1. Book cover artists like to get paid for their art. 2. This cover was approved by someone whose job it was to read the book. 3. Just because you don’t get the symbolism doesn’t mean it convey properly to the target audience, of which you are not. I think you should just admit that you don’t understand the process and let it go.
Wait that is interesting bc I have a copy of shokos smile (American) and it’s pink and orange with interesting font, not the coffee cups. There’s no imagery on that copy
The worst one in English I've ever heard (not from crying, but from the parent being angry) "I gave you life, and I can take it away"... are we not gonna talk about how that is literally a death threat?
Not only Koreans I am American and all my life I have heard "I'll give you something to cry about" "you don't know what real stress is" "stop it you're choosing to feel this way" And then they act shocked when you aren't emotionally available anymore.
Unfortunately as the designer we only get a prompt for the art from our managers or team and design to that spec, anything outside that is going to upset them. So if it's a bad design, that's their fault.
For my experience as an American woman i find that women in this country talk about their stories with things like coffee, tea or wine. It might be a cultural divide thing though.
@@KotK4627 I’m not trying to start anything either, I just wanted to say as a third party, I could tell they were using sarcasm, but I couldn’t tell that yours was a joke.
@@EmptyRay It doesn't really matter either way. You should always give everyone the benefit of the doubt when it comes to joking online. Unless they use tone indicators, then more power to you.
Is that the Korean equivalent of American parents yelling “shut up and stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry about”? It just means I’m going to hit you and make you regret being born.
You can see how this is done very well and terrible with Terry Pratchetts discworld novels. The old editions in my country had wonderful hand drawn covers that contained many many details from the story that you would recognise as you progressed with the story. The newer editions have super ugly generic digital cover art that has very little to do with the story
I posted this elsewhere, but I'm also going to make it a top-level comment. As the target audience for this cover -- female American reader -- I see two women talking about important issues in their lives over a hot beverage of some sort. That seems an appropriate vibe for a book about the layered relationships among women.
I will say this a rulle of thumb is to not blame the desogners themselves. Its like blaming a low lever employee that your long standing discount was taken away. Its not their fault. Who you can blame is the management team and their laziness. Maybe the art director is also to blame if they were directly involved. The publishing house is to blame most of the time because they just wanna pump out as many products as possible.
See sometimes its not the designers fault. Whoever told them to do that prolly wanted to market towards ypung women or whatever, and hough a way, cute pretty covers is the way to go Like how some believe that if you put explosions in media, boys will be running to see it. Id suggest going with a freelancer that way ypu can talk with them directly. Or ask for a mock up of the cover and of its not what you want pull it. People who cant fallow simple directions dont deserve money.
Insane! My parents used to say «why are you crying ? Stop pouting! » with a cold tone and I’m Congolese. It’s like children are not allowed to BE human
that's not the designers job, but I agree with the sentiment, another example is what American publishers did to Lolita, making the focus of all marketing for the book and other media the young girl, when that was specifically the one thing the original writer didn't want to happen.
THE COVER DESIGNERS AREN'T THE ONES WHO MADE THE DECISION YOU IGNORANT SWINE! The publisher tells the designer what to draw! The author should have spoke to the publisher if she felt the cover was bad
I've been looking for a new Korean novel to read. I just finished "Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop" and I didn't know what author to choose next, so I will read this based on your description. You are right the English cover is not nearly as evocative as the Korean cover. I get tired off the cartoony cover art on a lot of American books in particular lately. But it even shows up on our murder mystery covers so an avid reader will probably pay more attention to the deacription of to recommendations.
@@AurorXZ Not really? Looks like every generic random €5.99 soft-cover crime mystery on the shelves of your local superstore by some author with an incredibly forgettable name who you've never even heard of. The MC is some rugged and disgraced former detective who has turned to alcoholism after losing his wife and 3-7 year-old daughter, but still keeps getting cases because he's just _that_ good. He has some sort of personal connection (or develops some sort of personal connection) with the girl on the cover, who is either dead or the mastermind behind whichever crime he's investigating. They probably had one night full of passionate love-making at some point that's both horribly written and kind of irrelevant to the plot, which is why he feels so compelled to crack the case. If it's not _her_ who he had the passionate night with, it's either her sister or bestie and they're the ones who roped him into taking the case.
I like sci-fi and fantasy. Most of them also have covers irrelevant to the story. I've only seen truly appropriate covers for books by the most famous authors and even those are hit or miss.
I got into translated fiction 4 years ago, and this was one of the most recommended books when I started out. I liked the contrast with his friend - lack of emotion and being overwhelmed by emotion all the time. I like how you described the themes of empathy and apathy.
The two characters are essentially foils, and it's why their relationship is so fascinating. Watching their dynamic was a big part of enjoying the book.
