S P A C E C O W B O Y S

Maybe it’s ok to bite the hand that feeds sometimes—like when the hand trying to make you swallow a fist full of shite, as was the case when my friend, Jim Frost, learned of the cover chosen by the publisher of his debut novel. I read an early draft of the book, so I have to admit that certain elements of the cover that St. Press selected do relate to the story, but only in the same way that the face of Frankenstein’s Monster relates to the face of, say, Scarlett Johansen.

Anyway, Jim went and made lemonade by commisioning local sticker artist Dave Warnke to design a new cover, printed on a sticker, so that family, friends and fans could hack the book with a more suitable cover.

Here’s the before (left) and after (right):

Essentially he’s asking people to hack the cover, which fits this age of DIYism we’re in, where consumers often turn into designers &/or innovators when they take their off-the-rack purchase and remix the corporate influences out of ‘em. I can see why the publishers are being quiet in this case. The only thing they offer is a press and the trust of the public that they have good taste, and but technology is undermining the former, and the cover spat undermines the latter… they’re fucking scared, and they should be…

Links:

Jim’s account of the cover imbroglio

Buy a copy of Jim’s novel