Cover decisions of the Big Five publishing houses often baffle me. A lousy or poorly-chosen cover is understandable in a small press or an indie author--though one of the advantages of going indie is that a savvy author won't get saddled with the cover concept of the bottom-ranking newbie in the art department.princess garnet wrote: Just to put this out there, if you look at the cover on the US edition for Taming, it's a small section of the family portrait of Henry VIII, Edward VI, and Jane Seymour as the main focal point. Mary and Elizabeth are depicted on either side. Why not an actual portrait of Katherine Parr?
The publishing business is an odd business indeed. They don't appear to understand the use of focus groups and market research. Which is probably why, historically, they lose money on most of what they produce. It's no surprise that what used to be dozens of major publishers has shrunk to 5. Soon to be 4, I'm told there's another merger in the works.