How often does the author end up hating the art that’s provided for their book (be it cover design or chapter art)? Has anyone ever been less than thrilled at something you gave them?
Occasionally I hear about authors who aren’t thrilled with their book cover. More often, I see cover reveals where the author is ecstatic. Designers, artists, art directors, and publishers really want to design beautiful book covers that will get their books into the hands of those who will enjoy the books the most. In the process, you’ll wind up sometimes with authors whose opinions differ from their publisher’s, or in some cases, the cover might truly be awful.
No client has ever come to me and said they hated what I did (doesn’t mean there isn’t someone out there who hates what I’ve done for them—if there is, they just haven’t told me). Usually the process we work through to get to a final idea weeds out the awful stuff. Ideas and thumbnails are thrown out all the time because they stank like week-old dead fish. Sometimes you’ve got to sift through the fish to find the roses. That’s a terrible metaphor, but you get the idea.
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