Last year I was sorting books and I came across a book with a familiar cover. It was called, "The Librarian" by Christy Sloat (pub date 6/17/2017). I knew that I had seen that cover before. It took me a few minutes before I remembered the title of the book that I had read with a similar cover: "The Book of Speculation" by Erika Swyler. (pub date 6/15/2015).
These covers are way too similar for it to be coincidence. Anyone have any thoughts on how this happened? Was there a run on stock photos of "headless woman in a dress with a sash holding books and wearing many bracelets?" Even the books are similar. It's just ... weird.
whoa! The novels both have a "book" theme, but, I agree, this doesn't seem like a coincidence- they are much too similar. Perhaps both covers had the same designer?
ReplyDeleteMaybe - but even so, you'd think the designer would have varied it a little more!!
DeleteThese are the exact same cover, just a different color filter applied to them and one zoomed in! Sloat's book lists its cover design by "Pretty AF Designs" and was published in 2017, opposed to Swyler's 2015 pub date.
ReplyDeleteOddly enough, I've seen this happen before. Sarah Freligh's "Sad Math" had its cover approved and was published, and then a literary magazine used the same cover later that month! The lit mag was called out on the use, and they changed their cover after explaining that the artist had double sold their work.
The one on the left has 5 books and the one on the right only has four. I guess maybe they thought, along with the color filter change, it would be enough to differentiate them. I wonder if this happens often enough to where it is a problem in the publishing industry. Might be a fun study some time!
DeleteThis made me crack up! Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDelete