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Hardcover to Paperback Switch: Five to Consider

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Ready for another batch of hardcover books seeing a face lift in their paperback form? I swear my list of cover changes grows every time I make one of these posts, too. Alas, here are a handful to take note of. I don’t think there are any bad changes this time, but there are a couple that kind of seem like they’re going after the same thing.

Daniel Kraus’s The Monster Variations has a bit of a killer hardcover look (on the left). I love how you can only make out the shadow of a person in the background, and the way that shadow looms over the entire cover gives the right kind of haunting vibe. Then there’s the car and the headlights in the middle of the shadow guy’s chest — but it’s not just the car and headlights that are noteworthy. It’s the smoke that’s kind of billowing out of the top. I think the deep purple background, which is a little sketchy in and of itself, adds to the dark vibe of the cover. But maybe the thing that works most for me on this cover is the font for the title and the author. I love how thin and jagged it is. I think this cover has pretty great appeal and it gives off just the right tone to the reader about what to expect.

That said, the paperback iteration? It’s not too shabby, either. It takes some of the same elements of the first cover and tweaks them. But rather than one looming guy on the cover, this time we get the shadows of three boys who are walking either toward or away from a pair of headlights. It’s got a dark and gloomy color to it, as well, though the font for the title and the placement has changed quite a bit. But you know what’s neat? It STILL gives off the same tone with the font and how tightly packed together the letters are. It’s interesting, though, how much smaller Kraus’s name became in the paperback edition than it is on the hardcover. Oh, and did you note the addition of a blurb on the front of the paperback from Lauren Myracle?

I’d say both covers work pretty well and have good appeal to a wide range of readers. If I were picking one up, I’d probably go for the hardcover, but I think that’s because it looks just a little bit creepier (and I think it’s a tiny bit more memorable visually). The Monster Variations came out in paperback at the end of October.

Can this hardcover to paperback change for Katherine Longshore’s Gilt get a huge high five? I think this is an excellent change over, especially because the hardcover is so bad. I don’t need to talk too much about what makes it bad — maybe it’s the closeup shot of the girl’s nose? Or the fact she looks dead? Or the fact it makes this historical fiction novel look like a paranormal kind of story with how pale and, well, dead the girl looks? Also, do we need to see up her nose?

The paperback version though gets at the romance and I think it gets at the fact this is a historical romance quite well. I mean, there’s no doubt the girl is quite enjoying that kiss (though if you look too quickly or you are stuck on the fact the hardcover looks like a dead girl, it could look like a guy who is getting a little vampiric on her neck). I’m not usually a huge fan of tag lines, but I think this one — “The price of desire could be her life . . . and the crown” — only adds to the feel of the novel. It’s like this cover gets who the readership of this book is. It’s kind of nice to see the color in this, too; I love that it has a golden tone throughout because that only furthers the tone of a story about royalty. Bonus is that I think this cover has great adult cross-over appeal, as well. This cover is sensual without being outright sexy.

I think it’s neat they kept the title font the same on both and the positioning of the title is identical. The author’s name placement on the bottom for the paperback works a little better for me, too, but I think that might be because it’s in a new color and that color is enhanced by the colors in the image itself. Hands down, the paperback edition of Gilt (due out in May) is a winner. I would wait to buy this book for a collection until May because that cover has much more appeal, particularly for those readers who love historical romance stories, than the nose shot hardcover.

I think I’ve talked about how this book was categorized as taking place in Mississippi on that infographic about books set in the US recently, even though 95% of the book actually takes place in Iowa. It still bothers me because I think the fact it’s set in Iowa is pretty important plot point. Alas.

The hardcover of Jacqueline Woodson’s Beneath a Meth Moon is incredibly simple and poignent because of that. I love how the green is done with the same effect as Kraus’s hardcover above. In this version, I like how the edges are darker than the center, too (we can get metaphoric here if you want to, but I don’t need to lay that out there). The title placement and font are minimalist, though the second “o” in Moon certainly conveys the drug use. This cover is stark and yet it nails home the story quite well. Personally, this is a cover I’d pick up; however, I have a feeling because of how little it tells visually without an actual image, it might be a harder sell to browsers, especially teens.

It’s an interesting shift to the paperback, which now not only has an image, but it’s also a fairly minimalist one. There is a clear sense of despair and challenge with it, given not just the crumbling brick wall, but the way the girl is positioned and in the way the image itself is sketched. It’s imperfect. I dig the use of the light blue color to enhance Woodson’s name, as well as parts of the title. Included on the paperback cover, too, are a nice blurb from the Los Angeles Times, as well as a small listing of Woodson’s honors as a writer.

