The difference between the US and UK book cover design of The Book Makers is interesting. I prefer the UK design, but the hyphen in the US Book-Makers that explains an autocorrect phenomenon that really annoys me. I will type a two word phrase and spell check/autocorrect will suggest a hyphen between the two words, even though I have never seen a hyphen between them before. Canadian spelling and punctuation is closer to UK than US, but because we buy technology in North America spell check/autocorrect functions are often US by default.
I love a good cover design, but lately I've been chosing good inside book formatting over cover design. I got a few modern paperback editions of books I liked that had very nice cover designs, only to discover the faint printing and thin paper, thin enough for the printing to show through on the other side of the paper, rendered the edition too difficult to read.
I was thinking along similar lines in terms of the interior. The font, spacing, paper quality, page size, and so much more can turn a book with a cover full of promise into a hunk of disappointment!
Love this post! We're big Harry Potter fans, and the UK covers were so cool, and different, from the US. I've had some firsthand experience with covers as a children's book author. The first (Her Own Two Feet) looked totally different than I imagined it would, but the design team at Scholastic knew what they were doing and I love talking to kids about the choices they made, from the colors (mirroring those of the Rwandan flag) to the photo of my Rwandan coauthor (it says so much about who she is and the kind of story we're telling). Book two, middle grade fiction, was a totally different experience. I had an illustrator, the talented Billy Yong, who did both interior and cover art for The Minor Miracle, working with the design team at Waterbrook. It's a fascinating process. Thanks for pulling back the curtain here.
I’ve seen that 1984 cover (and loved it) but I did NOT know it faded with wear. All-time “I wish I did that” cover.
And thanks for sharing that NYT piece about paperback redesigns! I have an upcoming newsletter that touches on that and this might add some nice context from a different source.
Great post. Love to see more folks talking about book design.
This is a topic near and dear to my heart and creative interests. I have enjoyed creating book covers just for fun from photos I’ve taken over the years and posting them on FB. Recently I self-published a collection of short stories and enjoyed designing the cover as much or more so than writing the stories. It is such a buzz. I’ve linked one from FB of my son with his broken cat clock.
Fascinating! You'll have me cruising my shelves for the most intriguingly desinged covers now...I recently read Dave Egger's "The Every" which was designed with 32 different bookcovers (and apparently only for sale at independent bookstores).
All the detail and process you describe makes me wonder how to go about the "Subtack print publishing" I have been considering. Amateur jobs are simply obvious, especially when weighed against expert designers. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Cover designs are among the trickiest part of self-publishing. If you could standardize the design with a professionally designed template, it would help; I’m thinking of the Penguin Classics format as an example, same with the Oxford Classics. Notting Hill Editions and Fitzcarraldo Editions both offer interesting examples along those lines as well:
Yes, I fully agree! Thanks so much for these suggestions Joel. The classics format is definitely a good idea, one we have tried in the past with a pretty good result (although it did not really "pop"...:). Will spend the next few weeks investigating the practicability of the print version idea.
I find the difference in UK vs. US design for the cover of the same book quite interesting. Every few years I spend a semester in London teaching in an honors program that my small university runs there. So I often have the experience of seeing a book appear in the UK, coming home, and then seeing it come out here several months later with an entirely different cover. But what I find odd is that the UK covers are almost always more appealing. I really don't know why this should be the case, but it has been my remarkably consistent observation over several such trips now over the past decade. (I also sometimes have occasion to be in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, and I generally also find their books more attractively designed than what comes out here in the US, although in this case, of course, we aren't necessarily talking about different covers of the same book.)
Thank you. I'm currently reading Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I have studied the front cover and felt it was unique and I wondered about the creator of it.
Really interesting. You can certainly tell the publishers that put a lot of effort into covers. I would totally buy a new copy of a book if it has a better cover than one I currently own. Thinking particularly of The Remains of the Day from Vintage.
I’m the same way! Over the years I’ve bought about four or five copies of Till We Have Faces. I love the book, but I always loved seeing the new designs!
Nice run through the topic. I sometimes like the TP cover more than the HC because I feel like the pressure was off and the creativity flowed a little better. Probably not true because the pressure is never off, ha ha.
