STACKED

books

2014 YA Cover Trends: A Look at What’s to Come, Part 1

|

Written by: Kelly on December 16, 2013.

I like covers and I liked trends, so of course, I love looking at cover trends. This is especially true at the end of the year, when the covers for books coming out in 2014 have been popping up more and more. Like last year, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a handful of trends I’ve spotted in my cover research. In addition to talking about just cover trends, I thought it would be worth hitting on a few other trendy things I’ve picked up in reading blurbs and summaries of titles, so that’ll be scattered throughout today and tomorrow’s posts as well.

Not all of these are tried-and-true trends nor will they necessarily play out all year long, but they’re common things I’ve noticed among a number of covers that stuck out to me. Some books will pop up multiple times, and I’ll certainly miss some within the trends. It’s only a glimpse of covers I’ve seen, too, among the publisher catalogs that are readily available to peruse. In other words: this isn’t science. But I like to think of this series of posts as a look ahead to the new year in YA. Of course, if other 2014 titles which will be traditionally published fit any of these trends, I’d love to know in the comments. 
Links go to the book’s listing on Goodreads, since posting the descriptions with the titles would make these posts way too long. With that, let’s dig in! 
Feathered

Last year, I pointed out an interesting trend of birds on YA covers. We won’t be getting too far away from that in 2014, actually, as books like Conversion will keep it going a bit. But what I found to be an interesting trend this year was that feathers are making quite an appearance. There are bird feathers of all sorts to be found in the coming year. 

Bloodwitch by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Empower by Jessica Shirvington

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Fragile Spirits by Mary Lindsey

Infinite by Jodi Meadows

The Island of Excess Love by Francesca Lia Block

Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland
White Space by Ilsa J. Bick — this might be continuing the bird trend, too, but I’m looking at all of the many feathers. 
Something’s On Fire

It appears there’s something ablaze next year in YA (no, I won’t apologize for the pun). Here’s a handful of covers featuring a little — or a lot of — flame on them. I think there’s a bigger trend here, actually, of red being a predominant color on covers in 2014. 

Demon Derby by Carrie Harris

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Incinerator by Niall Leonard

Summoned by Anne M. Pillsworth
Timestorm by Julie Cross
Daggers

The 2014 weapon of choice is the dagger. There are daggers as symbols and representative of the whole story on the cover, and then there are daggers in the hands of people. More specifically, those daggers are in the hands of females — is there something to that? Does it make her appear strong visually or is it because a dagger is a weapon of choice for female characters? Both? 

Defy by Sara B. Larson

Lady Thief by A. C. Gaughen — Incidentally, this is one of my favorite titles of 2014. It’s so simple but at the same time, it tells you so much about the story without even needing to look at the description of the book.

Passionaries by Tonya Hurley — This series was redesigned, and I think for the better. Though, this is still kind of lost on me a bit.

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Summoned by Anne M. Pillsworth

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

The Queen’s Choice by Cayla Kluver
Warrior by Ellen Oh
The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski
The Illustrated Cover

Can we call this trend what it is? It’s the Eleanor & Park alike trend. Illustrated covers were very rare for YA, but there’s little doubt in my mind that that book’s success made illustrated covers look like a possible winning choice. But these aren’t just illustrated covers: they’re illustrated covers that make no illusions about the fact the story is a romance. 
While we’re at it, can we talk about another trend here, which is calling a number of these books read alikes to Eleanor & Park? Between Rowell’s book and the comparisons to John Green and/or his book The Fault in Our Stars, I think there’s definitely a push toward more realistic fiction in YA. But it’s a very specific kind of realistic fiction. 
Before I dive into that a little more, let’s look at the illustrated covers, shall we? Some of these are fully illustrated and others are illustrated with something non illustrated layered on top.
 

Fool Me Twice by Mandy Hubbard

Solving For Ex by Leigh Ann Kopans — The girl image here was used on a YA book in 2009 or 2010, and it happens to be the same stock image girl who is used in a Mango Languages advertisement, too. I can’t remember the name of the book, and I think they’d changed her hair color to be brown in it. Anyone know?

Wish You Were Italian by Kristin Rae

These first three aren’t the best at highlighting the real trend I’m noting, but I’m putting them first so the visual impact of the trend pops out in the next sets of covers.

Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff

Like No Other by Una LaMarche

**Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan — This is called “perfect” for fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell

Love By The Morning Star by Laura L. Sullivan

One Man Guy by Michael Barakiva

**Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern — The marketing for this book calls it The Fault in Our Stars meets Eleanor & Park. As, or maybe more, interesting is that the original pitch for this book was The Fault in Our Stars meets Wonder.

Trouble by Non Pratt

The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel

Summer on the Short Bus by Bethany Crandell

Both starred titles above were compared to both Green and Rowell’s books. But they’re not alone in with that comparison. Here’s a short list of titles out next year — and a couple set for 2015 — that are also comped to one or both of those in the coming year.

Maybe One Day by Melissa Kantor — this one notes that it follows in the tradition of The Fault in Our Stars. Which I guess suggests no one wrote about cancer before?

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy — on Edelweiss, this one is called The Fault in Our Stars meets Sarah Dessen.

Invincible by Amy Reed — this is just the pitch for the book, which sounds like it’s due out some time next year. I’ll be interested in seeing if that’s the same pitch that’ll be used by marketing to sell the book to readers.

The End of the Beginning by Michelle Levy — pitched as a “darker” Eleanor & Park to be published in 2015.

Proof of Forever by Lexa Hillyer — in the same week the book above was announced, this book was announced as being a cross of The Interestings and The Fault in Our Stars. This is a 2015er, too.