Now it’s been a while since I’ve read this book, but something I’m kind of wondering about the image in terms of the content — I can’t remember if there is ever a moment in the book where we learn about Laurel’s ethnicity. It’s possible there is, though I don’t remember that being the case. It’s not important to the book itself, but it makes me wonder about the girl on the cover of this book. Is she ambiguous in terms of race? I feel like an argument could be made for that case, and the reason I bring this up is because that would be awesome. It’s a story about drug use, and I love how the cover could further the notion that drug problems aren’t relegated to any type of person (which is what I think Woodson is getting at in the book).

Both covers work for me for different reasons. The paperback edition of Beneath a Meth Moon will be available in February.

Here’s an interesting — and I think positive — change for Annabel Monaghan’s recently-released A Girl Named Digit. The hardcover on the left is fun, lighthearted, and bright. But the problem I have with it is that I think the girl looks really young. I think there is a lot of aging up on YA covers, in that a lot of the models are definitely on the upper range of teenage, if they’re not 20-somethings made to look younger. But this cover, I think the model looks really young, and while that would appeal to a younger reading demographic, I think it detracts older teens from wanting to pick it up. This is hurt by the fact she’s labeled a girl in the title (which is a young term) and the fact her outfit also reads really young.

The paperback, though? I love it. I love how it’s orange and black, which will stand out on a bookshelf because it’s so different. I love that even if it is a stock image, it’s been worked enough to look more like a sketch than a picture. The girl in this image looks much more like an average teen-on-a-book-cover in terms of age, and I feel like her expression is much more teen, too. Since we can’t see what she’s wearing, that only helps. I’m also feeling the way the cover font and title work: I like how it’s all capital letters except for the “i”s. It’s just a little effect and a little different, but it makes the title pop. It’s neat how both covers incorporated digits into the design, keeping the books tied together.

A Girl Named Digit will be out in paperback in May.

Last, here’s a huge change. A huge one. And while I think from the perspective of selling the book it’s a major improvement, from a design and eye-catching perspective, I think it’s a downgrade. On the left is the hardcover for Michaela MacColl’s Prisoners in the Palace, which was subtitled “A Novel of Intrigue and Romance.” I love how it’s like newsprint mixed with a painting. It’s so different, and it’s super bright. It stands out on a shelf. But because of the styling, it looks young. I get the vibe of it being a historical novel but I don’t know if from a reader’s perspective that’s so obvious. It’s pretty gutsy not to have the book’s title on the front, too, I think. But this is the kind of cover you have to see the entire jacket to to understand the effect, so I suggest checking it out. I think what I like most about this cover is that it does not follow any trends in design. It’s unique.

The paperback of McColl’s Prisoners in the Palace will be released in April, and it is much more along the lines of other young adult books in terms of style. It makes use of a stock image of what I presume is a teen girl (it’s hard to tell, of course), and it does so with the sort of golden light that gives the book an aged/historical tone to it. Note that in the paperback edition, the bit about this being a novel of intrigue and romance is no longer part of the title, but it’s instead used more like a burb. I’m not a huge fan of the font choice for the title — it feels a little bit showtime or even a little bit big top for me, but I do think it might situate the book’s content in an era. This isn’t the kind of memorable cover that the hardback is, but it might have more teen appeal.

And is it me, or can you spot a potential nice read alike for MacColl’s book from another paperback edition in this post? I think there is a lot of potential ability to do reader’s advisory by good cover design, and this might be a good example of that.

What do you think? Any of these do it better than another? Am I way off? Have you seen any cover changes lately that have really hit or missed the mark?

Four cover changes to consider

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Ready for another round of book covers that have or will be changing their appearance when they move from hardcover to paperback? As usual, some of the changes are for the better and some leave quite a bit to be desired.

Meg Rosoff’s There is No Dog came out in hardcover — the one on the left — early this year. I’m pretty into this cover. It’s bright, and I like how the dog is made from the clouds themselves (which is pretty fitting given the book’s topic). The font for both the author’s name and the title are simple, and I think that the slight touches of color with red and white in them make them stand out just enough. The blurb on the front from Anthony Horowitz is simple and to the point. Rosoff doesn’t really need a huge blurb, given her acclaim as a YA author.

In March 2013, there will be a new paperback edition of Roseoff’s title. I think the cover change is interesting. It’s still simplistic, and it’s still bright — even brighter than the hardcover edition. Like the hardcover, the only colors on the cover are red, white, yellow, blue, and black. Primaries with the black and white to contrast. What’s different though is that the last word in the title is in a different font and lives inside the image of the dog. I like the effect quite a bit, actually. But what is maybe most interesting to me in terms of the cover change is that the blurb is different now. Rather than Horowitz’s single word, the blurb is now from People Magazine and a whole two words. I’m not sure whether it’s the case or not, but this cover may be aimed more toward an adult audience than a teen audience. At least that’s the impression I get, given the blurb and the very simplistic look (and interesting to note, at least to me, is the Horowitz blurb almost reads down from YA for me — his books are middle grade in my library).

