Comments on: Author’s Nightmare: Book Covers

By: Late Night Visitor

Late Night Visitor — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:52:32 +0000

As a book cover designer, I can say that there are many issues with all of this. More often than not, the authors do want something that is totally off base. Most of the time, its too much, they want so many things that it ends up looking like a NASCAR. Sure, they may be experts on the subject matter (sometimes self-induced), but they don't know anything about advertising or marketing typically. Or design for that matter. Author's expertise lies within the pages, the designers expertise lies within the cover jacket. It's critical to understand the author's vision, but there is a likely a compromise made, and for the better. It's actually a fun process in the end.

By: LanceFoster

LanceFoster — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:23:20 +0000

My first solo book comes out this month, from the University of Iowa Press. Luckily for me, I am both a writer AND artist, and that is how I created my book, so my first solo book used one of my own illustrations as the cover image. However, the first design of the cover (the font, color, layout, etc.) had some problems. So, stating some suggestions to the Press in a POSITIVE way, they came out with a second version of the cover that was very nice!

By: BunniesLair

BunniesLair — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 16:09:55 +0000

Speaking from the viewpoint of the reader/purchaser, the cover is a major point for me. I have the Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America book. I love the cover it has.

The first cover, turned me off immediately. Was it the Snow? No. Rather is was the huge font (as Loren brought out). That coupled with the exclamation mark, gave me the reader, the impression it was out for sensationalism only. Not that it was going to be the insightful and interestingly fun read it is.

The first Mothman and Other Curious Encounters cover, even if a quick mock up, looked as if someone just slapped something together and gave no true thought to it. If the cover is half-assed then the book probably is too.

The second one, though somewhat better, still does not pique my interest. I will probably end up buying it, anyway, only because I enjoyed Loren’s other book. I know nothing much about the Mothman. I figure Loren’s book is the best one to start with.

I wish more authors had more say in their covers. They have just as much blood, sweat and tears invested in the book as the publisher, if not more.

My pet peeves on books: Glaringly large fonts; glitter; metallic lettering; embossed covers (unless it is embossed leather), especially embossed paperbacks; super slick covers (exception – photography based books) and finally reference books that have either too small font size or too large inside the book.

Size 12 font. That’s it. Stick to it. Sure double spaced size 14 font is easy to read, but those books typically have 100 pages tops, so you are only getting a 1/3 of book, if you condensed it down to 12 with no double spacing. When I see large font inside.. I move on.

Just my opinion as an avid reader and purchaser of books both old and new.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:50:19 +0000

As a designer, the art of a book’s cover is very important to me. Editors and publishers should realize that books are the last frontier of original graphic design included in a product, now that the big album jackets of yesteryear’s LP records —that shrinked to puny CD size in the 80s— are being turned into jpeg compressed 200×200 pixel images of tunes to be displayed on MP3 players.

And with the advent of Kindle and other fancy e-readers, how long before the art in books goes the way of the dodo as well?

Bottomline: work with authors in trying to solve the art of a book, the same way record companies work with music bands to create publicity merchandise.

And it doesn’t even need to have an obvious illustration: you can solve it entirely with typography! —just look at Guillermo del Toro’s gorgeous art cover in his first book The Strain, which I’m gobbling up right now.

Then again, if you have a powerful image, the book can become a cultural icon —exhibit A: Whitley Strieber’s Communion.

PS: The Bigfoot! cover design is beautiful; with both the sepia colors and the stylish typography, it subtly tells the reader that the subject will be treated seriously. Future crypto-authors take note

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 23:59:33 +0000

The Mothman cover was just a rough draft—I’m sure it was not intended as the ULTIMATE cover to go with.
The BigFoot Bookcover was very misleading, however.

Mystery_Man is right. Good subject.

Looking forward to some of the “stories.”

By: proriter

proriter — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:07:49 +0000

Oh God, Loren, welcome to my world! Speaking as an editor for a major specialty publisher, I can tell you that the problem is that covers are usually determined by the marketing or sales department, and their preferences are based on what they think their booksellers — not the end consumers (readers) — will want to see. Booksellers, whether bricks-and-mortar or online, generally have only a sketchy idea of what the book in question is about — moreso for niche titles — so they are often unaware of the subtle content-related points that mean so much to the author and consumer. The reason that publishers aren’t inclined to listen to authors is that they feel that the authors are too involved in the details of the subject to provide a simple, immediately-understandable cover concept, which is what usually appeals to the bookseller. Sometimes they’re right; often they’re not. And then there are the aesthetic considerations: which font? Color? Reversed font? Bullets? Which photo? Or should we hire an artist? Should the title or subtitle violate the main graphic? What will the spine say? In my job, we’ve discussed a single cover for more than four hours. It’s a wonder that so many covers actually turn out rather well.

By: vimania

vimania — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 14:47:02 +0000

Many years ago, I worked briefly for a publisher as a free-lance illustrator. I was surprised to discover that I would not be able to read the complete book I was to illustrate, nor would I even be able to discuss the cover with the author. Although I can understand the reluctance to release a copy of a not-yet-published work, the overall process seemed like a less-than-optimal way of working. I am saddened to hear that it is still in existence.

By: mystery_man

mystery_man — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:34:40 +0000

This is a very interesting topic for me, and I appreciate Loren’s thoughts and musings put forth here. Fascinating to see the evolution that these books covers undergo. I would have liked to see even more, for instance, what stages did the Mysterious America cover go through? Good stuff here.

I’d also be interested to hear some of the experiences other published authors on Cryptomundo have had concerning book covers.