UK Hodder & Stoughton paperback covers for Under the Dome

[jchanic]

Lilja has posted the covers for the upcoming release of the UK paperback edition of Under the Dome. There seem to be four different covers, each of which shows a different character from the novel.

http://www.liljas-library.com/section.php?id=54

I'm not sure I like them.

John

[jalexbrown]

I'm not too wild about those covers, to be honest. The look like the sort of cheap cover you'd see on the clearance rack of your local Christian bookstore. They sort of remind me of the covers of a line of fictional books about the Amish written by Beverly Lewis.

As an example...

[DancingCorpse]

I don't like them either. I know the expressions and range of people are good to show the effects of the novel, but they look a bit tacky.

[~Ally~]

These are awful, and definitely do look tacky. I don't understand how they feel those covers will attract a new audience. Whomever came up with those covers--and approved them--needs their head's examined. They aren't visually attractive and having a different "character" from the story is not going to matter when choosing a book as the new readers won't have a clue who the characters are yet anyhow. Horrible.

[Gavvo1976]

Yep, Tacky indeed! I haven't been impressed with any of the re-issued paperback covers by Hodder either. The UK hardcover edition was ok, but I usually prefer the U.S covers. I don't get why they have to have different covers anyways. It is a marketing thing?

[Antony butterworth]

i saw these in my local tesco,s and kinda liked them who are the people

[Alkaline]

I actually really like the covers, think they're pretty classy myself. I much prefer them over the hardback and U.S paperback covers. I went for the old man with the check shirt, which after reading I now see him as Ernie Calvert.

[Grenouille]

I liked them! I got the Hardback as soon as it was released so I didn't buy one but I thought they looked good.

[joshwheatley]

Sure, they're cheap looking and obviously photoshopped, but they work. I prefer these covers to the original release (purple with a dome over a town) because it takes away the sensationalism of 'the dome', instead placing the focus on the characters. It focuses on the emotion of these ordinary folk, boring people who would easily fit in a carpet catalogue. Seeing the varying covers next to each other in the store works well - it is easy to identify that it is about how different people react to something within a community. It is cheesy and B grade, but isn't that why we all love Stephen King?

[Princemeister]

I don't think they looked either tacky or impressive- but they may have been effective in letting casual readers know King had a new book out- as my local WH Smiths had 4 different faces staring up at you from different promo stands on release, instead of the usual 1 stand.

On a seperate note i bought the cover with the old man on it and left it on the floor in my lavatory one night. Then the following morning i was standing in front of the throne ready to let nature take it's course when he caught my eye and completely put me off. I'm willing to bet that that wasn't the way the Maine Man expected to affect my psyche.