I think both of these covers are pretty good. If I were to pick one, I’d probably go paperback just because I like the yellow and blue contrast.

On the left is the hardcover rendition of William Richter’s thriller Dark Eyes, which came out earlier this year as well. It’s gotten a number of comparisons to Steig Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo though I haven’t read it and can’t confirm that (and I’m suspicious since I think that’s an easy label to toss on any thriller featuring a female character). The cover is pretty vanilla, and it reminds me of another similar book, though I can’t put my finger on which one because it’s so generic. I am not saying it’s problematic that it’s generic because I think that’s one of the appeal factors for the cover of a thriller like this one, but it doesn’t have much that makes it stand apart, either. One kind of weird thing to me is that the girl’s hands look really big for her body. She has a toughness about her in the way she’s situated, though it looks to me like she’s got something in her eye…other than her hair, that is.

The paperback, due out in February 2013, takes on an entirely different look, despite being just as generic as the hardcover is. It’s a bunch of tall buildings in a city! They’re all tinted in various shades of purple. There is a girl reflecting off the side of one of those buildings, and I think it’s the same girl from the hardcover (or pretty darn close to it). And then, there is that blurb. Can you read it? Do you see who it is from? Pittacus Lore blurbs this book! Pittacus Lore who is a product of the James Frey fiction factor (maybe, maybe not) thought pretty highly of Richter’s work to blurb it. Except this gets me wondering: what does it mean if an author who doesn’t really exist blurbs your book? Could you not get a real blurb? Is it a message about the value of blurbs (that there is none)? Or was this some sort of marketing point for the Pittacus Lore machine? And then I start wondering when I see that blurb if this book isn’t really what it claims to be. Is it a real author who wrote this? So really, the paperback cover here has lost my interest entirely because I’m way more fascinated by this blurb and what the implications of it are.

Neither of those covers quite do it for me, but hardcover might be a little stronger, despite lacking the crucial Pittacus Lore blurb.

It seems like a lot of times when covers go from hardcover to paperback, the change includes the addition of a person. But in the case of Jessica Brody’s My Life Undecided, the switchover goes from using a model to using an object. As far as the hardcover is concerned, it’s nothing mind-boggling. Actually, I’d say it fits the book pretty well. This is mostly lighthearted and the girl on the cover reminds me of the main character pretty well. The way the title and author’s name appear on the cover fits the look of Brody’s first book, The Karma Club.

The paperback is quite different from the hardcover, and I kind of dig it. I love how it’s a mouse, which is extremely fitting for the book itself (which is about a girl who gets all of her life advice via her blog). It’s cute and plays into the lightheartedness of the story itself. What I don’t care for is the curly style of the title font around some of the letters — it’s a small thing, but actually, I really dislike it and can’t stop looking at it.

There’s not really a better cover in this case since I think both play into the content of the book pretty well. It’s curious there was a change, though, especially since the new paperback takes away from the branded-look for Brody’s books that started with her first title. The paperback edition of My Life Undecided will be available November 13.

When this book first came out, the cover image killed me. In fact, it still kills me. Here’s the thing: the cover for The Second Base Club has immense boy appeal, doesn’t it? I mean, that’s a bra made to look like baseballs. However, no boy I know would ever check out a book with a bra on the cover, made to look like baseballs or not. I can pretty safely say the same thing about girls. I mean — putting a bra on the cover of a book just seems like a bad idea, unless it’s romance and aimed at adults, and even then, I can’t say it’s necessarily going to be what draws people to pick up the book. Think about what it looks like to read a book with that cover in public. Especially if you’re a boy. Also, that tag line is pretty terrible. Although it seems to get to the heart of it all.

The paperback edition of The Second Base Club — due out in February 2013 — eliminates the bra issue, but now it brings in a creeper guy. Seriously, the guy is reaching over the girl and she’s definitely not into it. But what scares me a little more is the expression on his face. Is it me or is his head over sized? It looks almost Photoshopped onto the body. As weird as the positioning and the modeling are with the male in this image, the cover itself is much more appealing than the original, and I think it maintains a lot of guy appeal. It sort of reminds me of the covers of the “Carter” series, actually, and I don’t think that is a bad thing. Of interest is the change in tag lines, too. What originally only read “we’re not talking about baseball here” becomes a little more clarified and a little less sexual by adding that the character’s goals aren’t only about baseball.

I think the paperback cover wins this one hands down, though I really dislike the male model and the way he’s definitely taking advantage of the girl who is so not into him. But oh it’s better than that bra cover.

