Forum - View topicNEWS: Fullmetal Alchemist's Arakawa Draws Cover for Irish Novelist
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8459 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Can I get Arakawa to draw the cover for my debut novel?
Er, I've barely started it, but I would appreciate it. Some folks have all the luck. |
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mangaka-chan
 Posts: 283 |
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I wish they could use the Japanese cover for the English edition as well, like the dual cover treatment Harry Potter got in Britain.
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UltimaShadowfax
 Posts: 288 |
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Man ... I had no idea writing good fan fiction could net you book deals. I've been wasting my time in college.
And compare Arakawa's cover with the English release cover. 
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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I wish we could get Arakawa's cover over here. Then I might have considered buying it.
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Charred Knight
 Posts: 3085 |
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It's worse than the difference between Japanese and American Megaman covers. I mean Japan gets a kickass Hiromu Arakawa cover that makes all the characters look cool, and all America gets is a crappy picture of some guy?
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prime_pm
 Posts: 2335 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
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Christ! They get a manga artist, we get the WB?
Even as a fantasy novel reader, that cover looks awful. I'd feel like I'm buying Twilight. I mean, what's the target audience supposed to be anyway? Last edited by prime_pm on Tue Apr 28, 2009 8:52 am; edited 2 times in total |
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poisondusk
 Posts: 61 Location: Brighton, UK |
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There are actually quite a lot of fanfic writers who have gone pro - Naomi Novik (Temeraire series) was a fanfic writer originally as well, not to mention Cassandra Clare, a very well-known Harry Potter fanfic writer. It's a pity they didn't go with Arakawa's illustration for the English version - they might have pulled in some manga fans who don't necessarily follow fantasy novel releases. Maybe I'll grab the Japanese edition for reading practice. |
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vulcanraven01
Posts: 677 |
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Wow. Huge difference between the Japanese and English cover.
The english one looks like something from a low budget 70s Sci-Fi film. It's something I'd expect to see in a car-boot sale, bot on store shelves... Like someone said, if only they'd used that cover worldwide, it would have drawn in much more attention and also attracted manga fans, who probably wouldn't have been interested otherwise. |
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posterior_praiser
 Posts: 296 |
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Doesn't surprise me that they changed the cover. They want as broad a readership as possible and if they used the drawn cover, people might think it's for kids and not read it.
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Maidenoftheredhand
Posts: 2633 |
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I can understand that but with the cover they did choose they will probably only attract teenage girls so they are still limiting their readership. |
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1555 |
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Is that...the guy from Smallville? Is the novel going to be about Clark Kent becoming a dark wizard? Because I think Superman of all people could take care of himself without magic.
(yeah, you just know some publishing exec put out a memo reading "for this cover, find me someone who looks like the kid from that show my daughter likes. Then photoshop some lightning in and ship that sucker out!") Japan really got the long end of the stick on this one. I think I'd be emabressed to be seen with the US edition of the book. Last edited by Wyvern on Tue Apr 28, 2009 11:33 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Jadress
 Posts: 807 Location: Seattle. It purdy and nerdy! |
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Wow, that English cover is terrible, and the Japanese cover is purdy. I actually really kind of hate that most Western (or at least American) book releases are all skewing towards photo montage covers now, even for fantasy books. It works for a few titles, but to me the trend just smacks of wanting to pay less for cover art. -_-
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Tamaria
 Posts: 1512 Location: De Achterhoek |
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Is that the British or American release? I noticed the Americans usually go for photo's, lots of colour and like to put a character on the cover, while the British prefer to keep things simple, going for a "less is more" look. Book covers for teens and adolescents might have other "rules" though. |
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Fawfulhasfury
 Posts: 46 Location: USA |
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I'm going to import this, just because her artwork is absolutely amazing.
I think if it has been the same artwork over here, it would have sold greatly. People would have wondered about the art style and feel of the story, like with Harry Potter or a Series of Unfortunate Events. Yes, they would've also thought it was a book for teens. |
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Kiyomaro
 Posts: 213 Location: Chicago,Illinois |
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Buy both US and Japanese editions and switch the covers. Problem solved.
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