Which one do you like best?
Choices, choices!
If I could pick three, it’d be ISLANDS, the paperback CITY, and HOUSE OF SHADOWS — even though I think the reflection in the eye of the griffin is very clever and I like all of the griffin covers. Maybe I’m biased toward cool colors? People who work in ceramics say blues sell best, and as far as that goes, I’m just another sheep following the herd.
If I had to pick just one . . . honestly, can’t.
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I love the cover for the pb CITY.
What it, HOUSE and ISLANDS have in common besides the cool colors is sharply defined recognizable imagery. The GRIFFIN images are cool in execution but you have to actually study them (at least I do) to make out what they are, and notice the reflection in the eye. The GRIFFIN cover I don’t recognize, of the human figure in the burning lane – is that for an omnibus edition? (invokes Amazon. No, the Kindle edition. I thought the Kindle was only b/w? ) It gets across the message of humans and fire.
I’ve been picking up your books by looking for them, not browsing the shelves, but the pb CITY and HOUSE and ISLANDs all have images that would stand out to a browser, assuming the store had them face out. The others the color would probably stand out, and the cover of LAW (again, a recognizable image) would, I bet draw more eyes than the others.
Two of them (not HOUSE) remind me of Michael Whelan covers, and back when he did a lot of cover work and I worked in a bookstore, we noticed that Whelan covers sold books, even when the book wasn’t very good or the customers had complained about the author in the past.
The CITY hb’s cover conveys ‘dreary and industrial’ to me. I can see where they got the idea for the image, but the style chosen does the book no favors.
Why the Griffin books sold a bunch recently – did the Kindle edition just come out? I’d not like to think it’s part of the Borders bankruptcy sales.
The cover of LORD OF THE CHANGING WINDS caught my eye on a Tor.com listing of upcoming books–the inhuman griffin’s eye, with the savage-looking girl’s reflection, was just so totally different from anything I’d seen recently that I had to take a closer look. Very glad I did. ;)
The cover you don’t recognize is indeed for an omnibus edition, regardless of what Amazon says at the moment. It’s a trade paperback omnibus that should hit the shelves Nov. 16. I do like the way the whole world looks like it’s gone up in flames in that one.
Michael Whelan was always my favorite cover artist and I, too, used to sometimes buy a book because it had one of his great covers rather than because I really wanted the book per se. I turn some of his covers face out on my own shelves.
But there are so many half-face covers right now that it’s hard for me to see one catching the eye, though I rather like the BROKEN EARTH cover myself. I do think that the reflection in the eye is the cleverest and most unusual cover and would have made me look at the book.
The covers that do the least for me right now?
Kickass Woman With Sword and Lion. Kickass Woman With Gun and Wolf. Kickass Woman With Weapon and Animal.
All the paranormals look exactly the same and not a single cover stands out of the herd. (I’m exaggerating for effect.) I read ’em almost exclusively based on reviews from people I trust (that is, The Book Smugglers) and just about never pick one off the shelf.
The Mercedes Thompson covers (Briggs) are an exception, though. The woman looks more interesting and less generic, and I like that she does look half-Indian, and the mechanic’s tools, when they appear, are a neat touch. And I personally like the tattoos and the way they change on each cover.