Cover Confusion—When two book covers use the same base image.

Never judge a book by it's cover?


On left: The Girl in the Glass; A Novel, 2005
On right: Life is Short but Wide, 2009

Oh, mighty confusion for the customer.

Two different books, published within 3 years of each other. The one on the left came first, the one on the right I saw in my Barnes & Noble email this morning.

Two different publishers, did they hire the same designer? What about the Art Director? Did anyone notice this design faux pas or was it deliberately done to increase the new book's sales? Yes, in most cases we designers pull images from the same stock...but this much similarity in design, including the tiny text within the door panels can't be coincidence. Or can it?

Cover differences:

Text treatment.

Butterfly instead of boots.

One is cropped slightly closer to the viewer.

Higher saturation in image on right.

At any rate, I recommend reading Jeffrey Ford to anyone, The Portrait of Mrs. . Charbuque was an exquisite read. He's the author of the book on the left.

Which cover design do you prefer?

Update: Googled for more info and better written too!