Lexicon Covers

Why do your covers always include "a novel"?
Did someone confuse Company with a real life account of a corporation?

I like the Jennifer Governmenty-one more, except that it looks too much like Jennifer Government. I live in the U.S. though so I guess I won't see it.

The one I get is too warbly.

The U.S. cover sucks..

I suppose I should qualify that statement by saying its too bold, too garish, and too busy for my tastes. My eyes are flitting all over the place when I try to look at it, and this bugs me.

Yeah, warbly.

Yea... The US one is all over the place, literally it would seem. The idea isn't bad, but the finished product looks way too cramped. The UK one reminds me of what you'd see for a supernatural/occult thriller. Which, maybe Lexicon is? :P

I like both covers. And I like that there's a new Max Barry book behind both of them. And... did I hear the movie rights have already been optioned? Max, you are on fire!

I really like the blue one, but I'm in the US, so that's not the one I will be able to buy. Oh well, it's the inside that counts, right?

I love the U.S. one :) But, knowing me, I'll find a way to get the other copy and buy it too. Darn you, making obsessive fans out of us all. You know, obsessive fans TOTALLY trying to play it cool, because who geeks out this much over a writer?

Samuel Johnson in 1755 was the first great lexicographer but now 257 years later we have Max Barry the second great lexicographer - mazel tov Max - Yours S.

Where do they find their eye models?? I agree the eyeball reminds me too much of Jennifer Government, looks cool, but has already been done!
I'll look forward to this one's release next year. I've got Machine Man on my Christmas list, I can't believe I don't own it yet!

I like the US Cover better. The other is too much like the Jennifer Government one. Always presuming, that Lexicon is different... I guess in Europe they prefer to have covers that have something like brand recognition.

@gStein: With the title "Lexicon" the additional "a novel" might be helpful - for the poor unknowing masses never having heard of Max

I like the US cover. It's very in your face, which seems appropriate for the concept of the book. Can't wait for June!

Killer-Awesome-Wicked!

alright. time to add it to the top of my Goodreads "to-read" list. :P when can i preorder?

I like the US/Canadian cover just fine, although it is hard to say how apposite the style might be without having read the novel. Were you tempted to add another letter "x" to the title? ;) That would be a great inside joke for all Maxx Barry fans.

I like them both, but I think the UK version would be better off without the "Nothing is alive..." teaser. I'm looking forward to picking it up.

I prefer the American one, but having your name larger than the title of the book? That's a scary path to go down...

I like both the covers, but I do like the UK one better. I think its nice with the resemblance to Jennifer Government... and I just like blue a lot besides. More importantly I just want to read it!! Really looking forward to it... and will you be making a trailer for this book as well?

I haven't been this excited since the last time you updated your site Max!
I've always said the biggest problem with literature is that I can read faster than my favourite authors can write... So thanks for doing your part to once again quench my thirst ;D

So the recent upheaval involving Penguin and Random House will have no effect on Lexicon's arrival? Penguin can tell Random House to step off and leave their properties & authors alone?

First, not fond of the American cover.

Now, what I wanted to say: used to, when I pictured Australia, I pictured kangaroos, surfing, koalas, desert, operas, and trains. Now, I picture you boxing a kangaroo while holding a koala, surfing on top of a train through the desert while singing opera. ... What a great country!

I like the UK cover best; but I'll buy whichever is cheapest.

What's the story about anyway? I'm gonna buy it anyway, just curious :P

i like the US cover, which is good, cause that's the one i'm getting.

whenwhenwhenwhenwhen!!!!!!!?????? waaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnttttt!!!!!!! can't wait.

Any chance you can convince your publisher to use the UK cover here in the States, it is by far superior.

...maybe im a little late, I like the US and Canada one more because it has "Why did you do it?" hidden in the random lettering scattered around the cover. i didn't notice at first, when you first posted this, but now that i look again...well, now i want to know why i did it.

When did you change your name to "Mvabx?" Is this some sort of retread of the old "Maxx" mistake, boss? ;)

I don't "pirate", and I've bought four of your books, Max. But digital books are such a complete ripoff that I expect they'll drive me to take illegal action once they displace conventional books (like pay, but break the DRM and save the file in a way that it can't be taken away or locked to a device I don't control).

Publishers are currently selling new digital books for nearly the same price as conventional books, even though a digital book is vastly less expensive to distribute, and also a digital book has much less value.

How so? With a conventional book, it must be printed on paper and shipped to stores, and the publisher has to guess accurately what the demand will be, and if they guess wrong either they will lose sales (more demand than supply) or they have to eat the extras. They have to share the profits with the whole retail chain, and allow for markups at each stage. With a digital "book", there are no printing or storage costs, and no remainders to deal with. The author's royalties are (or should be) the same, as is the cost of editing and preparing the markup. After that, costs are miniscule: the marginal cost of preparing and electronically "shipping" one additional book is near-zero.

OK, I "buy" a digital book. But I own nothing! With a paper book, I can sell it (and recover some of the money), or donate it to a library (and get a tax deduction), or give it to a friend (saving the money I'd have to pay to buy that friend a copy of the book). The electronic "book" is locked to a specific electronic device, and the company that controls access to that device reserves the right to lock me out of all "my" digital content if there's a dispute about my account (and yes, Amazon has done that), or even "disappear" the book entirely if there's a rights dispute ... just electronically delete all of the customers' copies, including the notes they might have written (and yes, Amazon has done that).