In general response to the discussion about the importance of cover art,
I only discovered Brust because a friend of mine recommended his work to
me. He knew about him because his younger brother had picked up a copy
of Phoenix in the bookstore when it was new (which also tells, more or
less, how long I've been reading Brust).
Kid brother's rationale?
'The cover looked cool.'
I doubt covers are terribly important to continuing buyers, but they
have to be for first-timers, I would think. Even now, on the rare
occasion when I try a new author without some other recommendation, it's
usually because the cover looked intriguing in some way. Otherwise, I
wouldn't look at the blurb or flip through the opening chapter, or
anything else.
All that said, I'm not wild about the cover art for Sethra Lavode. But
then again, I'm neither an artist or a marketer.
--
J A Dusty Sayers
'Creatures are not born with desires unless satisfaction for those desires exists. A baby feels hunger: well, there is such a thing as food. A duckling wants to swim: well, there is such a thing as water. Men feel sexual desire: well, there is such a thing as sex. If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.'
--C S Lewis