Today’s look at 2014 cover trends is a little bit longer than yesterday, so if you enjoyed that peek at the year ahead in books, you’ll enjoy today’s even more. Again, there’s no science to these trends. I’ve pulled together some interesting things I’ve noticed by perusing publisher catalogs and looking at the covers as they’ve been revealed over the last few months.

All links go to Goodreads so you can add the books to your to-read lists if you want to, and I’m completely open to hearing about other traditionally published books coming out next year that might fit any of these trends. I know I’m going to miss some, and I know this is only a fraction of the books that will fall into these categories, since many covers for later 2014 titles haven’t been unveiled yet.

Insects


Insects seem to be the rage in the coming year. You have butterflies, of course, but then there are other bugs taking up some space on YA covers in 2014, too. What they all have in common is that they’re not just any old insects. They’re all winged (and most are flying).

Breakfast Served Anytime by Sarah Combs

Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey

Cured by Bethany Wiggins — The tagline “The Hunger Games with a wicked sting” actually makes me cringe a bit.

The Killing Jar by Jennifer Bosworth

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams — This had a different cover initially, which I think I liked better. It spoke to the content a lot more (or at least what it sounds like the book is about, since I haven’t read it yet).

The Inventor’s Secret by Andrea Cremer — This one also had a different cover initially.

The Taking by Kimberly Derting

The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

Unhinged by A. G. Howard

Wings by Elizabeth Richards

Girls Being Held


How’s this image as a contrast for strong girls on covers or in YA books more broadly? These are book covers featuring girls who are being held. And I jest with the first line: not all of these are about a weak girl, since some are meant to be fun. But some of them do make me cringe with the message they might be sending about being saved/rescued.

Biggest Flirts by Jennifer Echols

Forever by Karen Ann Hopkins

Of Neptune by Anna Banks

The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Lonesome Young by Lucy Connors — The pitch for this one is Romeo and Juliet meets Justified.

In The Shadows


While we’re looking at couples, how about those couples who are shadowy figures in the cover? There are a bunch of them. I know this isn’t a new trend, but again, it’s one I’ve seen popping up more and more (I don’t mind it — it gives us people without giving us exactly who those people are, which leaves quite a bit to the reader’s imagination).

Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke — I can’t place my finger on it, but this cover is just really appealing to me.

Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

Starling by Fiona Paul

Summer of Yesterday by Gaby Triana

The Secret Sky by Atia Abawi

The Worlds We Make by Megan Crewe

Getting Symbolic


I think we can thank Divergent and The Hunger Games for making this trend happen and allowing it to continue. These are books which feature some kind of big symbol in the middle of the cover to serve as something iconic to the story.

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

Flame by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Independent Study by Joelle Charbonneau

Into the Dark by Bree Despain

Sea of Shadows by Kelley Armstrong

Font-Driven Design


This was a trend I talked about last year for 2013 covers, and it’s a trend that’ll continue on well into 2014. These are covers where the title font takes up at least half the cover’s real estate and/or drives the entire design of the cover itself. For the most part, this is a technique I really like. It really hammers home the title of the book, and it gives a better sense of timelessness to the cover. Not all are perfect, but many of these are better than those covers which strive for memory with a specific image. Sometimes, simpler is better (plus, by being font-driven, the title of the book is more likely to be recalled). This is the biggest trend I’ve pulled, so enjoy this gallery of over 60 books.

Allies & Assassins by Justin Somper

Ask Again Later by Liz Czukas

Between the Spark and the Burn by April Genevieve Tucholke

Broken Hearts, Fences, and Other Things to Mend by Katie Finn

Burn Out by Kristi Helvig

Buzz Kill by Beth Fantaskey

Catch A Falling Star by Kim Culbertson

Chorus by Emma Trevayne

Cold Calls by Charles Benoit

Dangerous by Shannon Hale

Dirt Bikes, Drones, And Other Ways to Fly by Conrad Wesselhoeft

Don’t Call Me Baby by Gwendolyn Healey

End Times by Anna Schumacher

Endless by Kate Brian

Erased by Jennifer Rush

Fire & Flood by Victoria Scott

Flame by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Free to Fall by Lauren Miller

The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

A Girl Called Fearless by Catherine Linka

High & Dry by Sarah Skilton

House of Ivy & Sorrow by Natalie Whipple

Idols by Margaret Stohl

Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones

In The End by Demitria Lunetta

Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Just Call My Name by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Killer Instinct by S. E. Green

