The cover phenomenon of sorts I've decided to call 'cover twins' is one that I see quite often when I go into the stores with German books here in Switzerland. It happens a lot that I see a book cover on a German edition that has stock art in it that was used for a different book in the US or UK edition - actually it worries me quite a bit that I see soooo many cover that I start recognizing elements even if they've been differently edited :P Here are two of the ones I've found recently. I might post more at a later point.
Note: I think I've seen a similar post on another blog last autumn, but I can't for the life of me remember where. This isn't a regular meme or anything, just a type of post I might do every once in a while. There are quite a few blogs doing cover wars or comparisons between different editions of the same book, so I lay no claim to any ideas here. If you know a blog doing the same thing or something similar, please tell me in the comments so I can give proper credit.
Shatter Me vs. Carrier of the Mark
The background isn't exactly the same, but Shatter Me (Fear Me, in the German edition) and Carrier of the Mark both use the same image. I own Carrier but haven't read it yet, and I also haven't read Shatter Me, so I can't say which book suits the image better or if it's fitting at all. It's pretty and eye-catching though, so I get why the German publisher chose it.
Die For Me vs. Masque of the Red Death
Hair, dress, pose, city backdrop and general color theme. The shoulder tattoo and the swirly pattern are pretty much the only difference in what was done with the stock art. I love the US Masque of the Red Death cover more, but I think the German one (City of the Red Death - The Girl with the Mask) represents the story pretty well too.
What do you guys think about this type of thing? Are the German publishers 'stealing' from books that have done well in the English-speaking world? Are they not creative enough to come up with a different, more unique design? On the other hand, it's stock art so anyone's allowed to use it. If you're an international blogger, have you noticed this type of thing in your own country? I'd love to hear your opinion :)
Oh wow that's crazy! I noticed some books have similar cover with different design but it's mostly because the photographer might be selling the same image. And there's different sites where you can buy or use an image for free.
ReplyDeleteYup, it's because stock art is free to buy for eveyone. Which is fine. But I think publishers should keep an eye out for this type of thing, and I just feel like with these German editions it was done with a purpose. And I'm not sure how I feel about that.
DeleteWow. Every covers is just perfect.
ReplyDeleteI've seen a goodreads list featuring a lot of cover twins. It's crazy how you don't notice it unless someone points it out! I like the Bethany Griffin book more the Die For Me, tbh. :)
ReplyDeleteI'll have to check out that list!
DeleteI've not read die for me but I love the original Masque of the Red Death cover! It's a fantastic book :)
I actually see this around a lot and I hate it. I mean, come on! The cover is just as much trademark of a book as is the story. Actually, I'd like if they wouldn't come up with a new cover for every freaking country. I mean, how many of us are freaking if they do a cover change somewhere in the middle of a series and all of a sudden it looks like there's this break in your shelf that doesn't belong? Having different covers for different languages is kinda the same crap. Makes me furious. *growl*
ReplyDeleteI get why they change the cover for different countries. People have different mentalities and what works for one country might be weird or inapporpriate in another, or maybe people wouldn't get a joke (like with titles alluding to popular culture etc.)
DeleteUgh I hate cover changes in the middle of a series!!!
But I think it's different here because it's basically the same cover for different books. It's like they saw the book doing well in the US and thought 'hey, it worked for them, let's re-use it and tweak it for that other book!'
Oh wow I had no idea this was happening,like same cover but to a different series o.O I mean over here, I see a lot of the same cover or like the same girl with some details changed for 2 different series. I think it's kind of lame that they reuse covers but at the same time if it works for both book concepts I can see why they do it. But a cover should be unique and specific to a book imho!
ReplyDeleteYeah, the same girl/hair but differently edited thing I see quite often. I also think that book covers should be unique, yet when you find a piece of stock art that really fits... still, if it just happens it's one thing, but this here just seems so deliberate somehow. I don't know. Somehow it irks me. But what I dislike even more is how they sometimes change the title to stuff that has nothing to do with the story or the original title >.< That's a different rant though... :P
DeleteI've thought of doing a post like this myself because I tend to see a lot of the same images being used for foreign editions of other books. I agree...it's irksome. I know it makes things less expensive for the publishers to use stock images, but it makes it kind of confusing when that image is used multiple times across the genre. I'm a bit of a cover snob, and I just want to see some originality!
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I haven't considered the saving money aspect all that much - stock art needs to be bought and edited too, after all. I thought of it more from a marketing point of view - German publishers thinking that if a cover did well in the US for one series, it should work in Germany for another. The 'sameness' among the editing of German covers in general is a whole other rant for me... one look at the cover of a German edition and I know who published it, at least in the PNR genre. Also, many of the cover changes disassociate it from the book. You get that in the US too (girl in a pretty dress) but I've also seen books with US covers that represent the story well, and German ones that look pretty but have shit-all to do with the book.
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