SPOTLIGHT ON APRIL MARTINEZ

After our discussion on bad ebook covers, I emailed a couple of cover artists whose work I admire to find out the inside scoop. April Martinez was kind enough to give me a little time (thank you, April!), so first I'll offer the links she provided, which you may find edifying.

An Interview with April
Busy, busy
April Blogs
April Blogs Again

Go read. I'll wait.

Okay, now we're armed with closer to the same knowledge, we can move forward. I have other info to share. I asked (in a stupidly open-ended question), "What works?" In other words, I requested her secret in creating such gorgeous covers. She replied:

People are always telling me that light blue covers don't sell or covers with no people on them don't sell, but my royalty reports tell me different. There are too many variables in the sale of a book to really determine what works best.

So there isn't a hard and fast rule. One thing she said, however, addresses the burning question of "When ebook covers go wrong, whose fault is it?"

The author's request is usually my main directive. I try to give the author EXACTLY what they want, and the only times I don't is if there's a middle man involved -- perhaps, for instance, the person assigning the cover to me -- who wants something completely different on the cover. Too many chefs, and all that, but if one of those chefs ships me my check, then they get a say, too. Not always an easy or my favorite situation, but I do what I can to please everybody.

I'm extrapolating here: the cover art request form is generated by the author, but in most cases, the publisher foots the bill, so if they think something won't sell, they have the final word. In traditional publishing, the author (unless they have lots of clout) will have very little control over their covers, though they too fill in an art form. In the ebook world, it appears to be a three-prong decision-making process. The author fills out the cover art request form, the cover artists receives it, management and author receive the art for approval. Changes or revisions may be requested. Probably varies from house to house, how much use the publishers make of their veto.

My conclusion is that some authors don't have a very good eye for design. They want a spaceship and a starfield and blasters being fired and two specific humans with ritual scars and piercings, an iguana on the hero's shoulder, and a stuffed hedgehog under the heroine's arm. Is it the cover artist's job to say: dude, your cover is going to look like shit warmed over if I follow this spec. April says she tries to give authors exactly what they want, but if they want too many elements, she'll quietly reduce the busyness in the design. The artists whose covers we love probably do the same, but I'm sure there are others that just do what they're told (even when it's hideous) because they're making relatively little money for each cover and they do better financially through mass production. Maybe the publisher shrugs and says, Joan Q Author likes it, let's roll with it or looks at the deadline and thinks, well, this was beat with the ugly stick but we don't have time and/or money to redo it.

I know there are authors who get overruled by management on their covers, so this doesn't apply to you. The rest of you, please use some common sense in what you ask for on your covers. If you don't, don't be surprised if you wind up on Smart Bitches or Bam getting snarked.