Here we have another epic battle between the UK and the USA

This time the book in question is Gold — The highly anticipated third book from Chris Cleave.

This one follows his huge success with The Other Hand / Little Bee and of course, his publishers on both sides of the Atlantic will be desperate to maintain the success of that novel.

So lots of pressure for everyone involved…

The USA publishers (on the right above) have chosen to ride the ‘continuity’ wagon.

Their cover looks very like the one they created for Little Bee. Quite clearly their plan is to stay ‘on brand’ and remind consumers of the imagery that adorned Cleave’s previous big seller.

This makes perfect sense and the cover looks fine. Nothing special and certainly a little bit too ‘One Day’ for our liking — but let’s face it — this cover isn’t about great design. It’s about looking as though it has come from the same author as the last one.

In stark contrast, the UK publishers have left the style of the previous cover far behind them.

In fact, they have taken such a radical turn, this cover looks unlike almost anything else on the market. It is extremely bold, will look fabulous on the shelf and just as impressive as a thumbnail.

From a strategic point of view, the important thing to note here is that the UK publishers have recognised the successful cover they produced for The Other Hand has been copied far too much for any kind of follow-up to deliver proper impact.

It might have looked like a good strategy on paper to follow the USA approach of ‘continuity’ but in practise it would have delivered a very bland cover.

So very bravely, the UK publishers have ‘gone the other way’.

They have jettisoned anything to do with Cleave’s previous covers and instead have chosen to remind consumers that Cleave is a ‘big author’ by producing a design that is so different from anything else out there that he stands quite on his own.

This is bold publishing, we applaud it wholeheartedly and are quite sure that it will work..