You are correct. Everyone has his own tastes. The real question is how successful any author or publisher is content to be. An experienced publisher republishing for the Italian market is not necessarily sufficiently experienced in publishing for the woldwide english language market. The market is different, the buyers are different, and their expectations of quality, content and presentation are different. Not least of which are cultural norms and the expectations different cultures have in their publications.

The problem with going with a pastiche copy of a famouscover is that it only works if you're trying to sell a pastiche product, and the market for that type of product is very small. That doesn't seem to be the product you are writing, which seems to be a serious piece, but the questions you need to ask yourself is, "Who are my customers?", "Why are they buying my book?" and "What is the best value I can give them in this book?"

Once you have the answers to those three questions, the presentation and polish of the whole package should be tailored to give as close to that as you can get. Because how you title your book, how you present it structurally inside, how you cover it, how you describe it on the cover, how you illustrate it, and even how thick and weighty, all say exactly what you choose to say to your readers. And each contributes it's little piuece to how successful the product is.

I wasn't trying to be disparaging in my comments, I was describing what I was seeing. I don't know anything about who painted it, but if it looks like a cheap ripoff of the classic red box, and if it looks amateurish to me, it will looks that way to a lot of people. The question really is whether or not that is the image that accurately portrays your work and the value you are selling your customers.

I face honest criticism every day, and I forget that some people are just not used to it. But, if I had just said, "Go with image 1", I would not have been being honest and I could not have contributed anything. And perhaps there is a line to be drawn between something someone is doing for their own amusement and it doesn't matter what it looks like, and something someone is doing because he has the intent to succeed in a very competative industry.

So here's the very best advice I can give, honestly and without prejudice.

Send a PM or chase down the e-mail address for Edward Raggi. He has the intelligence and lucidity in his writing to be able, if he chooses, to convey to you what he has learned in the last few years about publishing and bringing a product to market. He has made very wise and considered decisions, and presented his products to market in the best manner the current market and any new publishing enterprise could hope for. I sincerely hope he will give you the time and advice he is able.

Also, We have Extsr (Frank) on the forum. Frank has an ability with word crafting that is just sublime. He is a natural, and the sort of advice he would be able to offer, if he had the time, would be immeasuarble. Even if it were just his opinion of your opening chapters/introduction, and what you said on the rear cover. These are the two parts of the book people will judge the whole book's worth upon.

And, if your able to chase him down and he had the time to give you advice, RJK still lurks. The list can go on. I have found that people of talent, success and experience are always willing to provide a little considered advice, if you are willing to seek out that advice. And having the patience and wisdom to collect that advice and bring it together is the difference between bringing a product to market, and bringing a good product to market.

What is the book geared toward - OD&D, 1E, BX, BECMI, 2E, 3E, 4E? The art style doesn't fit any edition of D&D. Each version of D&D had its own look.

I would suggest making a cover illustration in a style that looks like it could have been published in that particular era of D&D. The primary problem with these covers is that they stylistically do not fit with any of the eras of D&D.

I think the drow chick looks hot.

ashmire13 wrote:If you can, I'd seriously drop the Drow. But as I said, it may bring in newer gamers, it depends on your target audience.
But the fact its very WotC and the book is purely TSR, is confusing.
'Hunting Dragons' works too...

It's too late now to any changes and, believe me, I really appreciated the advice (except that 'amateur' comment) but I trust Danilo Moretti's good judgement  

lawrenson wrote:...therefore lets stick some tits on

  

Oh, the irony.  

Seriously, whether I used the wrong word 'amateur' or not, the cover defines the quality of the product and the value you as the author perceive that you are bringing to market. You have asked  for the opinion of some of the most die hard geekiest collectors in the business, most of whom will throw money at anything just to have one (I certainly do), and a lot of people are telling you this is the wrong image to be using to portray your product. What does it actually say about how serious you are about the work, and how careful and diligent you have been in collating it?

Yes, we're all likley to buy a copy just for the hell of it and because everyone buys copies when someone writes something. It's part of the community thing. But outside of the personal achievement, is this meant to be a serious marketable product, or is it just a homebrew product done with POD?

mbassoc2003 wrote:But outside of the personal achievement, is this meant to be a serious marketable product, or is it just a homebrew product done with POD?

As I have stated before, I am really interested in your comments because I am a member of this community and happy to be so, but I understand that twenty people answering are not the market and this is not a 'focus group'. But I know that we are not the main target of this book: we already know a lot and we have a great site to refer to. Again, this is NOT a homebrewed product: I'm not a newbie in wiriting, because I have already written hundreds of articles, edited a couple of magazines (and a third still running), wrote and (not self) published a couple of books about RPGs and collecting (in Italian) and I know how to write (the need for expert language advice of course involved an English mothertongue supervisor/editor   ); I chose a professional book designer and illustrator, Danilo Moretti; I found a professional publisher, Wild Boar, and we all concurred that a retro D&D feeling on the cover and for the book's interior pages was a good idea; the publisher of course had major input, for example insisting on cleavage    (well...); the book will be professionally printed and distributed in Europe and, if everything goes well, the US and Canada. Then it could bomb terribly - there is no way to know it before it's actually published    But we all did our very best putting long, long hours in writing, editing and so on. This is a team effort, not a one man show. And for any smart ass comments about 'amateurs' please refer to the Gary Gygax interview on EN World, just to have an idea about the quality of my work.

PS: let's not forget Mark Shipley, aka Formcritic, that is the GREAT author for the Judges Guild chapter!

The treasure chest in the background, or the treasure chest in the foreground?

::rimshot::  

Having read the content, it is a very useful guide and collection of information about those early TSR products.

Regardless of my opinion on the cover, the addition of the drow breasts will almost certainly bring newer players to the older products.
I think even old/long time collectors will find it interesting, if not hugely useful as they may know it already.
Once it is in the public domain, I suspect that it will be received well, for what its content is.