What bothers me about this is that you're asking professional publishers to limit their options.
Doesn't this mean that the terrorists, err, self-publishers have won?
The "tells" I generally see to distinguish self-published from professional books aren't the glossiness of the cover stock. Poor cover art, and clunky typography and layout are a much greater factor. They're not always "bad", but they're almost always "off".
Those tells aren't always restricted to self-publishers. Some of Baen's books make me cringe, and before them, Meisha Merlin's covers.
If you have a self-publisher with a good eye, you can come up with a cover that looks as good as a professional cover. Will Shetterly just put out MIDNIGHT GIRL on Lulu.com, and I think the cover could stand up against most professional YA covers.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 07:32 pm (UTC)Doesn't this mean that the terrorists, err, self-publishers have won?
The "tells" I generally see to distinguish self-published from professional books aren't the glossiness of the cover stock. Poor cover art, and clunky typography and layout are a much greater factor. They're not always "bad", but they're almost always "off".
Those tells aren't always restricted to self-publishers. Some of Baen's books make me cringe, and before them, Meisha Merlin's covers.
If you have a self-publisher with a good eye, you can come up with a cover that looks as good as a professional cover. Will Shetterly just put out MIDNIGHT GIRL on Lulu.com, and I think the cover could stand up against most professional YA covers.
-- Bruce Arthurs