Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Similar Covers: Woman Dressed in Traditional Chinese Clothing

At the end of last year, I found the following email in my inbox:

“As you are an ‘[o]bsessed hunter of lookalike covers…’

Talk about a strange, unsettling déjà vu moment... on the left is the image for Amy Tan’s new short story, being touted as her first fiction in six years, about an aging courtesan and her protege in 1912 Shanghai. On the right [now in the middle] is the cover for a stunning, wrenching collection of brutal stories coming out of one of China’s most atrocious labor camps under Mao. WAAAHHH???!!!”

The email was signed Terry, Book Dragon.

So I present you with the evidence she sent me:


As you can see, I found a third (and earlier) cover that uses the same image. The earliest cover is actually my favourite of the three—although I like the cropping on the middle cover best, I dislike the fact that they added lipstick to the photo. (You can see the original photo here.)

Rules for Virgins by Amy Tan was published by Byliner as a Kindle Single in 2011; Woman from Shanghai by Xianhui Yang (translated by Wen Huang) was published by Knopf Doubleday in August 2009 (read Terry’s review at Book Dragon) and Women’s Movements in Twentieth-Century Taiwan by Doris T. Chang was published by University of Illinois Press in April 2009.

I’ve changed my mind about moving my “similar covers” posts to Thursdays—I will post about my first week of the meditation challenge tomorrow instead!

22 comments:

  1. What happened to originality? Geez!

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  2. I like all three about the same. I didn't realize Amy Tan has a short story out, though. I need to look for that.

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    1. I was happy to hear Tan has a new story out too, Kathy!

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  3. I like Amy Tan's coiver tho it's very similar to the original cover on the far right.

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    1. I find the box with her name in it a bit weird, though.

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  4. I don't understand the lack of original cover art from some of the larger publishers. Is it that expensive to license the rights to a photo? Hmmm. Maybe I should be selling my pictures!

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    1. I bet you could sell your pictures, Leslie, since they are amazing!

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  5. I've referred a few people who found similar covers to you. You're kind of the lookalike cover guru!

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  6. I think those are the most similar covers I've ever seen!

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    1. They are right up there, Nikki-ann, although I must admit I've seen others that are pretty close too (such as these and these and these)!

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  7. Wow -- I'm stunned that they're essentially the same cover -- not even different cropping! (for the most part)

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    1. I do find the way they cropped Tan's cover weird: why leave just that tiny bit of red near her throat? The other two are much more pleasing! (But yeah, I agree, they are pretty darn similar!)

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  8. I like the middle one the best... seems brighter and the title placement seems to flow a bit better.

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    1. As soon as I posted this, I changed my mind about which cover was my favourite, Ti, so I now agree with you (though the lipstick still bothers me, given what that book is about)!

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  9. Wow, these duplicate and in this case triplicate covers always amaze me.

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  10. I like the colors in the second cover.. brighter

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  11. I like the middle the best (the lipstick doesn't bother me-that much). And thank you, thank you, thank you, I didn't know Amy Tan has a new book out. Yay!!

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    1. Martha, note that it's not really a new book -- it's actually a 40-page novella (according to one reviewer on Amazon). In any case, it's shorter than a full-length book. But yeah, I was excited to see she'd written something new too!

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