Fun With Covers

Ask most authors what is one of the most exciting aspects of their book being published, and nine times out of ten they'll mention getting their book cover designed. No matter how many books we've written and cover request sheets we've turned in, it never gets old seeing that cover mock-up hit our inboxes. I can't tell you how many squee moments I've had seeing my covers for the first time. Well, actually that's not true. I have 16 original covers, a repackaged cover, an anthology cover, and 2 yet-to-be released covers, so I guess than means I've had exactly 20 cover squee moments to date. Side note: Clearly that math in school paid off. 

I've been super fortunate with my covers. I can honestly say I've loved them all. It  helps that Samhain has a kick ass art department with uber talented artist in their stable. I'm also lucky that my good friend Becky McGraw--who does my self pubbed covers--is exceptionally gifted in cover design and knows exactly what it takes to make my covers stand out in a good way.

But no blog post on book covers would be complete without acknowledging some of the less fortunate recipients out there. To protect the innocent, I won't single anyone out. But I'm sure y'all have seen some real doozies. This post has some particularly astounding WTF offenders. A quick browse through any stock image site usually leaves me scratching my head over a few of the image offerings. Buzzfeed has a great post that pretty much sums up everything I've ever thought on the subject. The only thing I can figure is the folks at these stock image sites have a really twisted sense of humor for thinking this qualifies as sexy menage material.

So what's the strangest cover/ and or stock image you've ever seen? Did it turn you off from wanting to know more about the book? Or the opposite?