Any opinions about which books have a better hardcover or paperback edition? Anything you love or dislike in any of these? What do you make of the Pittacus Lore blurb? I hope it’s clear I’m not getting over that one for a little while. 

Paula Danziger: A Cover Retrospective

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It’s been a long time since I did one of these posts, but the So You Want to Read YA? series got me thinking about classic/timeless YA titles, and I thought it about time to talk about vintage covers and their more modern incarnations. While looking around for the right cover to post of Paula Danziger’s The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, I knew I had to share what her style has looked like past and present.

I can’t find the exact dates for each of these covers, so I didn’t include that information. I haven’t read any of these books, so my comments are based solely on the cover. Also, there’s no way I can hit all of her books, so these are a handful of my favorite titles and cover changes. If I’m missing editions you know of, I’d love a link to the image.

First up: The Cat Ate My Gymsuit

The first three covers for The Cat Ate My Gymsuit (and the next batch) feature a girl sporting a long-sleeved pink shirt — two being sweatshirts. I like how the first two covers give us a girl who has rolled up the bottoms of her jeans and the second one just has her in flood waters. Also there was a change in shoe color from brown to pink. Notice how she went from a long-haired blonde to a medium-haired blonde to a long-haired brunette? In the first two covers, she’s not getting up to play at all, but in the last one, she looks like she’s straight up annoyed to have to be involved in a game. Actually, the first cover suggests the girl isn’t moving for anything, while the second one suggests she’s not being allowed to play and she’s disappointed. What’s consistent across the covers, aside from the pink shirt, is the use of green. There is a lot of it all over the place. Also consistent is that the girl looks like a typical girl — she’s not tiny! She’s not overly made up! She looks like any high school girl would look . . . in those time periods, at least.

The next two incarnations of the cover also bring us a girl in a pink shirt, but this time they’re both illustrated. The girl on the left gets the long-sleeve sweatshirt effect while the one on the right gets the short-sleeve treatment. Both are doing something with paper or a petition and neither of them seems to have anything athletic on their minds at all. Both are brunette, but the girl on the left has the shorter look while the one on the right gets the long hair. And interestingly, here’s where it seems to me the shape of the girl changes: she’s average on the left, but she sure looks tiny on the right. I know it’s illustrated, but it’s still noteworthy given how these two covers are definitely later versions than the ones above. We also only get half of their bodies in the image, so I can’t tell if they’re rolling the bottoms of their pants or what color their shoes are. Also interesting is the cover on the right is our first visit by a cat.  


More half-body shots! I think all three of the girls in these covers look pretty similar to one another, despite being quite different looking from the girls in the prior covers. All three are donning glasses (how often do we see that on covers anymore?) and they’ve all got long blonde hair going on. Likewise, all three girls appear to be sitting in some sort of classroom or school setting — the girl on the far right might be in a cafeteria or library, I can’t quite tell — and none of them look even close to being on an athletic field. None of them are wearing pink and in fact, they’re all sporting very different looking shirts. I dig how all three have very round faces and they all look like typical girls of the time, though maybe the girl on the left looks like she might be really young. Note, too, how Danziger’s name is so much larger on the left and right covers than on the one in the middle, as well as the ones further up. There are no cats to be found in any of these covers.


The last two covers don’t feature a girl at all but are illustrated and, I believe, the two most current renditions. I like the one on the right — yes it has a cat, but I really like the use of the chalk-style font for the title. It’s simplistic but it stands out to me because of that. On the right, we get another cat, as well as paw prints, and we’re given an image of gym shorts. Another step up from the rolled up jeans and the flood waters. The girl has disappeared, though, and in both instances, she’s been replaced by an object. More notable, though, is that both covers seem to appeal to a much younger readership than the prior ones. These covers scream middle grade to me, and even though I haven’t read this book, I’d classify it as much more middle grade than YA. This better reaches that readership and it gives a more timeless look than the covers featuring a girl (because all of those girls were showing their age).  

Did you know there was a companion to this book, too? It’s called There’s a Bat in Bunk Five (which also has some amazing covers worth looking up).


Next up: The Divorce Express

Let’s start with the series of covers that have something similar in common: they feature a white character and a character of color. Also common among all of these covers is that the characters are either waiting for or are on a bus. Beyond that, let’s talk about how many differences there are. How about in the left cover, the girl looks destroyed and upset (presumably about a divorce). Looks like her friend is maybe trying to comfort her, but she is having none of it. And why would she in such awesome cowboy boots? The sign behind them says “Sandwiches.” I don’t know about you, but that touch really ties everything together for me.

