Books and Cover Art

ByLynn Austin
12 Comments

Every now and then, my publisher sends me copies of the foreign editions of my books. It always amazes me to learn that my novels are being translated and read in different places all around the world, places that I’ll probably never get to visit. I also find the foreign covers very entertaining! Sometimes the publishers use the same cover art as the original book, but sometimes I like the foreign cover design better. And sometimes the covers are—to be honest—quite terrible! I thought I would share some of these foreign editions with you and see what you think.

I received this copy of my novel “Gods and Kings” yesterday. It’s in the Slovenian language:

Here are “Gods and Kings” in Afrikaans, Polish, and Slovakian. I love the fact that my name is Lynn Austinova in Slovakian! Doesn’t that sound cool?

And this one is in Korean:

These are all copies of my book “Hidden Places.” The one in the top row beside the original is in Danish. The bottom two are in Russian and Polish. I think the Russian version looks racier than the original, don’t you?

Here is my original “Eve’s Daughters” with the Dutch version beside it. Below it is the Danish version and the Romanian version. Which is your favorite?

My novel “Until We Reach Home” is about three Swedish sisters who immigrate to America in 1897. I find it amusing that the sisters look the same, but in the US version they are gazing at the statue of liberty, and in the Swedish version they’re saying goodbye to the Swedish coastline.

This is the American version of “Waves of Mercy” compared to the German. The novel takes place in Michigan but the German cover sure looks like Maine to me:

The cover of “Fly Away” on the left is the original US version published in 1996. (Not one of my favorites!) The middle cover is Dutch, and the one on the right is my own reprint with a cover designed by Deb Raney’s very creative, graphic-designer husband Ken Raney:

And finally, these are two of my least favorite foreign covers: A Woman’s Place” in Norwegian and “Fire by Night” in Romanian:

They say you can’t judge a book by its cover, but that doesn’t mean the cover isn’t important! So, what do you think of these foreign editions? I would love to hear your opinion.

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Lynn Austin, a former teacher who now writes and speaks full time. Lynn was recently inducted into the Christy Award Hall for Fame for winning eight Christy Awards for her historical fiction. One of those novels, Hidden Places, has also been made into a Hallmark Channel movie. Lynn and her husband have raised three children and make their home near Chicago, Illinois.

12 Comments

  1. Seeing the different covers for the same book is interesting. What appeals to someone in a different country may be different from what appeals to us as readers. When I toured the Coca Cola plant in Atlanta, I learned that Coca Cola has different formulas for their products in other countries because different flavors appeal to them. Apparently, companies that sell internationally have to take those sorts of differences into consideration.

    1. Thank you for sharing these, Lynn. Even in today’s world I too often forget that there are many different cultures. BTW, I love the new cover of Fly Away. I had not read it and I’m so glad I didn’t miss it the second time around!

  4. So fascinating. In how many different languages are your books translated, Lynn? I understand that not every cover would work in every country but as an author I think it’s really hard to see your “baby” with a cover you don’t like or that doesn’t fit. I don’t buy books by their covers. Then I would have been disappointed quite sometimes. If I don’t know the author I look at the reviews or download the sample. I’m looking forward to read your new book soon.

  5. It’s fascinating to see the foreign covers!

    My books have only been translated into a few languages. In most cases, the foreign publishers kept the original covers. In one case, they kept half of the original. My Stubborn Heart’s cover showed the heroine on the top half and the hero on the bottom half. For the Swedish translation, they kept the heroine and the title bar, but swapped out the hero’s picture for an entirely different image. (I never heard if that was because they couldn’t secure the rights to the image of the original hero, or if they felt the new hero image would be more appealing to their audience). 🙂

  6. I think it’s interesting to see the different cover art. I was actually just thinking about book covers last night. My pet peeve with book covers is seeing people’s faces. I don’t like to see faces on a book cover. Mostly because every person conjures up their own image of book characters and when there’s a face on the book, I feel like some of the imagination work of the reader is taken away. Especially if the face on the book doesn’t match my own version of the character.

  7. It’s always interesting to see how books appear in translation and cover changes. I thought the novel in the lead photo was Croatian! 🙂
    Titles and covers of books published in the UK and Commonwealth countries can change for US editions. I have some books I bought in the UK (where they were originally published) that have a different cover and title from the US ones.

  8. Hi Lynn,
    The difference in these covers is amazing! The lighthouse in the German “Waves of Mercy” looks like a lighthouse I’ve seen in Nova Scotia at Peggy’s Cove, but the terrain at the latter is all rocks. And I agree, the bottom left Norwegian cover for “A Woman’s Place” is horrible!

  9. I sure love your covers for us but I do think the Swedish cover of Until We Reach Home is beautiful. I like the Polish one of Hidden Places. I love the American cover the best for Waves of Mercy. It’s interesting though to see all of these. Thanks for sharing!

  10. I was surprised that they changed your name in some foreign editions! We still call Whelm Whelm rather than William and Marie Marie rather than Mary. But I must say Austinova sounds nice! I’m curious, though, that publishers are allowed to translate your books without your consent and you only know about the translations after they are done!

  11. Fascinating… No print publisher yet*, but for e-book cover designs, I work
    with my artist cousin, explore the concepts, and I’ve learned so much. Her insights might mean just a slight adjustment, but the impact is impressive. Agree 100% with Betsy about faces. Mr Darcy, with the wrong face ? Fatal. * I’m writing the books planned in five synopses, asked for by one of the Five. No deal,
    then, just completed the fourth.

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