Ugly Covers. Do you say something?

[clutzattack]

I am a new follower to a particular blog, and this person just did a cover reveal.

I am now in a moral dilemma. I truly honestly believe this person is just getting "had" by a lazy designer (Like, I have some computer drawing skills and know I can recreate this exact same cover from scratch in less than twenty minutes.)

The book is being published by (One of the Big 6) so I doubt it's because the author has a non-existent cover budget.

I know a lot more designers are using vector-art images over stock photos, but this particular cover fails to capture the intrigue of either.

Do I say something, on a chance there might be time for her to ask them to tweak it and make it look less like the work of an amateur? Or is it really better just to not say anything?

Or when someone takes their author portrait in front of a houseplant, but it looks like they have antlers growing out of their hair--is it worth saying something, or should I expect that they're aware of these things and they already don't mind?

[shadowwalker]

Covers are a matter of taste, and if this is through a commercial publisher, there's probably not a lot the author could do anyway - and maybe she likes it. I generally figure a publishing company's cover designers know what they're doing. Sometimes they're wrong, of course, but they are the experts.

[Kimmy]

You might consider instead of posting in the comments, send her a message saying you know, the cover is interesting, but I wondered if you have a say in it and if you like it, and if not, I have some suggestions to improve on it? Im not sure of the etiquette with this kind of thing!

[Tabris]

If it's a big six publisher, then the author has little say, if any. If the cover is truly that bad, the agent was already on the phone with the publisher asking them WTH and asking for a new cover. By the time the cover's been revealed, it would take a lot to change it. (Like the publisher last year that had to withdraw a cover due to the fact that they'd plagiarized it.)

Author photos -- heck yes you should say something because that's under the control of the author.

[Falen]

yeah, probably too late to do anything about it now, so i'd just say congrats and bite your tongue. I've had a couple of blogger acquanitances who revealed covers that i thought were just awful, but i didn't say anything. It's not my book and they clearly loved them.

Though, for the author photo, i'd say something since they can change it.

I'd love to know which cover reveal this is. I'm curious like that.