The US and UK versions will have different covers and subtitles. I’m not sure why the US version shows up on the .co.uk website. We’ve asked the publishers to take a look.
Why the different subtitles? The US subtitle seems much more direct, while the UK subtitle is a breath of stale air. What is the “esc” key intended to convey, when the point is that there would be no escape?
There’s not a short answer; subtitles and cover art are over-constrained and the choices have many stakeholders (and authors rarely have final say over artwork). The differences reflect different input from different publishing-houses in different territories, who hopefully have decent intuitions about their markets.
Are you American? Because as a British person I would say that the first version looks a lot better to me, and certainly fits the standards for British non-fiction books better.
Though I do agree that the subtitle isn’t quite optimal.
I’m also not a graphic designer. But I agree that both designs give me the ick. I think it’s something about how lazy they both look. They give early 2000s self help book.
To be clear, I’m quite excited for this book, and have preordered! I am just surprised by the covers.
Huh, I’m also British and I thought the first version looked like a placeholder, as in “no one’s uploaded an actual cover yet so the system auto generates one”. The only thing making me think not-that was that the esc key is mildly relevant. I bought the second one partly because I was a lot more confident I was actually buying a real book.
I guess part of what’s going on here is it’s the same grey as the background (or very close?), so looks transparent. But even without that I think I’d have had a similar reaction.
The US and UK versions will have different covers and subtitles. I’m not sure why the US version shows up on the .co.uk website. We’ve asked the publishers to take a look.
The US version is currently #396 in Books on .co.uk
Why the different subtitles? The US subtitle seems much more direct, while the UK subtitle is a breath of stale air. What is the “esc” key intended to convey, when the point is that there would be no escape?
There’s not a short answer; subtitles and cover art are over-constrained and the choices have many stakeholders (and authors rarely have final say over artwork). The differences reflect different input from different publishing-houses in different territories, who hopefully have decent intuitions about their markets.
Are you American? Because as a British person I would say that the first version looks a lot better to me, and certainly fits the standards for British non-fiction books better.
Though I do agree that the subtitle isn’t quite optimal.
I am British. I’m not much impressed by either graphic design, but I’m not a graphic designer and can’t articulate why.
I’m also not a graphic designer. But I agree that both designs give me the ick. I think it’s something about how lazy they both look. They give early 2000s self help book.
To be clear, I’m quite excited for this book, and have preordered! I am just surprised by the covers.
I think the main problem is that the second cover looks really rushed.
Huh, I’m also British and I thought the first version looked like a placeholder, as in “no one’s uploaded an actual cover yet so the system auto generates one”. The only thing making me think not-that was that the esc key is mildly relevant. I bought the second one partly because I was a lot more confident I was actually buying a real book.
I guess part of what’s going on here is it’s the same grey as the background (or very close?), so looks transparent. But even without that I think I’d have had a similar reaction.
I had the same reaction to the first version