despite my dislike of blurbs, believe it or not, I do prefer the US cover. It just appears brighter, cleaner, and more balanced to me, and I've narrowed it down to two things: the title and the placement of the brownie. The fudge-colored UK title makes the cover appear muddy while the white US title is more eye-catching somehow. Having the brownie down low on the UK cover makes it look bottom-heavy, and it draws a person's eye away from the author and title.

What say all of you? Which cover do you prefer? US? UK? Neither one? Too close to call? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Now...why am I hungry for brownies???


    

14 comments:

  1. I like the US cover better. The font is more pleasing to me and I agree that it's better balanced. Plus, I think that a bunch of people would like the info noting a 'Hannah Swenson' book. The orange goes nicely with the brownie, but I'm not overly fond of the orange.

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    1. I've found myself growing fonder of orange as the years pass, which is a complete mystery to me. I used to hate it!

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  2. Something about the US cover really draws me in, Cathy. I think it's in part the font. I really like the match of font to cover theme.

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    1. Fonts can make such a difference, can't they?

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  3. I prefer the UK cover. I do like the brighter orange color better on the US cover though. To me the US is the one out of balance. It bothers me that part of the brownie is cut off. It reminds me of taking a photo and by mistake cutting part of the subject off. So that photo isn't any good. I also like the little flag in the brownie rather than in a blurb at the top of the cover. I do wish the cover was brighter though.

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    1. I've taken and/or cropped so many photos over the years that the missing brownie corner doesn't bother me a bit. Sometimes having a bit missing makes for a better overall composition.

      I did receive an email this morning that pointed out something I forgot to mention in my post: that little blurb-banner-on-a-toothpick on the UK cover. It doesn't do a thing for me at all.

      It's always interesting to discover how we all look at the same thing. I'm glad that the UK version got some cover love. :-)

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    2. I remembered later that you had a cover in the past that the main lady subject had half a head. That cover really bugged me. I looked at some other covers later and it seemed like a "thing" they were putting on some covers.(esp this author's covers) It's like that bad photo thing again with me, that someone cut off half her head in the picture in error. I don't remember if the photo we compared it to was the same or not.

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    3. I wrote photo we compared it to when I meant the other cover we were comparing it to. The half head bothers me more than the back of the head on covers or a woman walking away.

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  4. If I remember right, the cover it was compared to was very different and didn't have the half-head thing going on. For some reason, the back-of-the-head syndrome is the one that bugs me the most. I take umbrage when publishers assume I'm a woman who has to put my own face on every book cover I see.

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  5. I don't prefer one or the other. I think I like the orange, but would prefer darker lettering. That's about it.

    I do not like covers with backs of women's heads or half of their heads cut off. It's like they're manikins, not drawn of real people. I do not want my face on the cover nor that of people I know. How about good artwork or photography?

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    1. How about a good, eye-catching repeating pattern or texture? Seems to me that there are many alternatives, but with more and more people looking up books online and depending on small, badly sharpened .jpgs to get an idea of what the covers look like, this discussion may well be moot.

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  6. Yes, a pattern would be good. I noticed a few nice covers on your last post of new mysteries. One had a pattern that was attractive; it might have been set in India.

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    1. That's probably The Devil's Feast. It's a good book, and the cover is striking.

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