Hey Blurbs ~ You're Ruining My View!

I want to state at the beginning of this post, I am not anti-marketing blurb.  However,  I detest marketing blurbs that ruin the mood of an otherwise exquisite or at the very least, a decent cover.   I understand the importance of a tie in with covers that are part of a series, I understand the importance of letting people know there is a special price offered, but I do not understand just placing a blurb smack over an important part of an illustration or using colors that clash between the blurb and/or cover colors. Poorly placed blurbs disrupt the flow of the cover and often ruin the design.  Thank heavens there are art directors that incorporate the marketing blurbs with their overall design or put them on the back cover or spline.   As usual, I am including examples....do you want the good news first or the bad news?   Heck, lets start with the ones that cause me grief.

Beautiful cover - why smack the blurb on her hair and break the mood?  It's just a small quibble but they didn't need to give the heroine a round, red hat and mar the romance. They could have placed the blurb within the Blaze logo heading next to the title and author's name and not invade the sexy couple below at all.

Cute cover, great title, but super, super ugly yellow blurb.   WHY?   They could have inserted the contest info inside the existing baseball and not disrupt the cover design.

LOL - the cover below has multiple problems. The major one is that the male model does not resemble a  "wild" cowboy, but the blurbs do not help. They tried to blend the title and blurb with the cowboy theme but they failed to rope a winning combo.  Sigh - sometimes words are not necessary.

And now for some good news.  There are blurbs that don't scream, "What were they thinking?" and yet they still convey the marketing message.  Kudos to the art director for the cover below!  I wish the price sticker wasn't covering the edge of the moon but it still is a winner in my book.  The art department used a soft lavender that blends well with the title font.  They did not cover either the heroine or the hero and everything is bathed in soft pastel colors.  Very pretty.

This Silhouette series cover incorporates a marketing blurb and an announcement for the author's 200th release.   The art director used soft golden tones and an elegant touch to create a sexy cover that delivers all of the information without ruining the romantic ambiance of the cover. I love that single rose!

Am I the only one who is bothered by marketing blurbs placed in unfortunate locations?  If I have com padres in the romance world on this subject, leave a comment below and tell me which covers were ruined by a blurb or tell me why they don't even appear on your radar.   

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