I love this post. I'm currently reading a book (US publication) because the cover was so compelling I found myself running to the library to grab it before anyone else did. It's called Shmutz by Felicia Berliner, and so far, the insides of this book are as grabby as the outside. I'd love to know more about the book jacket industry and the artists who get these gorgeous books in front of of our eyes. Best of luck to all the publishing writers on this thread. May your covers have readers running to bookshops and libraries everywhere.
Oh this is a brilliantly timed read for me. The design team at Penguin are currently running a competition to come up with ideas for mine and I am both intrigued and anxious about what they come up with. I feel like Ann about it (in that I know very little about the art of the cover design) and have basically given zero brief myself and I keep reminding myself that they are the experts (eeeek!)
Thanks for this interesting post Hattie. I've always been fascinated by book covers. They're a close cousin to album covers, but they have more work to do. You can't just have grainy photo of five brooding people standing with arms crossed in an old warehouse. I'm a musician and a writer and I learned design very early making band flyers and websites so I do most of my own design work. It's such a wonderful puzzle to try to find a visual combination of elements that will not just grab attention, but invoke the right emotional response. Great covers feel like the residue of a dream after you've woken up-- there's the feeling of the story and some symbolic artifacts but nothing more and nothing less.
My first book was published in 2018. For a good ten years I had envisioned that cover. And for months while editing with my editor, I kept wondering when my opinion on that very-important-to-me cover would be asked. I was so surprised when I received an enthusiastic email saying, “we hope you love the cover as much as we do!” It was not at all what I had envisioned. I came around to thinking it was wonderful and pretty perfect given the story, but I also quickly realized how completely naive I was about the publishing process and how little control I had over certain aspects like design. For my next contracts we had language that said I had some say in the process, but this boils down to “color” and nothing to do with artistic collaboration. I guess I’m resigned. I’m the author, not an expert in marketing or illustration. Even so...I think about it a lot.
Ah, this is right up my street! I spend far too long thinking about this - and I've definitely bought copies of books purely based on the cover design, even if I know I'm not going to read them. Thinking of book covers as a little works of art is absolutely right, and it is a terrible shame that some of the best designers don't get the credit they most definitely deserve. My favourite - and I have actually framed a copy of the book at home - is a Penguin Classics reissue of Nineteen Eighty-Four, in the classic orange fiction cover, but with the title blacked out, as if by a censor in the Ministry of Information. Amazing.
We had a lot of fun working with Unbound on the cover design for the OneTrackMinds book; the team presented us with three different design concepts, one of which was so obviously the right one that we wondered if the other two were presented to us as decoys...
Such a fascinating area - and I love Ann Patchett's summary. I feel the same! I feel lucky in that the illustrator for mine came up with something far batter than I could ever have imagined. But there was so much that went into the process I'd never even considered before. Things like how it will look as a thumbnail when people are scrolling Amazon on their phone.
I love this post. I'm currently reading a book (US publication) because the cover was so compelling I found myself running to the library to grab it before anyone else did. It's called Shmutz by Felicia Berliner, and so far, the insides of this book are as grabby as the outside. I'd love to know more about the book jacket industry and the artists who get these gorgeous books in front of of our eyes. Best of luck to all the publishing writers on this thread. May your covers have readers running to bookshops and libraries everywhere.
Just googled it Carolyn – I see what you mean! Great cover.
I'd like to know more about the book jacket industry too – to be continued...
Oh this is a brilliantly timed read for me. The design team at Penguin are currently running a competition to come up with ideas for mine and I am both intrigued and anxious about what they come up with. I feel like Ann about it (in that I know very little about the art of the cover design) and have basically given zero brief myself and I keep reminding myself that they are the experts (eeeek!)
Jennie that's so exciting! I hope you love the results.
I think Jeff Vandemeer has some of the best covers, especially those by (I believe) Tyler Comrie
They're fantastic – thanks for pointing me in their direction.
No worries :) This cover version of Borne is a personal favourite (an interesting read too): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32783363-borne
Thanks for this interesting post Hattie. I've always been fascinated by book covers. They're a close cousin to album covers, but they have more work to do. You can't just have grainy photo of five brooding people standing with arms crossed in an old warehouse. I'm a musician and a writer and I learned design very early making band flyers and websites so I do most of my own design work. It's such a wonderful puzzle to try to find a visual combination of elements that will not just grab attention, but invoke the right emotional response. Great covers feel like the residue of a dream after you've woken up-- there's the feeling of the story and some symbolic artifacts but nothing more and nothing less.
That's an excellent way to put it. I also laughed at your description of album covers
Great article.
Thank you Ross. Delighted to have you here x
My first book was published in 2018. For a good ten years I had envisioned that cover. And for months while editing with my editor, I kept wondering when my opinion on that very-important-to-me cover would be asked. I was so surprised when I received an enthusiastic email saying, “we hope you love the cover as much as we do!” It was not at all what I had envisioned. I came around to thinking it was wonderful and pretty perfect given the story, but I also quickly realized how completely naive I was about the publishing process and how little control I had over certain aspects like design. For my next contracts we had language that said I had some say in the process, but this boils down to “color” and nothing to do with artistic collaboration. I guess I’m resigned. I’m the author, not an expert in marketing or illustration. Even so...I think about it a lot.
Arrghhh I would find that so difficult. I would care so much about the cover. You're right that we're not the experts... but still...
I'm glad that you liked the cover your debut ended up with, despite not getting a say!
Ah, this is right up my street! I spend far too long thinking about this - and I've definitely bought copies of books purely based on the cover design, even if I know I'm not going to read them. Thinking of book covers as a little works of art is absolutely right, and it is a terrible shame that some of the best designers don't get the credit they most definitely deserve. My favourite - and I have actually framed a copy of the book at home - is a Penguin Classics reissue of Nineteen Eighty-Four, in the classic orange fiction cover, but with the title blacked out, as if by a censor in the Ministry of Information. Amazing.
We had a lot of fun working with Unbound on the cover design for the OneTrackMinds book; the team presented us with three different design concepts, one of which was so obviously the right one that we wondered if the other two were presented to us as decoys...
Just looked at the OneTrackMinds cover – it's perfect. It reminds me a bit of the original 1986 cover of my dad's book Understanding Radio. https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/eCYAAOSw-IRfwxIo/s-l640.jpg
Oh yeah! Very cool! Glad you like our cover!
Such a fascinating area - and I love Ann Patchett's summary. I feel the same! I feel lucky in that the illustrator for mine came up with something far batter than I could ever have imagined. But there was so much that went into the process I'd never even considered before. Things like how it will look as a thumbnail when people are scrolling Amazon on their phone.
Yes! Rebecca Watson wrote a good piece for the FT about the effect of Instagram (/bookstagram) on book covers. There are so many things to consider!
This made me smile. Then got me angry all over again about how I did not get to see my (hated) first cover until it was uploaded to Amazon.
Oh no, I'm so sorry! That's outrageous.
But at least it was a lesson! I was able to be very, very clear about the cover with my new publishers next time around and it is STUNNING.
Yes, it's beautiful!