Landry Park by Bethany Hagen

Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger

Life By Committee by Corey Ann Haydu

Liv, Forever by Amy Talkington

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaria

Nil by Lynne Matson

On the Road to Find Out by Rachel Toor

Open Road Summer by Emery Lord

Promise of Shadows by Justina Ireland

Push by Eve Silver

Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy

Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson

The Sound of Letting Go by Stasia Ward Kehoe

Starbird Murphy and the World Outside by Karen Finneyfrock

Storm by D. J. Machale

The Summer of Letting Go by Gae Polisner

Tease by Amanda Maciel

The Half Life of Molly Pierce by Katrina Leno

The Hit by Melvin Burgess

The Lure by Lynne Ewing

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

The Things You Kiss Goodbye by Leslie Connor

The Violet Hour by Whitney A. Miller

The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski

The Young World by Chris Weitz

Torn Away by Jennifer Brown

The True Adventures of Nicolo Zen by Nicholas Christopher — The cover reminds me so much of this one from last year.

Vivian Divine is Dead by Lauren Sabel

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

While We Run by Karen Healey

White Space by Ilsa J. Bick

Why We Took the Car by Wolfgang Herrendorf

Wicked Games by Sean Olin

Wild by Alex Mallory

The Worlds We Make by Megan Crewe

Holding the Light / Street Lights


Two trends for the price of one category. Here we have people who are carrying light in their hands or we have streetlights in the cover image. I have no idea why this one popped out at me, but it did.

Fates by Lanie Bross

Love Reborn by Yvonne Woon

Heartbeat by Elizabeth Scott

There Will Come A Time by Carrie Arcos — I feel like I’ve read a lot of descriptions featuring twins for 2014, so I might have to do another book list of titles featuring twins in some way.

The Mirror Effect


Here’s an interesting one: more and more covers featuring either mirrored images or images that are reflections either on the top and bottom of the cover or on the left and right halves separately.

Alienated by Melissa Landers

Frozen by Erin Bowman

Guardian by Alex London

Split Second by Kasie West

The Haven by Carol Lynch Williams

Unravel by Imogen Howson

People of Color on Covers


This is not a trend, but rather, it’s something I noticed in the covers I looked at and it’s something I want to see more and more and more. I thought pointing out what I have seen would be worthwhile if for no other reason than to draw attention to them. I hope over the course of the new year that more covers feature people of color on them because there should be more covers like this.

A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman

Call Me By My Name by John Ed Bradley

Girl in Reverse by Barbara Stuber

Like No Other by Una LaMarche

Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine

Pointe by Brandy Colbert

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

While We Run by Karen Healey

Fat Girls! On Covers!


The exclamation marks are probably a little bit overstating it, but there are two — count them, two — covers that feature girls on them who are a little bit bigger. Both are sketches, of course, since an actual image of a fat girl would be expecting a lot, but this is still a step forward.

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles

The Break-Up Artist by Philip Siegel

Of course, these two positive covers are off-set a bit by the fact this book is coming out next year and features such an awful statement with its cover and that this book, which is about a fat girl, features fat girl arms and her hands holding a cupcake. Because, you know, fat people should always be associated with food.


To be fair, the author of the second book wrote about her cover and how they’ve mocked up an alternate possibility that actually features a fat body — not that it would happen, but rather done as a means of discussing the fat girl on covers issue. Except, I think the mockup is even more problematic than the first (despite the fact this is a major plot point, this image ALSO shames fat bodies as wrong).

There is a whole blog post or two in this, isn’t there?






Favorite Covers for 2014 (So Far)


To end this roundup of cover trends, I thought I’d share the ones that struck me as particularly good or memorable. These are my favorites, and each of them appeal to me in a very different way. Some I’ve already featured over the last couple of days and some I haven’t yet talked about.

Fan Art by Sarah Tregay

Far From You by Tess Sharpe

Fat Boy vs. The Cheerleaders by Geoff Herbach

Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff

I Have A Bad Feeling About This by Jeff Strand

Life by Committee by Corey Ann Haydu

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

The Break-up Artist by Philip Siegel

The Chapel Wars by Lindsey Leavitt

The End or Something Like That by Ann Dee Ellis

So what do you think? Any favorites among these trends? Any covers you don’t like? Can you think of other trends so far in 2014 that you’ve seen in your own perusal of upcoming books? Let’s talk about covers and what we’re liking — and even not liking — in the coming year.