Okay, so that middle cover. I can’t tell the gender of the person on the left. It could be a girl or it could be a guy. It’s not entirely clear, and that Cosby-era sweater isn’t doing him/her any favors. More noteworthy is that s/he is clearly not upset. Just confused (me too, buddy). The closer you look, it seems like they might be smiling, even. And their friend, who is clearly a girl, is really engaging them in conversation; the hands are out and talking. Is the guy/girl wearing a collared shirt under that sweater? All I can say is that cover really has a lot to digest so please, take your time to appreciate it.

The cover on the right is about as far from the other two as possible: just the heads of the girls, and they both look quite delighted to be on that bus, don’t they? I dig the blonde girl’s headband. For one of them experiencing the effects of a divorce, they sure don’t look too upset about it.

This cover stands alone for a reason: here we lose the person of color on the cover and instead get two white girls. It’s unclear if they’re at a bus stop or just hanging out with some baggage. Check out the girl on the right’s vest, too. Classy. 

Then we get these, where we don’t have two girls at all anymore. Instead, a lone white girl. In the left hand cover, we get our first stock image, and like the ladies modeling for The Cat Ate My Gymsuit, she gets the long-sleeved sweatshirt treatment AND jeans that are a tad too short. But she’s on the bus this time, and she looks pretty reflective about it. Our middle cover and our right cover take away anything real and give us covers that, again, look much more middle grade appealing than teen appealing because of their illustrative style. The cover in the middle is clearly part of the same series as the illustrated cover from Cat above, and I like how the bus is incorporated in this one. Because that girl doesn’t have a bag nor does she have a sad look to her, so were it not for that, I’d think she was just hanging out looking cute. The girl on the left at least looks packed and ready to head out. Note what’s in her hand: a bus ticket. Smart way to include that.

So I guess if we’re going to lose our friend of color, then we’re going to lose our friend all together, at least we kept the bus (almost) consistent throughout these covers.

Let’s look at It’s An Aardvark-Eat-Turtle World, which is the companion to the book above. Also, is it just me or did Danziger get to have the best titles for her books? Worth noting is that most of these covers carry similar trends in their design as Divorce Express since they were repackages or sold together specially with the new look.

So all of the covers for It’s an Aardvark-Eat-Turtle World feature two girls and the bulk feature a white girl with her friend of color. But these three stand out to me because they definitely appeal to the younger readers. The cover on the left is definitely of middle school girls, rather than high school girls, and the same can be said about the illustrated girls in the middle. For me, the girls on the right are pretty unremarkable, but they still look young. And doesn’t that cover have a very Juno feel to it? Also, long-sleeved sweatshirt on the girl there, even though it’s illustrated. Oh, did you notice the vest on the girl in the first cover, too?

It’s good to see some things are consistent.

In both of these covers, the girls are hanging out on the swing set. Looks like they’re having some intense conversation, too. I find it interesting that in the left, the girls are both white and in the right, it’s possible the one girl is of color. Possible.  I’m impressed that the girls on the right have pants that appear to fit them, too. Overall, though, these covers aren’t that much to write about. Our real winners are the next two.

It appears to me that if you want to be on a Paula Danziger cover, you best own a long-sleeved sweatshirt and only in a solid color. But more importantly, spend a minute checking out the blue shoes on the girl holding the boxes in the left cover. Between those and the orangey-pink pants the other girl is wearing, it’s almost as if this cover is modeling today’s fashion trends. I love how messy the room is and I love how it looks like one girl is doing all the work while the other is laughing. And is that garbage all over the floor?

I spent a long time thinking about the cover on the right. It’s the embodiment of a perfect cover to discuss but the problem is there are so many things worth noting, I’m afraid I’ll miss something. Is it the belted dress shirt with magenta leggings? Or that old-style phone? The hair on both the girls? The fact they’re doing precisely the opposite of the girls in the cover on the left, since they appear to be decorating, instead of packing? And is it me or do those girls look way older than the girls who are in the first cover I posted of this book?

Last title to look at: Can You Sue Your Parents for Malpractice?
That TITLE!

It looks like the covers on the left and the middle are the same image, but if you look carefully, they’re slightly different. It’s the same couple, but the image is shifted a bit so that you can see more of the school doors behind them. Also, it might just be me, but the girl in the middle image is definitely giving that boy much more of a seductive look than in the first one. Either way, it’s a nice looking couple, isn’t it? Definitely straight out of the late 1970s or early 1980s. They even coordinated their red-and-white striped shirts. Now check out the cover on the right: looks like our lovely male model got the long-sleeved solid color sweatshirt memo. Which is good seeing the girl has quite the design going on with hers. He balances her for sure. Is it just me or are their legs really weird looking? It’s definitely an odd illustration. Of note in all of these covers is that the couples are standing outside the school.

