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Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Autopsy of a bad book cover, and a learning experience

Latest blog post from Jacqueline Church Simonds of Beaglebay Books is a fascinating mix of disaster and success stories. And it is all to do with jackets. Book jackets, that is.


An old friend in the pirate section of my bookshelves is her year 2000 novel, Captain Mary, Buccaneer. It's Different. Read it to believe me. Captain Mary might be based on Anne Bonny and Mary Read and their bloodthirsty ilk, but she is a stand-out character on her own. And definitely adult reading, which made me feel uncomfortable about the Young Adult-style cover. Well done, yes, but inappropriate. Now, she fronts up, and tells the story of how it got that way, and how she wishes it hadn't.

One has to hand it to Jacqueline -- she's a learner. She learned from the experience, and put it to good use. Since then, her jackets have been composed with impact and relevance in mind, with such success that several have been award-winners.

You can see them here.

Have a look, and choose your favorites. I was particularly struck with two, one black and white, and the other four-color:


Now all I have to do is find out what "consilience" means.

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