Spot the Difference

I've written here at some length and on numerous occasions about just how much I love the cover of A GOOD AMERICAN.  I think it oozes class and is both evocative and beautiful.  Of course I am biased, but most people I've spoken to seem pretty keen on it, too.

But these things, I am learning, are fluid and can always be improved.  Despite all the swooning over the cover, Amy had mentioned when we were in Minneapolis that she was having second thoughts about the lettering.  She wondered whether there was too much curlicue, if it might all be a little too feminine.  I thought no more about the conversation until an email arrived last week with a new cover with redesigned lettering on it.

And just when I thought I couldn't love something more, I discover that actually I can.  Here is the old cover:

And here is the new one, with the revised, simpler, title font:

I really like this a lot.  It's unfussy, and (I think) even more elegant that its slightly more flamboyant predecessor.  What do you think?

What I like best about this story is how it shows that really, really good editors and publishers don't stop just because they know they have something good.  They are constantly searching for ways to improve the product.  No detail is too small to be re-examined.

Lucky is the author who gets to work with such people.