I got caught up in my rant!

Your point on being similar to other books strikes me as odd. George RR Martin’s “A song of ice and fire” series and Robert Jordan’s “Wheel of time” series, in the uk at least (I’ve seen the god-awful fantasy art covers) all have emblems on the front. These seem to do pretty well and seem like good books to grab a comparison off for your series. They have the benefit of building a reputation already but the sales by cover similarity argument still stands.

I don’t know what the original “Twilight” covers were but the most common ones are the ones with chess pieces etc on them.

I’m not for or against the covers. (although I actually think it makes sense to change from hardback to softccover (you may even get collectors buying both). I’m just pointing out that the article arguments for the “model cover” can also be applied to the “non-model” covers too.

I think an excellent compromise are seen in R.Scott Bakkers “prince of nothing” series which probably keeps everyone happy and still manages to maintain its own identity.