article tagged posts

Behind Reviews: Part 2 Spoilers

March 6, 2013 Articles and Opinions

This was going to be the third part of the review series but I'm moving it up to second.  Spoilers are a hot button issue among reviewers and authors. In case anyone is not familiar with spoilers, spoilers are reviews that give away the ending - e.g. revealing the murderer, how the cast get out of their fix, or vital plot twists - effectively spoiling the story for the reader. While some readers don't mind these, there are certain genres e.g. mystery, where they can damage a book's sales badly. The effect that spoilers can have on a book's sales can be shown by reviews where the reviewer states that they are deliberately giving spoilers to make sure no one buys the book. However a review with a spoiler in it does not need to be negative, for example an enthusiastic fan of an earthquake

Read More

Mirror, Mirror – duplicate cover images

July 5, 2011 Articles and Opinions

It has been commented on recently that many covers are very similar. With the rise in e-books, self-publishers, small press, vanity presses and reverse vanity, the number of these covers also appears to be rising. (*Many of the images on this entry are served by Amazon. Adblocker users may find them hidden.)

It isn't just small press that is affected. A particularly high profile example just happened to Stephenie Meyer, whose cover for the Host is very similar to an earlier book: De Beproeving by Tess Franke (spotted by IcanhazCheeseburger).This isn't a new thing. In high turnover markets like pulp it's been going on since the fifties. (The Rap Sheet documents various examples). It isn't just that it is happening more now, due to more commercial stock image catalogues, but that with

Read More