I *know* you judge books by their covers

Book covers: the good, the bad, and the so-bad-I-almost-didn't-read-the-good-book

One of the questions people ask me the most about my book deal and my forthcoming debut novel is:

What is the cover going to look like?

So... I have a book deal!!!!!

At this point, my answer to that question is pretty simple. All I can say is, “I don’t know.” And there are a few reasons for that:
1. My book is still many months from publication. Everything in the publishing industry moves pretty slowly, so while I’m sure the process of designing my cover will begin in the next couple of months to allow plenty of time, there are also lots of other books and authors that are wayyyyy ahead of me in line.
2. There are a few lines in my contract about how covers come together, but I’m still new to this side of the book world. I’ve never done this before!
3. There has been literally zero conversation about cover design with either my agent or my editor. It’s fascinating (and cool!) to me to see further behind the curtain of how these elements of publishing that we as readers might imagine are top priority—only to find that they come after months of careful attention to other things.
4. Even as the author of the book, I genuinely have very little idea of what I imagine for the cover. I have a few general thoughts, but I’m prepared to hear from my publisher that those thoughts are terrible. Like anything else, book covers go through so many trends all the time, and it’ll be interesting to see where trends stand when it’s time to open conversations about what my novel will look like. (More on trends later in this post!)

We’ve all been instructed—in reading and in life—not to judge a book by its cover, but let’s be real: has that adage stopped any of us from applying at least a little bit of judgement to a book based on our first impression of the outside?

No. I’m thinking the answer is no.

I wouldn’t even call myself a super visual person and I would still admit to my fair share of cover-based judgements.

I recently read a book I really loved with a cover I really didn’t (more on that shortly), and it got me thinking a little bit more about book covers.

(The world is an overwhelming and scary and weird place these days, so let’s talk about this for a sec, shall we?)

First off, here are a few covers that jump to mind as favorites, irrespective of what’s on the inside (though, to be clear, I love a lot of these for more than just superficial reasons—also, this is not a comprehensive list of my favorites):

(Tuesday Nights in 1980 by Molly Prentiss | The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer | Good Material by Dolly Alderton | Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum | Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman | Maame by Jessica George | Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld | Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld | A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia | Untamed by Glennon Doyle | Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid | Ready or Not by Cara Bastone)

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Currently Reading: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

I (along with the rest of the book-loving world, I guess) have been waiting what feels like forever for Liz Moore’s next novel after Long Bright River. While that novel was definitely a departure for me genre-wise, it absolutely blew me away—and was a major factor in my decision to pursue my MFA at Temple University, where Liz teaches. I just started The God of the Woods last night, but if those first few chapters and all of the raves it’s gotten from others are any indication, this book is going to be just as impactful for me as the author’s last. (Can you go back and get a second MFA?)

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If I had to pick out some patterns from that collection of favorite covers (and maybe this will be a helpful exercise when it comes time to chime in on my own book’s design in a few months), I guess I might say I’m drawn to…

• Bright colors that lean more cool than warm, with a preference for pink and purple

• Abstract designs that evoke texture and motion

• Big, bold sans serif fonts

• The occasional painterly scene

• Some pop art vibes

• Very little white space (with the exception of Prep, which is almost unfair because Prep is just my all-time favorite)

Very recently, I had the very best time reading a book with a cover that I really didn’t like. In fact, if I hadn’t seen so many positive reviews of it on bookstagram and elsewhere, I don’t know that I would have ever picked it up—and having now finished it, I can say with confidence that this would have been a loss.

(I’m not in the business of putting authors or books on blast, which is why I'm unpacking this cover—along with some other things I’ve found about industry trends—for paid subscribers.)