We have couples in both covers this time, and what I find interesting is that even though the cover on the right is illustrated, it makes the pair look like high schoolers. If anything, I’d say the cover on the left makes the couple look older than high school. Maybe it’s the outfits, in that they’re way more put together and prep looking than the other couples have been. What’s got me a little confused though is that neither of these covers even fit the title. Are they the parents? The couple on the right looks downright thrilled, like maybe they just started dating and are still in that stage where they like one another. And the couple on the left are holding hands. How and what does this have to do with their parents? Let alone malpractice.

But just in case you were worried we wouldn’t get there, here’s this cover:


Here’s a couple doing some research in a library, presumably about what it takes to sue your parents. Well, at least she is doing some research. He looks like he might be researching her more than the book. Also: her vest.

And here is where the malpractice comes in. Look at how those teens are treating the books! Look at how loud she is clearly being in the library! I mean, I’m glad they’re so happy to have found what they needed, but good grief. Tone it down a bit. Also, is it me or is that desk flush with the stacks? More malpractice, as the ADA wouldn’t be too thrilled with that library’s set up. Those shelves also look like they’re very tall, don’t they?

Fonts, Color, Page Decor: The Visual Impact of Book Design

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I talk a lot about cover designs and what works and doesn’t work for me, but lately, I’ve been thinking a lot more about all of the other elements that can give a book a real visual impact. There are so many little things (and big things) that can go into the design of a book and some work really well for me while others distract me from the reading experience. I’d love to hear any of your thoughts on favorite and not-so-favorite uses of these features in recent (and even not-so-recent) books.

Jackets and Covers

I talk about covers all the time, but one thing I love about hardcover books is when the book designer chooses to make use of both the boards and the jacket to give the book more visual punch. I don’t buy a whole lot of hardcover books, and when I do, I tend to take the jacket off because, for me, it’s tough to hold on to while reading. So when there are little surprises underneath the jacket, I get really excited.

The Age of Miracles is one of my favorite recent examples: 

It’s a fairly unassuming cover, but all of those little circles on the title are actually perforations. So what you’re seeing is the board underneath. It looks really neat because you can see the very bright orange and yellow peaking out, and there’s a texture to the jacket with the perforations.

But the real fun part is the board itself:

I love the silhouette of the girl. It’s a complete surprise, especially after seeing the jacket itself. This is one of those books where not having the jacket on the outside maybe even enhances the visual impact.

Another one of my favorite covers — and this is a hard cover without a jacket — is Katie Williams’s The Space Between Trees.

Sure it doesn’t look all that special. It’s a bunch of dark trees and a girl running in the background. But the trees are actually cut out of the board. It’s not an image but really a piece of art you can poke your fingers through:

I grabbed this image from a reader on Goodreads. The intricacy and the fine detailing of the cut out trees are unexpected and worth spending time studying. It’s not fragile either — the cutouts are pretty sturdy so you don’t have to worry too much about breaking any of the branches as you obsessively run your fingers over them (that can’t just be me). Again, it adds an element to the design that makes it stand out just a little bit more.

Colored Font

I feel like this category might make me sound old, but I really dislike colored font in books. I find it challenging to read and distracting unless it’s used carefully and purposefully. One that stands out in my mind as a particularly challenging reading experience was Anna Dressed in Blood. The font inside is a rusty red and the pages themselves are not bright white, but a little more cream colored. Although it looked neat and certainly fit with the book itself, I couldn’t read straight. I kept finding myself unable to focus because it was hard to read the red-on-cream font. As I look through a lot of other reviews, though, I’ve noticed others have loved this effect because it’s different and adds to the atmospheric element of the story.

I haven’t read the Shiver series by Maggie Stiefvater in a finished format, but in the galley for the final entry in the series, Forever, there’s another instance of red font (though the paper is whiter than it is for the Blake title):

I’m sure there are other examples in other colored fonts, but I’ll be okay in being old and saying I prefer black font because it is the easiest and least distracting to read.

Font Style

Continuing the theme of font selection, I put my foot down very solidly on the fact I prefer my books to have a serif font. I’m not particularly choosey on which serif font is used, but I have a hard time reading sans serif on a print format. I blogged about this way back when STACKED was a baby, but I’ve noticed it’s still popping up once in a while. The most recent example I can think of is SD Crockett’s After the Snow and for me, the font detracted entirely from the reading. The book required me to pay attention to a dialect, which is in and of itself challenging, but adding the sans serif font in the mix made it even harder.

It’s challenging to read because there’s not a visual line connecting the letters to one another as there is in a serif font. I find there’s too much space between the letters and in this particular case, the letters themselves are so thin, they’re difficult to focus on.

