But, is the collaboration you enjoy (or not) between cover artist, editor, author, publisher, etc. unusual? The reason I ask is that we see so many ODD choices (I’m being nice) for covers, or covers that portray characters that conflict with the physical descriptions the author wrote, etc.

From the author’s side — at Loose Id, I can say if I don’t like it, and I can feed comments back via the art director, but ultimately it’s the art director’s decision on what they go with. I don’t have a problem with that, because the art I’ve had has always been good, and there’s been good communication with artists even though it’s filtered through the art director. I get a lot of input into the cover, even if the final decision isn’t mine.

But at New York houses it’s normal for the author (and even the editing department) to have no say at all. I know people who *hate* their covers. Sometimes they hate them because the cover doesn’t feel right to them, but they’ll sit down and shut up (in public) because they know it’s a commercial decision based on Marketing’s experience of what sells books, and a dragon on the cover tells potential readers what style of book it is even if there isn’t a dragon in the story. Sometimes they hate them because the cover really does objectively suck galaxies through straws…

It’s an interesting exercise to go into a large bookshop, and look at the book covers in a couple of different sections, analysing your immediate reactions to the cover art. You’ll find that you can tell instantly from the colour palette, the props, etc what sort of sub-genre Marketing want you to think a book belongs in.

Great interviews, I’m enjoying this.

How does feedback work in both the ePub and NY worlds? I know cover snark abounds across the web, but do you receive direct feedback regarding covers? Who does it come from? How does it influence (or not) your artwork on future covers?

Like I explained in an earlier comment, it’s different from epub to epub. At Cobblestone Press I always receive full feedback as I work with the author together.
At Loose Id and EC/CP I’m not allowed to talk with the author. Cover artists have even been fired when the pub learned about such thing. So it’s a big NO-NO. I don’t see any response emails from the authors only get a report on what should be changed, otherwise I only hear ‘pack it up’, ‘thae author loves it’ or don’t get a response at all. No response then means all is good, no changes needed.
Till the authors get their cover art package or the final book, they don’t even know who their cover artist is.

I’ve learned to live with the unknown. But each time I here ‘the author loves it’, I can’t help this happy feeling that comes with it.

I try to give with each cover 110%. The improvement of the covers depends a lot on the stock photos I can afford, on the software I work with as well as what I learn for new techniques in workshops, by tutorials or by try and error.
Positive feedback helps me through some rough days, helping me believe that what I do, will make an author happy and in the best case helps selling the book like mad.
Negative feedback makes me work harder, so that there isn’t even the tiniest reason to criticize me.

In NY, I believe the editor takes the place of the author, and beyond that there are many more chefs in the kitchen; if book buyers for a big bookstore chain don’t like a cover, for instance, the art department will usually change it.

Yes, that happened to Vivi Anna for example. It seemed the book stores didn’t like the original INFERNO cover much, and replaced it. I still can’t understand this decision, because the covers for HELL KAT and INFERNO looks now different. No one will notice now that they belong together, b/c INFERNO features the same hero&heroine as HELL KAT.

Here’s the whole story, including 150 comments by readers:
http://www.vivianna.net/blog/?p=97

But, is the collaboration you enjoy (or not) between cover artist, editor, author, publisher, etc. unusual? The reason I ask is that we see so many ODD choices (I’m being nice) for covers, or covers that portray characters that conflict with the physical descriptions the author wrote, etc.

Like I wrote, I’m a stubborn person. I won’t design what I don’t like personally. I have my limits. So I deceide not to design a cover, if there are requests in the cover art form I do not like. In this case someone else will do the cover, but it isn’t me.
I got one of these cover requests where a baby should be on the cover. It was a romance cover (not an erotic one), but I don’t like ‘baby covers’. I think they don’t belong on a cover. Period.
I also don’t put ‘nipple clamps’ or ‘dildos’ on an erotic cover - no matter how much the author begs me to do just that. I think a cover can be tasteful and erotic without being this obvious.

As for the conflict with the physical description: I confess I’m guilty. Do you remember the SNOW ANGEL cover that was posted yesterday. The cover model portrays one of the heroes, who has actually dark blond hear in the book instead of brown as in the cover. I tried a dark blond version (b/c adding blond highlights), but the color contrast with the background art wasn’t so striking in this case. Therefore, with permission of author and art department, we kept the brown hair.

I would expect that a collaboration that includes the author would be unusual for NY (according to most authors, they have NO say-so), but how unusual is it for epubs?

I’m working for three different e-publisher and with them all it’s different.

1) Cobblestone Press: The art director or the managing artists assigns me a cover - even based on style or if the author asked for me. So here can the author even choose the artist her/himself - as long as the artist is also available. I work then with the author and her/his approval counts. If the situation arises and I notice that the author and I will never agree, I take it to management and they solve it.

2) Loose Id: The art director chooses the artist. The artist is not allowed to talk with the author while designing the cover. All communication is handeled by the art director. Also, the art director may overrule requests by the author as they know better what sells and what not.

3) Cerridwen Press/Ellora’s Cave: The Graphic Services Manager sends out the cover art forms. These are your guidelines, goal is to comes as close to them as possible. No contact between author and artist allowed as well. Your cover passes first approval with the art director, and then approved, will be sent to the author.

The cover art forms differ as well, but authors have the chance to say if they like original art, CGI (computer generated images) or photo manipulation for their cover, list favourite covers, how they see it and so on.
If something’s unlclear, I ask b/c let someone else ask the author.

In NY, I believe the editor takes the place of the author, and beyond that there are many more chefs in the kitchen; if book buyers for a big bookstore chain don’t like a cover, for instance, the art department will usually change it.

Does that mean cover artists are more constrained? Or given different parameters? Or simply told what to put on the cover?

How does feedback work in both the ePub and NY worlds? I know cover snark abounds across the web, but do you receive direct feedback regarding covers? Who does it come from? How does it influence (or not) your artwork on future covers?

I know I’m asking quite a few questions, but the whole author/publisher/artist dynamic is very interesting and I’m curious to see how it leads to the fantastic (and not-so-fantastic) covers that are out there.