As we all progress in life many things changes. Everything from our selections of foods to our selection of art and music. When we were a teen our idea of art was poster on the wall perhaps the singer of your favorite song or a poster of the your favorite star in the garbs from their latest movie. As we grew older we look for a Pablo Picasso, Paul Cézanne, or Von Gogh to decorate the walls. Not that we found one but there was no harm in looking. We make an effort to educate ourselves and learned about the Impressionists, Art Deco, and Surrealism and many other forms of classic and contemporary art.
The dish above, it would take a catastrophic event short of starvation to get the average child or teenager to eat it. They would prefer a Mickey D’s fish sandwich over an overly expensive meal such as the one above. As we age our taste buds matures and changes, so does our selection of foods.
The same changes occurs in selecting reading materials. How many five year old have anyone seen reading the “The Wall Street Journal”? I’m not talking a junior Einstein. I’m talking regular kids. They don’t because it doesn’t interest them. I remember my parents used to take out the comedic selection of the newspaper and hand to us children when I was a child and kept the rest for their own readership. I loved the cartoon strip called Cathy as a teenager. But by the time I entered college I still read it occasionally but not as often for my reading selection was also changing.
I would life is the largest contributor to the change of reading material in adulthood. Maybe I’m wrong. But many of us still hold on to some of our childhood favorites and perhaps that’s a good thing to never let the child in you die. To stay young at heart.
unholypursuit
The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail 
As a child “Anne of Green Gables”, was one of my favorite reads.
On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 8:25 PM, The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Tra
LikeLike
I know this subject is off topic but I think you and your publishers need to see this. I see since no one could find anything wholly bad to say about your writing style, the story nor the book they picked the book cover to pick on. I have paperback copy of “UnHoly Pursuit: The Devil on my Trail” and it is beautiful. Whomever took that picture and incorporated it into the overall scene of the story did a great job. Whomever this Nathan is they truly, really need to sit down and shut up. This is nothing more than ploy site for selling book covers. As if anyone with two eyes can’t see that. This is the poorest method I’ve ever seen in gathering business. Criticizing someone else work is not going to gain you business. Look back on the site and you will see a list of what I’m talking about. What they does is ask people to design their cover and if the person say no then they broadcast it all over the internet how supposedly bad the cover is because it was designed by them. Instead, if I were author I wouldn’t dare have any of these people design anything for me. None of the covers I’ve seen have any originality. They are all the same. The same pose for all the characters, the same facial expressions, I have seen many of these covers a dozen times or more and so has every one else. It’s the same cover with a different title, same font style which is usually boring and flat. No jazz added to it. Who in hades picked these dull standards as the general rule for a book cover? Yours are truly a work of art. They are seen all over the internet. Yours has originality. It’s easy to spot because no one else has one that look like it. I see so many covers have nothing to do with story inside the books. I guess you have truly arrived in the league of authors when that is all someone can find to say about something.
On Tue, Apr 25, 2017 at 8:25 PM, The Novel: UnHoly Pursuit: Devil on my Trail
LikeLike
Marjorie,, thank you for your letter. I understand what you’re saying but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just as everyone isn’t going to like the storyline. Everyone isn’t going to like the cover. As the meme a friend sent me says, “I’m not a pizza, I can’t please everyone” and even every pizza doesn’t please everyone. But frankly, I can’t say someone from this site has contracted me for so many people have contacted me about cover designs, and many other services having nothing to do with books….you named it…I have been contacted about it. But all my covers have to be approved by the publishers. Like with King Eochaidh I presented 16 ideas and they turned them all down. But a few has been turned into posters. The publisher contracted with a professional artist to create some of the images as to why they are unusual and different. A well known author whom I greatly admire said pretty much the very same words to me over a year ago when I first started trying to find a publisher. An acquaintance introduced me to him because I’m a fan of his work. He said “You will know you have arrived as true author when the critics come. Keep up the spirit of writing.”
LikeLike
Marjorie, only immature people and trolls care about things like that. I hate to say this but a lot of this sounds like jealousy to me. Serious readers who are more likely to become long time fans and continue to buy the author’s work for years to come do not care about a damn book cover. They may look at it for a few seconds but they care more about the contents inside and storyline than a bookcover. They don’t care how good of a cover you have if your story is crappy you only gets to fool them once. I have seen many great covers but the contents within were a sore disappointment. I gets mad when the cover has nothing to do with the plot or when it’s a fantastic cover but the story within it is crap. I wish they had spent more time on their story and less time on their cover. Or when the cover has nothing to do with the plot, to me that is dishonesty. What catches people attention about A. White covers are they are different. If you’re look at a long row of covers and they are all pretty much look alike then you keep going until you find one that catches your attention. At least I do. That’s how I found her books. I was thumbing through my kindle and found it. I stopped because it was different and not a mere replica of the one before or after. I thought the eerie looking lone country road deep in the woods with faded light filtering through the trees was a brilliance idea after reading the story. The cover matched the story line. That’s the kind of things serious readers out of high school are looking for. I’m not trying to insult anyone’s work but they have their priorities wrong if they think serious readers care about the things they do. Make your cover match your story!
LikeLike
Marjorie, I looked at the site in question (yawning) only immature people care about things like that. I see why they aren’t selling any books. It’s has nothing to do with their covers. It’s their attitude. Snarky behavior does nothing to sell your work. If an author is going around the internet snipping other authors that’s a major turn away for a lot of readers. People aren’t stupid, they know a jealous rant and jealous put down when they see one. Real readers care more about the content and storyline. They don’t care how good of a cover you have if your story is crappy you only get to bite them in the butt once. Oh yes and the illiterate cares. They need pictures to tell the story. I looked at the links and I saw where they were selling replicated book covers. That’s an old business gimmick. Find an unsuspecting victim and point out an alleged flaw and how to fix it. This sort of thing is done all the time in my area where people target the elderly by breaking something on their house and then offer to fix it for a reduced price and is never heard from again after they get the down payment. It’s the same thing. Just done on a different format.
LikeLike
James Gordon, almost a year earlier you just pretty much wrote the same things another man said this past weekend.
LikeLike
I agree with Marjorie. This was another author. I hope they know authors criticizing each other turns readers off. I looked at their cover and read their story….uh…neither is very good.
LikeLike
I also agree with the article. As we mature our reading selection changes.
LikeLiked by 1 person