Chapter Designs

I love the little touches that go into the pages themselves, and this usually happens on chapter openings. Which, of course, makes sense since that’s where there tends to be more space for designing elements.

Here are two of my recent favorites. The first one is from a galley of Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock. I haven’t had the chance to see the finished version of it, but knowing that images are always enhanced when they make it to the final stage, I bet the design looks even better than it does here:

The design is so simple and yet adds a lot to the visual aspect of the book. It brings the entire page together. Bonus points for fitting with the elements present on the cover.

A few of the chapters inside Courtney Summers’s This is Not a Test offer us a nice double-page blood splatter. It’s minimal enough not to impact the already-strong and stark visual impact of having the chapters start so low on the page (rather than mid-page) and the fact it falls in the gutter of the pages makes it stand out even more. There’s another great visual element in this book, but because it’s a spoiler, I won’t post an image of it.

Deckle Edges

My least favorite of all the design choices in book production: the deckle edge. If you’re unfamiliar with what the deckle edge is, think about older books, where the pages are all unevenly cut. It’s meant to look fancier, I think, but the uneven cut on the pages makes flipping through them challenging (and let’s not even talk about how it’s impossible to hold the book open fully because the shorter cuts won’t stay open).

I think I might fall into a minority on this opinion, though. If you head over to Asheley’s blog, you can see she loves the French flap look (and has some good examples of recent books getting that treatment). Spend a little time looking at some of the other design elements she hits on, too, because they’re different than the things I look at — since I’m a huge contemporary reader, for example, maps never cross my mind as an interesting aspect of a book’s design. But I could see how they’re crucial for fantasy readers to grasp a sense of place in the new worlds they enter.

I think part of what interests me so much in book design is that with ebooks, you can often see the same elements (like the chapter designs) but some elements are simply not going to be a part of the digital reading experience (like the jacket and cover pieces). I’ve read a lot about how designers are thinking about this much more now and working to make ebooks as much an art form as they do physical books. But for me, there’s somewhat of a disconnect, as the ereading experience feels more like a passive studying of elements, whereas holding the physical book and admiring the artistry in the design is much more active.

What are some of your favorite book design elements? What aren’t you a fan of? I’d love to hear more examples of good looking design elements, too, that fit in any of these categories.

Hardcover to Paperback Cover Switch: Six to Check Out

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My list of books getting new paperback covers keeps growing, so I thought it was about time to share some of the ones catching my eye, either for good or not so good. This time, I even got one of the authors to give me a little bit of her mind on her book’s redesign.

Dandi Daley MacKall’s The Silence of Murder was the 2012 winner of the Edgar Award. I read it last year and found it unmemorable. What I do remember, though, is really digging the hardcover look, which is on the left. I love the image of the shattered bottle and the stark look of the green against the black background. It’s an exceptionally simple cover but I think it’s effective in not only being eye-catching, but it captures the idea of a mystery. The cover on the right is the paperback look and I think it’s a huge step down from the original. The color scheme is odd, but maybe more odd is the choice to have an illustrated person on the cover. Granted, it’s not a stock image, and while the boy in the hoodie with his mouth covered certainly follows what happens in the story, the cover looks very juvenile. The font, the unrefined lines, and the color scheme make it look very young — I’m especially put off by the almost too-happy color choices of yellow and orange in the tag line (“An Unspeakable Crime. A Voiceless Defendant”) and in the alternating colors in the author’s name. It’s a shame in the change because that original cover is so good. The paperback edition of The Silence of Murder will be released in October.

Apologies in advance for the bit of blur on the paperback cover, but I couldn’t find a full-size image outside the publisher’s catalog. Melissa Walker’s 2011 release, Small Town Sinners, is getting a slight change in look, too. Before I dive in with my thoughts, I asked Melissa what she thought:

I loved the hardcover image on Small Town Sinners — the girl, the apple, the field. I think it’s beautiful. So when I saw the paperback cover, which zooms in on the apple, I had to take a step back. I missed the setting, to be honest. But I also know that the apple is what people talked about when they saw the cover. That heart bite, the arresting red… it definitely catches the eye, and hopefully it will bring more readers to the paperback. 

I’m with her on this one. I really dug the hardcover look, which featured not just the apple, but the girl in the field in the background. There is a lot of symbolism in it, particularly noting the topic at hand in the book. The girl in white, the struggle she feels with following her faith straight and narrow or letting herself to feel around outside it highlighted in the way she shields her face. It is the apple that’s maybe most memorable, though, and I don’t think the paperback gets it wrong by focusing in on it. I’m glad to see the font and design of the title didn’t change in the process; I dig the light cursive for “Small Town” and the contrast in the straight look of “Sinners.” Note that the paperback edition of the book gets a tag line that the hardcover did not: “Does falling in love mean falling out of faith?” I’m not a huge tag line fan, and I think the downside of it here is that it suggests the book focuses more on the romance than on the struggle of faith (and family!) that Walker successfully delves into. Overall, it’s not a bad change, but I wonder what sort of readership this look would bring, as opposed to the original since the change isn’t that drastic. If you haven’t, I highly recommend checking out the entire cover story for the hardcover look over at Melissa’s blog (and if you dig cover posts and aren’t reading her “cover stories” posts, get on it). The paperback edition of Small Town Sinners will be available in January.