I could probably pull up dozens more. Of course, it’s easy to call to Green and Rowell as comparisons in a pitch or with marketing. Big names. Big exposure. But I think the comparisons start to mean nothing after a while.

I point to a middle grade novel next year that’s being called “John Green for the middle grade.” But it’s a book with magic in it. So what does that even mean? The characters are actual people?

This is a trend that I hope goes out soon because it’s meaningless, it’s ascribing a huge amount of power to one or two individuals/books (I mean, “in the tradition” is a weighty phrase to toss around about a book which has only been out for two years), and it suggests that realistic books are one kind of thing, when we’re talking about a rise in realistic fiction. It also undermines originality with the text at hand when it’s heavily used as a marketing tool, in the sense that it may disappoint many readers and may turn off many other readers. While the comparisons are certainly helpful for those readers eager for a similar next read, they’re less helpful in showcasing the wide range of realistic fiction that exists. I also think it perpetuates the myth of “the next big thing.”

All that said, I have a feeling we’ll see this going on for another year or two at least.

& Ampersands

Remember how in 2012 and 2013 we had a lot of titles with ampersands?  Let’s add a bunch more in 2014, too.

Allies & Assassins by Justin Somper

Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

Embers & Ash by T. M. Goeglein

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

High & Dry by Sarah Skilton — I am going to get this cover confused with Melvin Burgess’s The Hit, as they’re both red, with a giant pill capsule in the center and a title which is only two real words long.

House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple





Red Heads


There’s a long-running joke that there are more red heads in YA fiction than pretty much there are red heads in the world. I know I’ve read plenty of red heads. In 2014, we’ll get to see plenty of red heads on the covers of YA, too.

Did I mention a theme of red in the coming year?

Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols

Creators by Tiffany Truitt

Cress by Marissa Meyer

Deception’s Princess by Esther Friesner

Find Me Where the Water Ends by Rachel Carter

Night School Legacy by C. J. Daughtery



Minders by Michelle Jaffe

The Falconer by Elizabeth May

Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick

Speech Bubbles


How about covers with speech bubbles on it to hold the title in place? This isn’t a huge trend — only three covers have caught my eye with it so far — but it was one that did catch my eye since I haven’t seen it used a whole lot.

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas

Hung Up by Kristen Tracy

When Mr. Dog Bites by Brian Conaghan

Sunglasses


I want to wrap up today’s post on a fun one, which is sunglasses. There are a lot of sunglasses in 2014 making their appearance on people’s faces on covers. We’ve got hipster sunglasses to the straight-out-of-the-1990s look.



Don’t Even Think About It by Sarah Mlynowski

Geek Girl: Picture Perfect by Holly Smale

My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten — Check out the flip flops, too. This cover is a riot and I think is completely spot-on for readership. You know exactly who this book is for and exactly who will pick it up off the shelf.

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

Tomorrow I’ll have a ton more cover trends for 2014 to show off, and I’ll pull out a handful of my favorites.

Any favorite covers among these? Any trends you’re enjoying? What’s catching your eye? I personally love the sunglasses one, and I think that the red cover look is really great — it pops on a shelf, since it’s such a bold color.

Comments

  1. Great job with these book cover comparisons! I always love reading your entries showing off the covers. Just wanted to throw my cover into the mix for the 2014 lineup. It's called WANTED: DEAD OR IN LOVE (Merit Press – June, 2014). Not sure it fits into any of these categories, but perhaps with books with large titles. Or maybe there will be more covers with girls with mascara running down their faces. 🙂 Anyway, if you're interested, my cover is shown on my website linked to my name. Thanks so much! 🙂 KYM

  2. What a ton of work! I'm personally drawn to the illustrated covers, because I like that that's new thing. They catch my eye in a way the others don't, probably just because of their unusualness (though it looks like they won't be unusual for long). I like that we're finally seeing more whole bodies on covers and not headless/partially headless girls on every third cover (at least based on what you've shown). Adding lots to my TBR list–thanks for this!

  3. I've noticed a lot of feathers, too, but never really thought twice about it, since many of the books feature angels. My favorite feather cover is ANTIGODDESS! Bought it Day One…and should really read it soon! ^^; AVA LAVENDER and PROMISES and ISLAND OF EXCESS LOVE are also great.

    Always a lot of flames! I like that they changed Sherry Thomas' BURNING SKY from a tornado cover to a fire cover this year. Fire colors always stand out! OMG, I am sooooo excited for DEFY! Wow, PASSIONARIES has a much more interesting cover now! Ack, I still need to read my ARC of REBEL BELLE…ty for the reminder! And I want to read so many of these dagger books…I think my favorite is WARRIOR and WINNER'S CURSE!

    And I ALWAYS love illustrated covers. They're fun! Haha, I just fin. reading ELEANOR AND PARK yesterday. I'm onto FANGIRL now! I think the cover for LOVE AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS is so cute! Thanks for showing it off! I like that the pitch changed for SAY WHAT YOU WILL. Interrrrrresting! This was one of my favorite recent Harper Cover Reveals!

    I hate when blurbs grasp at popular things, getting you all excited, and then are nothing like them. There was one book this year that was "Graceling in Space!" that made me go, "No, thanks…" and something else not Graceling like at all!

    I do NOT like the speech bubble trend, lol…though WHEN MR DOG BITES is funny!

  4. Really interesting!! It was neat to see all this collected–I find cover trends fascinating! It's nice to see stuff that isn't exclusively pretty dresses. Don't get me wrong–I LOVE dresses. But they got repetitive on covers for a while, I felt…