PUBLISHERS: Cover Credit?

[Glyfair]

From my perspective, putting a name on the cover is entirely an advertising move from the publisher. If you have someone well known enough to draw people to your product, you want to advertise it (Gygax would be the prime example).

If I was someone who bought products based on whose work I like, I would certainly look at the credits. If I don't look at the credits, I probably wouldn't notice a running theme, even if the name was on the cover.

Even though I do try to notice somewhat (I'm not firmly in the camp of paying attention, although I lean that way now), it's not always clear who is responsible for the quality of the work. For example, I was very impressed with Mike Mearls' product for Atlas "In the Belly of the Beast. I liked the design and the way it had sidebars suggesting ways to customize the adventure. However, that wasn't necessarily his touch. It could have been the publishers house policy and maybe he could care less. After several products I noticed the trend was that I liked Mearls' products and found Atlas to have their ups and downs (more ups, though).

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[mearls]

Who's this Mike Mearls guy everyone's talking about?

And yes, I'm being serious. What has he written?

I've been known to write the occasional RPG product:

http://www.mearls.com/mearls_credits.html

 

[Crothian]

I've been known to write the occasional RPG product:

http://www.mearls.com/mearls_credits.html

Most Impressive. I didn't realize you had done so much.

 

[Black Knight]

While I would love to see my name on the cover of a book (especially my first book: Interludes: Brief Expeditions to Bluffside by Thunderhead Games <--- cheap plug!), I don't really even see that happening in the future. Unless you are Gary Gygax, Monte Cook, Steve Miller or any of the rest of the "big guys" that were some how related to WotC, names mean nothing.

Heck, Monte Cook wrote the Blood Guardian prestige class in Interludes. When the product hit the shelves (or pdf) people had made the comment that he wrote the whole module. While I find this to be funny (no way that my writing can be confused with Monte's), it made me think that my name on the cover should have been an option. If I remember right, Thunderhead Games even entertained the idea of putting my name on the cover and decided that they didn't want to cramp the cover's dynamic artwork with extras.

 

[Lizard]

I've been known to write the occasional RPG product:

http://www.mearls.com/mearls_credits.html

Ah-HAH! It was YOUR Tree People!

While Mythic Races was in production, I woke up one morning and suddenly had an entire race of tree people in my head. I wrote them up in one massive surge of creativity and sent it off, even though they weren't one of the races I'd originally mentioned wanting to work on. I got back a polite "Thank you, but we've already got one" reply.

So it goes.

 

[Davelozzi]

credits are good

I'd have to say that as a customer, author names have always been important to me. I feel that any product written primarily by one person should have his/her name on the cover.

Also, I agree with Nathal on some of the specifics too, Aaran Allston and Colin McComb were two of my favorite authors when they were active in the industry.

 

[Frilf]

For those who are unfamiliar, Mr. Mearls has written a Tenser's Disc-full of top-notch RPG stuff for d20. Now, if we could only get him to write something for us... Email us sometime, eh, Mike?

As far as front page credit goes, it would read like this:

MIKE MEARLS PRESENTS
>>Gratuitous Cover Art<<
x product name
legal disclaimers, et al

Or something like that. The cornugon is in the details
Have a great one everyone.

Cheers!

 

[Brian W]

Cover Credit

Erik,

I've enjoyed reading this discussion very much.

Here's my opinion of why publishers might not give cover credit for authors:

#1: A lot of books are written to spec. For example: we sit down at lunch at FFG and decide we'll publish a book called Spells & Spellcraft, that will not only have a bunch of new spells, but rules for alchemal labs and familiars and whatever else. The book developer writes up an outline of the book, listing the new systems he'd like to see, the contents of all the chapters, maybe even a short written example of how he wants things to appear. Let's say he gets just one freelancer to write the whole book. Whose name should appear on the cover? Obviously the freelancer wrote the whole book, and designed the systems and spells; but the whole concept of the book and the decision of what to include came from the company, as well as the editing of the author's writing and design. Are readers purchasing it because of the quality of the writing or because the idea and content of the book? Certainly they're both factors, and certainly the author deserves writing credit, but they wrote the book to spec. It would be a different situation if an author pitched us a book with a cool idea, and then wrote the whole thing. But then there's also....

#2: A company wants its fans to buy their book based on the line, not the author. We have editors and developers on staff to oversee the project and to ensure that the quality of the writing and the content remains consistant throughout the line, by creating guidelines, outlines, and editing or even rewriting sections as needed. Ultimately it's our job to make sure the quality of our lines remains high, and it's our job to find authors who can write and design well. We want our fans to trust our judgement and to know that regardless of the author, Path of the Sword is going to adhere to the same quality standards as Traps & Treachery.

That's my two cents anyway.

 

[Nathal]

Re: Cover Credit

Erik,

#1: Are readers purchasing it because of the quality of the writing or because the idea and content of the book? Certainly they're both factors, and certainly the author deserves writing credit, but they wrote the book to spec. It would be a different situation if an author pitched us a book with a cool idea, and then wrote the whole thing. But then there's also....

I know you're writing to Erik, so I hope you don't mind if I respond. I think readers will look first at the idea and content of the book and then hope it is written well.
If the idea is great and the writing good, then he will buy again, probably remembering both the author (especially if displayed) and the brand. If the book has great ideas and is poorly written, it reflects badly both on the author and the publisher (but perhaps less so for the author if his name is not on the cover). If the book has bad ideas written well, that is a sad state indeed...I'd probably look at who the editor was and feel sorry for that talented fellow. In sum, I don't think the name of the author should be larger than the brand logo or that it needs to be in glowing colors. I do think it ought to be on the cover, because many do look for that in addition to brand recognition. To my amazement, many stores shrink-wrap their books so the customer cannot page through them (very stupid thing to do in the RPG biz!), and so having both author and brand recognized on the cover is equally important to me...as a consumer.

#2: A company wants its fans to buy their book based on the line, not the author. We have editors and developers on staff to oversee the project and to ensure that the quality of the writing and the content remains consistant throughout the line, by creating guidelines, outlines, and editing or even rewriting sections as needed. Ultimately it's our job to make sure the quality of our lines remains high, and it's our job to find authors who can write and design well. We want our fans to trust our judgement and to know that regardless of the author, Path of the Sword is going to adhere to the same quality standards as Traps & Treachery.

Traps and Treachery was excellent, got rave reviews from many sources, and set the name of your company high on the quality list, at least in my book. You are quite right that it's your job to find authors who can write and design well. Doesn't it follow that your authors could benefit greatly from being associated with your brand name? At least from a consumer's point of view...unless they fly under the radar. I do not believe, however, that cover credit is needed on a book that has more than two primary authors.

Of course, I'm not suggesting that RPG companies showcase their authors as if they are all a bunch of Neil Gaimans or Steven Kings in-the-making, as this *is* a game industry, and I agree that brand recognition is much more important than in the world of fantasy fiction. I mean, nobody gives a damn who will publish the next book by Robert Jordan, I don't think, so long as they can read it without a microscope.