Spellwright’s First European Covers: “De Taal der Spreuken” & “Czaropis”
The one thing—if you trust in the wisdom of proverbs—we are not supposed to judge a book by is the one thing we most often use to judge a book. Perhaps this has become more true as the number of books proliferates. I’ve been thinking about cover art a lot as the Tor’s art department has collaborated with the amazing Todd Lockwood on cover art for Spellbound.
Authors have very little, almost no, control over covers. Though anxiety provoking, this is probably this is a good thing. Covers are meant to inspire readers to consider the words, and most authors know much more about words than they ever will about cover art. I made peace with this early on and have placed my faith in my art directors. What I did not expect, and what has been a fascinating surprise, is the diversity of presentations publishers have chosen for Spellwright. Todd Lockwood’s US cover captures the book’s neoclassical high fantasy feel, while the UK cover demonstrates the close relationship between the magic system and the body. Most North American readers I’ve interacted with prefer the US art, while most commonwealth readers prefer the UK cover. To me, this is evidence that the art directors at both Tor and Voyager know their readerships and are doing right by them. Now we have two new covers, one from the Netherlands and one from Poland that present different takes on Spellwright.
Dutch publishing house Luitngh-Sijthoff commissioned the vivid cover art for De Taal der Spreuken from Jesse van Dijk.
Van Dijk does a superb job illustrating the magical language Numinous and portraying the neoclassical high fantasy feel.
Polish publishing house Nowa Fantastyka recently released their cover for Czaropis.
Not a creature to be messed with. I found this book to be strikingly dark and gritty, which (if Google Translate tells me true) is striking a cord with the Polish readership online.
There are covers coming still for Russian, German, French, and Spanish. I’ve been told that the French and Spanish publishers may take the book in a YA-crossover direction, which might yield very different covers yet again.
Comments
18 Responses to “Spellwright’s First European Covers: “De Taal der Spreuken” & “Czaropis””
Paolo
10:49 am Aug-20-2010
Dutch looks fantastic.
Mieneke
1:09 pm Aug-20-2010
I love the Dutch cover! I think I like it better than the UK one I have.
blakecharlton
9:09 am Sep-8-2010
Joline Desrosiers
12:17 am Aug-21-2010
The Dutch cover is great! It is intriguing and has atmosphere. I would have picked the book up with that cover.
The Polish cover is certainly very horror… Spellwright didn’t seem like horror to me, but perhaps Polish readers see it differently.
Both the US and British covers are very nice. I prefer the US cover to the British primarily because I prefer the style and it features a mysterious book. I am drawn to reading books which feature books, especially mysterious ones, on the cover. It is unusual for me to prefer a US cover as I find British cover art to be more abstract and intriguing in general.
The cover can count for a lot, fortunately or unfortunately. Everyone has to have a reason to pick up a book. I’m willing to bet a good or bad cover can make or break a novel, especially by a newer writer. Glad to see that you have had good luck with them so far!
blakecharlton
9:13 am Sep-8-2010
i have the same feeling about the Polish cover. i just hope readers over there don’t pick the book up expecting a slasher novel and are disapointed when the get a YA okay neoclassical epic fantasy…
and keep the fingers crossed that the good cover art luck holds. we should be seeing the US Spellbound cover art from Todd Lockwood fairly soon
Elicius
8:20 am Aug-27-2010
Those’re some nice additions to the family, sir! ‘though I have t’say the Dutch looks to me like the Terry Pratchett kids’ books [The Bromeliad Trilogy], so I’m unsure I’d have read that from the cover alone, where the UK-version, I certainly would.
Those guys certainly know what they’re doing!
blakecharlton
9:16 am Sep-8-2010
huh, i hadn’t made the connection to the Bromelaid Trilogy…and i haven’t yet read them. but i’m a big Pratchett fan, esp of his wordplay…well, how could i not be
Rhys
5:52 am Sep-10-2010
Internationally famous now. Great work!
Any idea if the maps will be reproduced in the other countries?
Can’t wait for the next book as well.:)
blakecharlton
9:01 am Sep-10-2010
i believe it is…but i’m not sure. i owe my Dutch and German publishers an email. I’ll ask them when I get a chance. which reminds me i need to email about a possible Spellbound map…
Fabiana
3:01 pm Sep-19-2010
Hello,
Do you have an agent? If you do, can you send me the contact by email?
Thank you.
blakecharlton
8:19 pm Sep-20-2010
Hi Fabiana,
Thanks for stopping by. Sorry to hide my email (I do so to make sure I can always quickly respond to emails from physicians). I am represented by Matt Bialer at http://www.greenburger.com/ I let them know of your comment and was told our Brazilian subagent would be getting in touch with you. In the mean time, feel free to contact me here, on facebook, or via twitter.
Jos
1:17 am Sep-24-2010
Hi everybody and Blake in particular..
Im Jos from Holland and 2 days ago I bouth your book (Dutch cover
)
Picked it up by the cover and bought it couse of the tekst on the backside..
Just finnished and I love it!
Blake congratulations with your debut, i cant wait for the story to continue!
Greets from your first dutch fan!
Jos
blakecharlton
2:30 pm Sep-25-2010
Geweldig! <-I think is the right word.
So glad you liked it. I hear a copy of the Dutch edition is being shipped to me and I'm very eager to see it. So glad liked it! Was just scheming the other day on how to get book 2 to Europe as fast as possible
Cesar
4:24 am Nov-23-2010
Hi there,
also just finished reading the book (dutch edition)
one word FAN-TAS-TIC!
when can we expect a second book? (if there is, hope so
)
for real I’m really hooked up, amazing writing.
congrats,
Cesar
blakecharlton
11:47 am Nov-23-2010
I Cesar! Thank you kindly for those words. The US edition of Spellbound (the sequel to Spellwright) will publish in August…I’m not sure exactly when. The UK edition will follow a few months after. I’m not sure when/if the Dutch version will publish, but hope to have news for you soon!
Nico
1:02 pm Jan-26-2011
Hi Blake,
I just got the dutch version as a christmas gift from my brother. Congrats on such a new, fresh look on fantasy. I really really enjoyed reading it, but I felt so so ignorant (dumb)
I’t wasn’t up to a passage that described the ‘oertaal’ as an endless chain/spiral that I realized the link with DNA. The clues however were so obvious. Silly me.
Another thing that stayed with me were the examples of missspeld words; I just read over them, since, well you know
Once again, thanks!
Looking forward to read the sequel.
Nico
blakecharlton
8:43 pm Jan-26-2011
Hello Nico! So glad to hear the book worked for you
and certainly the DNA link was meant to be a surprise, so it’s great to know you got it! just got the copy edited manuscript of the second book and am trying to turn it around quickly so the next one comes out soon!
Nico
9:47 am Jan-28-2011
As soon as it’s available in dutch, I’ll go and get it
Btw, twoo thumbs up for the translator, he/she did a fantastic job.
Nico