cover complaint

I've made my way through the Julia Grey Mystery series by Deanna Raybourn. Though these books are thoroughly enjoyable, I have a gripe I'd like to share:

Who in the world decided it was all right for the covers to go from awesome to skanktastic? (By skanktastic I mean "lame." Why I don't simply write "lame".. that, readers, is a question for another day.)

Look below for references.













Books 1 & 2 are awesome. Classy and interesting.

And the third... is... what? Some dude (Brisbane?) clutching some dudette (Julia Grey??).
It might be because the third book came out not as a mass paperback but as a Trade Paperback, those blasted books with the awkward heights. But why, oh why, did the publishers condone such monstrosity on the covers?

These books are shelved in the MYSTERY section of the bookstores, not in the romance section, though there is a continuous love story in the books. So why is there a bosom-clutching cover on the last book? It doesn't even match the first two covers!

Gah!

Dumb marketers trying to target the romance-reading audience, I curse you!


Grumbling unhappily,
Alice


PS:
Readers, I've figured out how to follow blogs! Hooray! I know, it only took me two years and something...

Furthermore, Sally, I'm feeling a little left out that I'm not invited to your blog. *ahem*..*nudge*... *cough*

Also, my little CURRENTLY READING widget is working thanks to Namoi and Princess April. Hooray for DNs!

Frustrating websites

It irks me to no end when I go to authors' websites and everything is a big heap of mumbo jumbo. When I can't navigate around the page, when things aren't confusing, and when things aren't laid out really simply, I just about want to punch my computer screen.

In this day and age, I feel like a website is crucial to an author's existence. Okay, that might have been a little bit of an exaggeration, but honest to God, I live by my computer.

After I read a really good book, I hop online to see what else the author has written. Then I get nosy. I browse around, go to amazon, check out reviews, what the author likes to do, what he (or she) doesn't like to do, and etc. If I feel like I have a somewhat intimate connection to the author, I feel much more at a kinship with the book that I am in love with. In reverse, if I hate a book, I'll do the same, hoping to vindicate the author of the novel ("Oh maybe she was having an off day...") or the website will further my evaluations of the book ("Gah, the book was bad and the website...")

With that said, I plead to all web designers and authors, and any other company or organization that might remotely need to use websites: please make it look classy and please make it user-friendly.

Sure, I can figure out how to maneuver your website. But I'd rather use that time for something more... interesting.

And it pains me to say it, but in the way I judge a book by its cover (mildly), I judge the author by his/her website.