One of the advantages of being published by Poisoned Pen Press is that they insist on producing beautiful and well-made books. I've always loved the covers of the "John the Eunuch" mysteries. You can't go wrong with original Byzantine mosaics.

If a small independent like PPP can afford to lavish attention on their covers imagine what a huge publisher, with all its staff and resources, can do...or maybe not...

You would think that a concern like Doubleday might take a little care with their book packaging. Turns out they use stock photos.

Not only that, some big publishers apparently end up using the same stock photos. Take a look at these covers shown at Dogmaticka via POD-DY Mouth.

OK, so as far as the conglomerates are concrned books are just product, but what's wrong with taking some pride in your product?