The Set
Countdown—Day 12
The UK proof arrived completing that set.
I find it amazing what can be done with paper thicknesses. As you can see, Rise of Empire has the thickest spine, and Heir almost looks like the shortest book. It's not—not by a long shot. The UK edition for Heir clocks in at 928 pages, not including the extras, where Rise is only 781. And Theft is a mere 664. But you'd never tell that by looking at them.
In the American editions, the difference is even more profound as those of you who have them can attest. Theft is considerably thicker than Rise, but the weight! Theft seems to float compared the Rise which has the feel of a college text book.
I suppose the thought here is to try and keep the thicknesses similar aiming for consistency. But for anyone looking at Heir and thinking, "Hey, this is going to be a quicker read than the other two," it may be, but not because of its length.
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Hey Ed,Covers are done a very long time after completion of the writing - so they can't influence it at all. In many cases the artist is reading and taking descriptions fromt the book so the "inspriation" goes in the other direction.
Author's "opinions" or "likes vs dislikes" is not a consideration in cover design. It is a "marketing decision" based on what they think will sell.
In general I think Orbit has done some of the best covers in the industry so I trust their choices.
Personally...I don't like characters on the cover in any form (unless they are enough in shadow that you can't tell much. The issue is I want people to come up with their own ideas of what the people look like. That being said...if people have to be on the cover I prefer illustrated characters rather than photographic (personal preference). But it has to be done in a good style. I think the covers that Pyr did for Jon Sprunk's Shadow's Son is very well done. But I really don't like the illustrations on the WoT covers...especially the first book that came out from Sanderson. Though recently I'm seeing they are being redone and on those the illustrations are (imho) much better.
Looking at the "set" I have often wondered how authors feel about using a photographic style representation of major character as cover artwork. Is the "person" picked prior to writing thus providing opportunity to weave features of that person into the character descriptions or am I over thinking this aspect of the project?