Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say

[telophase]

Right! So remember that I am a hobbyist designer of covers for ebooks, specializing in cheap and cheesy cheerful romance?

I've been commissioned to do another paranormal romance book with a dragon shifter in it, and I was perusing other dragon shifter covers on Amazon to get ideas for how to make it look different than my previous ones, which are in a series and need to be distinctly different than the new one, when holy shit, what do I see?

Cover on the left by me, published May 6th. Cover on the right by...dunno, maybe the author, maybe not, published June 12th.



In case you want to go and check out the descriptions yourself: Link to Zoe Chant book. Link to the other book.

Anyway, I'm finding this hilarious, and in a way kind of excited for Zoe that people think her books are worth imitating the cover on (well, she is in the top ten paranormal romance authors as of this writing).

(P.S. I think my cover for BDSM* is kinda rough. I like the one I did for the sequel much better--the scales are nicer, and manage to glow in the right spot as if the sunlight is hitting them.)

*Yes, I see that acronym.

Comments

[selenite.livejournal.com]

Yay for flattery!

Doesn't look to be cutting into Zoe's sales much. But I'd drop a buck for a plagiarism check in her shoes.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

I checked the free sample, and there was exactly zero resemblance any further than the presence of a billionaire dragon shifter, so I don't think we need to worry.

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

That is some chutzpah on display there.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

There's at least one more cover from this author that's using the same general design (color scheme, similar design element behind the title) as another popular author (Bella Forest, who writes dark vampire-type romances).

Doesn't seem to have done them that much good. I suspect they've probably sold just as much as they would have with more original covers.

[rachelmanija.livejournal.com]

The contemporary billionaire books are blatantly ripping off Hannah Ford's "What He Wants" series.

[helen-keeble.livejournal.com]

That is certainly... a thing.

I am amused and boggled by the way the blurb of the copycat contains no paranormal elements at all.

[telophase.livejournal.com]

Yes! XD I guess they picked the NO CLIFFHANGERS part as the important bit! (Well, readers hate it when you have a cliffhanger and then never get around to writing the sequel! I know Zoe's policy is while there may be books that involve characters that appear in other books of hers, all of them are self-contained. Readers seem to really like that.)