Cover Cafe's Contest for 2011 book covers

LeeB. · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1221 Location: Seattle, WA

Cover Cafe's annual Romance Cover Contest is now online for public voting until May 16, 2012!

http://www.covercafe.com/contest/2011/contest2011intro.shtml
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veasleyd1 · Joined: 02 Dec 2007 Posts: 2064

Oh, my. All of the "worst" deserve recognition.

I gave my vote to "Es ist ein Mann entsprungen" because of the horrible pun on the Christmas carol "Es ist ein Ros' entsprungen" (Lo, how a rose e'er blooming).

Linda in sw va · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 4707

Oops! I misread and thought we were voting for the worst cover, so my vote for the Alternate Reality cover should be voided, haha

Linda
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PatW · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 614 Location: Central Maryland

brwneyedbeauty · Joined: 23 Feb 2012 Posts: 44 Location: New York

All, except one, in the Worst category were horrible. The one that wasn't bad, to me, was One Night in London. I don't see anything wrong with the cover. That book was really good and I hope people don't dismiss it because of this.

Anyway, it was a hard decision, but I voted for Chain of Kisses.

Cora · Joined: 12 Mar 2008 Posts: 1088 Location: Bremen, Germany

JyLnC · Posted: Fri May 04, 2012 10:42 pm Post subject:

Linda - I deleted your AR vote as requested. Thanks for voting again and leaving a note in the comments.

Cora - I love the naked Santa cover but I was out voted on the committee this year and it ended up on the final slate. As for My Life as a White Trash Zombie....it's all about taste. I just saw a Zombie episode on Castle and they didn't look as attractive as the Zombie on this cover. I still wouldn't want to be seen holding that cover in public unless I was using an eReader. About it not being a Romance...both Amazon and Barnes and Noble reviews mentioned a smattering of romance or a love story at the end so it was allowed in the contest.

Brown Eyed Beauty - One Night in London made it onto the final slate as the Worst Committee Chair's 10th Choice. The way she is bent over and then looking over her shoulder looks very strange & not sexy. My first thought was...is she checking to see if her dress is caught in her undergarments? But it also looks like she is bent over in a sexual position. It made me laugh and I wonder if there was a scene like this in the book.

Thanks for voting!

Linnae aka JyLnC
Cover Cafe Committee Chair
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Danielle D · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 492 Location: Wheaton, IL

I always look forward to this contest!!!! Thanks for posting the link.
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stl_reader · Joined: 03 Aug 2011 Posts: 155 Location: Missouri

OMG, I think the funniest of the "worst" covers is Home for Christmas. Despite the cheery looking house and twinkling tree, this looks like it's going to be the most unhappy Christmas ever for this trio.

And when I look at the expression on the woman's face, I get the impression she must be thinking, "You expect to show me a good time with that little thing?"

Or actually, she looks so bored, maybe she's just a hooker and she's waiting for him to pay her so she can get the hell out of there.

Also, what's up with the weird Santa hat on the guy in the background?

My runner up for worst cover would be the awful, awful Sweet Temptations. There are no words.

Teri P · Joined: 27 Apr 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Minnesota

This contest is always a lot of fun! I really enjoy looking at past winners, so you can see just how far romance covers have come through the years. I do like some of the older covers though. A lot of thought was put in to some of them.

I wouldn't miss voting in the worst category either. That used to be what it was all about!!!
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Wendy AAR · Joined: 22 May 2010 Posts: 320

Love this contest!

Did anyone else notice that the same image appears in the alternate reality and two page cover sections?

The worst cover entrees were hilarious this year. Chain of Kisses almost got my vote. Who designed those costumes? That poor model! But I ended up voting for Belle Stalker - that dude looks like a meth lab guard.

Danielle D · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 492 Location: Wheaton, IL

Pan's Wife · Joined: 01 Jul 2009 Posts: 69

I'm thinking of voting for One Night in London because it's from a major publisher and a somewhat established author. Avon has the money and art department to do much better. The other books look almost like self-published hack jobs, as if the author hired some teenager who does graphics in his parent's basement to create a cover. I have to take resources into account on these things.

Nana · Joined: 02 Apr 2007 Posts: 891

JyLnC · Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 12:08 am Post subject:

Wendydfw - I noticed the similar images and checked them out when they were nominated. The covers were produced by two separate publishing houses. The art directors probably used the same photo stock source for a lady in a red dress or they used the same model but the layout and backgrounds are totally different.

Nana & Pan's Wife - 2009 was the first year we opened the Worst nominations for print books from small publishers and eBooks from major publishers. In 2010, we opened nominations up to include all eBooks except self published. Once small publishers and eBook covers made it into the finals in the other categories, they faced the same fate if they produced inferior covers....the infamous Worst category.

We still have a ban on self published books, both print and eBook, appearing in the Worst category. However, in 2011 we have our first self published cover in the finals. Peggy Webb's self published Touched by Angels is one of the CO finalists. It is a beautiful cover and disproves the theory that you need a big budget and countless publishing employees to create great covers. You just need someone with artistic and graphic talent designing your cover.

2011 eBook vs. Print in the Worst finals:

Chain of Kisses, Home for Christmas, Blood Slave, Sweet Temptations, The Last Soul, and The Belle Stalker are eBooks. They were all published by established eBook publishers.

Es ist ein Mann entsprungen, Sequins, Saddles, and Spurs, One Night in London, and My Life as a White Trash Zombie are print books. They were all published by Major Publishers.

Thanks for voting!

Linnae aka JyLnC
Cover Cafe Committee Chair
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