OK, folks, I have until tomorrow to select an image for my book’s cover. Here are some images that I’m considering, and I need help choosing. Think crisis literature, liquid capital, fluidity, etc. Of course, you have to imagine the photoswithout the “Istock” logo on them. Please vote in the comments.
Image 1:
Image 2:
Image 3:
Image 4:
Image 5:
Image 6:
Image 7:
If they all stink, I can keep looking.
Clarissa's Blog 
Do you have to use an istock photo? For my book (collection not monograph), I actually selected an image from a museum that was noteworthy and that I discussed in the intro. The press took care of all permissions and everything. I just had to tell them the illustrator, the title, and send them a link. Do you discuss any images at all? Or is there maybe an artist that produces work that can be provocative in this context?
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I only found out about this today and have to make a decision by 5 pm tomorrow. So it’s got to be one of these images or none at all. They moved the date of publication to to 3 months earlier and now everything has to be done very fast.
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In order of preference: 6, 1, then 4.
But it may be worth hiring a designer to come up with a unique cover page. It’s not too expensive.
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They have designers who will integrate the image into the cover and do the fonts, etc. I have to select the image, though.
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Any image of water/streams is going to be too on the nose for a book about ‘fluidity’. I’d avoid that.
Honestly, I don’t like any of these. A thought: how about one of these global maps of people/cargo flows? Talk about capital flight!
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Yeah, I thought the waterfalls might be a bit too direct. How about the sand clock? Like in, time is running out, idiots!
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I definitely like the sand clock idea much more.
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I also happen to love sand clocks to the point where I used to steal them as a child. Because I couldn’t stand the idea of them all not belonging to me. 🙂
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I like this: the zoomed-in shot gives off a sense of urgency.
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None of the them. What’s the book title?
#1, #2, #6 look like they belong on the front of a nature guide, #3 looks like a finance/math textbook, #4  look like a business book where they talk about time being money, and #7 is the cover of “The Bookseller’s Wife” or the beginning of a language software program where you go to buy books. I like Stringer’s suggestion.
Honestly, a melting globe with the axis looking like a dollar sign would look cool. The globe is being transformed into a more liquid state like ice goes to water.
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“#7 is the cover of “The Bookseller’s Wife” or the beginning of a language software program where you go to buy books”
The tile is: Literature of Crisis: Spain’s Engagement with Liquid Capital.
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Something like this:
Embed from Getty Images
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It doesn’t show.
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No idea how to embed:
link to melting globe
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I don’t want people to think I will be talking about the environment, though. I had to cut out the part about the environment, actually.
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Yep, the waterfalls are way too idyllic for this. The hourglass idea is better but I don’t like those particular hourglasses – they’re rather unimpressive, visually, and don’t really suggest urgency. Out of the original images, I’d pick the one with the books
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Yes, it’s like, behold the beauty of liquid capital. And then the book says the opposite.
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Beautiful, yes, but they’re beautiful in a rather sleepy manner. Sitting by watching the waterfalls is precisely the sort of thing liquid capital leaves no time for.
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GOOD point. Plus, it’s destructive to nature.
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One hourglass I rather like :
[img src=”http://media.istockphoto.com/photos/hourglass-picture-id115922825″]http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/hourglass-gm115922825-2533084[/img]
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And I can’t get embedding to work so here’s another one on the theme of time running out http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/time-is-running-out-gm529052572-93188021
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Oh wow, this is a good one.
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I like the images of the world made up of currency.
Two World Maps Created with a Country’s Own Currency Maybe have that kind of image zoomed in on Spain with a water effect over it?
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How about something like this: still a stream (or waterfall), but instead of water, it’s dollar bills that are flowing down the stream/waterfall? Google “dollar bills flowing” there are all sorts of images with money coming out of pipes etc., flowing, flying, etc.
I personally think a nature picture is better than a money picture because it’s not that obvious. For instance, Jackson’s book Electrodynamics, which every grad student in physics suffered through at some point, has a cover that has nothing to do with electrodynamics and is a mountain peak… Because electrodynamics is freakin’ hard, like climbing Mt Everest. Every grad student must have thought about the choice of the cover, which is an added benefit in never forgetting the book.
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That’s an interesting idea. To do something completely unrelated to make people stop and think. Plus, even academics stop to leaf through a book at an exhibit because of the way the cover looks.
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What’s the point you want the cover to convey to the reader?
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They stink. What about something like one of these..?
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-19768354
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I quite like 3
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More…
https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2013/02/15/8154776403_08455ea987_c-854fc877d068886f9580ce5bf2c4fee652428004.jpg?s=6
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It would be great if it were something Spain-specific but I’m not seeing anything like that. I’ll keep looking.
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cliched but…
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If you wanted to put buildings on the cover, you could put a photo of a European central bank.
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frayed flag underwater….
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSyBc_QnGuhGRBgobeK0AXuvwKErSNPKdCc7I6U7Pp5AZIfYIm9Yw
kind of like this…
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRmqaw-QnitKbcnk7cFYYVf2GhX3KHWa5cVW2p3G2P6rdy1WAvQ
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Spanish paintings:
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It has to be from istock
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Image 03, but only if the arrow went in the opposite direction.
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I liked this one
http://www.istockphoto.com/il/photo/sinking-euro-ship-with-a-torn-flag-gm494499100-77476741
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Now it will appear here
http://media.istockphoto.com/photos/sinking-euro-ship-with-a-torn-flag-picture-id494499100?s=2048×2048
http://media.istockphoto.com/photos/eurozone-financial-crisis-picture-id174929050
This is probably too boring:
http://www.istockphoto.com/il/vector/crisis-concept-gm685920700-125963647
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Waterfall images might work better if you include some fish struggling upstream to their inevitable deaths.
https://www.google.com/search?q=salmon+swimming+upstream&tbm=isch
https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js
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This is funny. 😋 I’m liking this thread.
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This would be a great choice! You want an eye-catching image, and there’s no way anyone’s passing up thumbing through a book with this bear on it!
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Istock image of a planet in an hourglass melting
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