The difference between the US and UK book cover design of The Book Makers is interesting. I prefer the UK design, but the hyphen in the US Book-Makers that explains an autocorrect phenomenon that really annoys me. I will type a two word phrase and spell check/autocorrect will suggest a hyphen between the two words, even though I have never seen a hyphen between them before. Canadian spelling and punctuation is closer to UK than US, but because we buy technology in North America spell check/autocorrect functions are often US by default.
I love a good cover design, but lately I've been chosing good inside book formatting over cover design. I got a few modern paperback editions of books I liked that had very nice cover designs, only to discover the faint printing and thin paper, thin enough for the printing to show through on the other side of the paper, rendered the edition too difficult to read.
I was thinking along similar lines in terms of the interior. The font, spacing, paper quality, page size, and so much more can turn a book with a cover full of promise into a hunk of disappointment!
Love this post! We're big Harry Potter fans, and the UK covers were so cool, and different, from the US. I've had some firsthand experience with covers as a children's book author. The first (Her Own Two Feet) looked totally different than I imagined it would, but the design team at Scholastic knew what they were doing and I love talking to kids about the choices they made, from the colors (mirroring those of the Rwandan flag) to the photo of my Rwandan coauthor (it says so much about who she is and the kind of story we're telling). Book two, middle grade fiction, was a totally different experience. I had an illustrator, the talented Billy Yong, who did both interior and cover art for The Minor Miracle, working with the design team at Waterbrook. It's a fascinating process. Thanks for pulling back the curtain here.
I’ve seen that 1984 cover (and loved it) but I did NOT know it faded with wear. All-time “I wish I did that” cover.
And thanks for sharing that NYT piece about paperback redesigns! I have an upcoming newsletter that touches on that and this might add some nice context from a different source.
Great post. Love to see more folks talking about book design.
I’m excited to read your post!
This is a topic near and dear to my heart and creative interests. I have enjoyed creating book covers just for fun from photos I’ve taken over the years and posting them on FB. Recently I self-published a collection of short stories and enjoyed designing the cover as much or more so than writing the stories. It is such a buzz. I’ve linked one from FB of my son with his broken cat clock.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154816615934363&set=a.10152508003044363&type=3
That’s fun! Thanks for sharing the example!
Fascinating! You'll have me cruising my shelves for the most intriguingly desinged covers now...I recently read Dave Egger's "The Every" which was designed with 32 different bookcovers (and apparently only for sale at independent bookstores).
All the detail and process you describe makes me wonder how to go about the "Subtack print publishing" I have been considering. Amateur jobs are simply obvious, especially when weighed against expert designers. Would love to hear your thoughts on this.
Cover designs are among the trickiest part of self-publishing. If you could standardize the design with a professionally designed template, it would help; I’m thinking of the Penguin Classics format as an example, same with the Oxford Classics. Notting Hill Editions and Fitzcarraldo Editions both offer interesting examples along those lines as well:
https://www.nottinghilleditions.com/
https://fitzcarraldoeditions.com/
Yes, I fully agree! Thanks so much for these suggestions Joel. The classics format is definitely a good idea, one we have tried in the past with a pretty good result (although it did not really "pop"...:). Will spend the next few weeks investigating the practicability of the print version idea.
I find the difference in UK vs. US design for the cover of the same book quite interesting. Every few years I spend a semester in London teaching in an honors program that my small university runs there. So I often have the experience of seeing a book appear in the UK, coming home, and then seeing it come out here several months later with an entirely different cover. But what I find odd is that the UK covers are almost always more appealing. I really don't know why this should be the case, but it has been my remarkably consistent observation over several such trips now over the past decade. (I also sometimes have occasion to be in Germany, Austria, or Switzerland, and I generally also find their books more attractively designed than what comes out here in the US, although in this case, of course, we aren't necessarily talking about different covers of the same book.)
Thank you. I'm currently reading Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. I have studied the front cover and felt it was unique and I wondered about the creator of it.
Really interesting. You can certainly tell the publishers that put a lot of effort into covers. I would totally buy a new copy of a book if it has a better cover than one I currently own. Thinking particularly of The Remains of the Day from Vintage.
I’m the same way! Over the years I’ve bought about four or five copies of Till We Have Faces. I love the book, but I always loved seeing the new designs!
Nice run through the topic. I sometimes like the TP cover more than the HC because I feel like the pressure was off and the creativity flowed a little better. Probably not true because the pressure is never off, ha ha.
The Illustrated Dust Jacket,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/0500519137?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share