Here’s the cover for the mass-market paperback publication of The Burning Man, Book Two of Kingdom of the Serpent, which is out in June.
You can see it’s quite different from the hardback and trade paperback editions – the figure is less stylised, the fire not so harsh. Personally, I prefer the old image…
… but the powers that be at Gollancz think this one is more effective. Opinions?
You can buy the new paperback version here or order it from any good bookstore.
I by far prefer the figure from the original cover, but I’m torn over the fire. The new cover certainly looks more like fire – but the old cover was ambiguous enough that it could be interpretted as both fire and blood.
The text colours on the second cover will stand out a lot more, which is good because you want the title and author name to stand out. I strongly agree with MattC about the figure on the first cover. It is waaay better. The figure on the second cover is not scary at all, which doesn’t do justice to the book. I hope this helps!
Thanks, both – my feelings entirely. I provided an outline for the original cover and approved the art. Didn’t know about the second one till I saw it on Amazon!
Much prefer the original cover.
I agree with Emily about the figure sometimes less is more.