more on OoP cover (was Re: Two comments)

[nobodysrib]

No: HPFGUIDX 54138

cantoramy wrote:
>
<snip>
> 
> OOP bookcover.
> 
> I don't know why, but my first thought was that the MG cover was 
> just a "mock up" and that the colors would be added in before the 
> actual printing.  

As someone who works in publishing, I very much doubt that they would 
release non-finished book images.  As much as HP fans are dying to 
know *anything* about the next book, Scholastic isn't in a place 
where they need to release info in order to keep the buzz alive.  I 
mean, does anyone doubt that OoP will be an immediate best seller?

> All that blue made everything hard to discern.  

At this point I'm willing to trust MG's reasons for having such a 
monotone book cover.  Considering its differences from past covers, 
I'm assuming that there is some reason for changing from past norms.

> I'm sure that Scholastic is getting responses to the cover and if 
> enough people ask for it to be a little more "accessible," they 
> could simply print colored covers.  

I'd hope that Scholastic, JKR, and GP would be more concerned with 
putting out a product that they are proud of and happy with than they 
are concerned about pleasing the fans.  I can't imagine a boycott of 
the books based on lack of cover-art satisfaction.  Also, I'm sure 
that MG either created a few sample ideas and that JKR and Scholastic 
chose their favorite OR that JKR asked for a specific image for the 
cover.  And knowing JKR's attention to detail, I cannot imagine her 
letting a change-from-the-norm just "slip" past her attention.  JKR 
and Scholastic have their reasons for choosing this cover...  and 
considering that none of us have actually read the book (while the 
people in charge of the cover have read it) I cannot imagine them 
spending the money to change it based solely on fans' requests.

> After all, they have 3 months.

In the publishing world, three months isn't all that much time to 
make changes.  At this point in time, I imagine that the books are at 
least in their final formatted version, if not already being printed 
up.  Yes, if they realized that "Hairy" appeared instead of "Harry" 
on every page, they would go back and fix this error, but it would 
take a large situation like that in order to go through the costly 
process of changing the books.  In addition, it's not just the book 
covers that have to be changed.  There are all sorts of marketing 
materials (posters, bookmarks, advertising spreads for bookstores, 
etc.) that are made with the cover images, and these are released 
prior to the book release.  (I haven't been in a bookstore recently, 
but I wouldn't be surprised if some of this stuff was already up.)  
Changing the book cover so that it did not match these marketing 
materials would look sloppy and unprofessional.  

I hope that none of this has come across too strongly.  And, who 
knows, maybe I'm completely wrong and we will get a new cover.  Or 
maybe, after reading the book, I'll be criticizing the cover.  Won't 
know for three more months...

- Nobody's Rib