The Casual Vacancy Cover Art

The big news in the world of books this week is the release of the cover art for J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy.  I can’t say I’m impressed – it’s very stark and unappealing.  Now, I know there’s irony in judging a book by its cover, but come on.  

I think this is just future proof of how clever Rowling is; she knows she doesn’t have to try to hard on this one to make a killing on it.  Now there’s a second dimension: the first is that all the Harry Potter fans (or their parents) are going to buy it to see if she can maintain her streak with this one.  Now she’s testing that theory – how bear-bones can she make it look and still make more money on it than I’m ever likely to see in my lifetime?

Am I not going to buy it based on the cover art?  Of course not – my reasons for wanting to read it still stand.  But, eventually, I’m going to get around to writing that author review about how Rowling is one of the cleverest sums-a-bitches in the publishing game today…. This is just another piece of proof.

UPDATE!  Check my author review on Rowling here!