Joshua Cohen’s Leverage still makes my stomach turn when I think about it. It’s a hell of a powerful book if even thinking about it looking at the covers makes me hurt. The hardcover on the left is so perfect for this book. The stark look with the arm, vein-y and steroidal, stands out. You know immediately this is going to be a painful book and there is no doubt readers know this book will appeal to male readers and to sports fans. I love the way the font looks for the title — it’s very athletic, very sports jersey looking. I love the white cover a lot and the simplicity really conveys the enormity of the story inside (I know that sounds contradictory, but I think it’s true). The paperback cover, though? Also a real winner. This time, the design offers a greater insight into the fact this is a book that tackles sports head-on, and I love that it looks gritty. Like the original cover, the title design and font choice have that athletic look and I’m glad to see Cohen’s name gets to be even bigger on the paperback. But what I don’t care for? The tag line: “Too much pressure, too many victims — who will take a stand?” It’s so generic and while it does get at the heart of the story, it’s still fairly leading. I think that’s really my issue with tag lines. They force an interpretation of the story on the reader, whether intentional or not. Either way, both covers win in this change up, and I do hope that the new football-inspired look will draw more readers to this intense and gripping novel. Have I mentioned I love this one? Leverage will come out in paperback September 27.

I really liked Carol Lynch Williams’s Glimpse, a gritty verse novel about sisters and family secrets. The original hard cover look on the left stands out to me because of the brightness. Even though it’s a dark novel, I think the way the sun’s light contrasts with the darker woods and the way it’s setting instead of rising gives it that eery feel, that something isn’t quite right. I love that the girl’s face is all there, but it’s obscured enough to show only the look of trepidation and little else. I’m a fan of the way the title is centered and how the font is so narrow, almost whisper-thin, despite being right in the middle of the cover begging for attention. I think that’s fairly representative of the story itself. Of note is that the author’s name is almost buried in the lower right hand corner. The paperback cover isn’t bad, but for me, it’s forgettable. It looks very much like the cover that her latest novel, Waiting, gets in terms of a muted palate. The two girls are looking away from the reader, and I think there is a lot said in the fact the girls aren’t holding one another’s hands or embracing each other. Since this is a sister story, I like that there are two girls; however, the image of one girl in the hardcover is almost more authentic to the story and more haunting. I appreciate, though, how the thin font is still there for the title in paperback and I like how Williams’s name is more prominent. But for me, the winning look is still the hardcover. The paperback is far too generic for me and really reminds me a lot of the Cook redesign I talked about here. Glimpse is available in paperback now.

This is a book I keep meaning to read because it sounds like something that might be up my alley. Marcus Sedgwick’s White Crow cover make over might be one of my favorites — the hard cover on the left does absolutely nothing for me. It’s creepy, but more than anything, it’s just weird to me. The design, with the goth-like face floating above the too-narrow, too-cheap looking title and the random raven (or crow — it could be a crow) just does nothing. I really dislike the font choice for the author’s name too; it looks really old, and not in a good, vintage sort of way. The black-white-red look, which can often make a cover stand out, isn’t effective in capturing any sort of mood for the book. But let’s talk about the paperback. I love how creepy it is. The blue-grey coloring gives a much more haunting feel to it than the black and white look of the hardcover does. More than that though, it’s the girl. She’s got her back to us as readers, and she’s sitting in a simplistic chair in the corner, surrounded with candles. Is she performing some sort of ritual? Channeling the spirits? What the heck is she doing? I love the title font choice, as it’s much more haunting than the original. The paperback reminds me of so many horror film looks, and it draws me in much more because of that. I want to know what the story is here because I know there has to be one. I think it’s interesting that the hardcover look features a person with dark hair and the paperback appears to have a girl with much lighter hair in it. Both feature a pretty lame tag line: “What’s on the other side of death?” but despite being lame, I think the paperback cover draws readers in with those words a little bit more. For me, this is paperback all the way. I’d love that one on my shelf. White Crow will be out in paperback September 18. 

I read Lindsey Leavitt’s Sean Griswold’s Head a while ago, and I remember it being a sweet story about a girl juggling her father’s illness with figuring out who she is amid that stress. There is a little romance in the story which emerges as Peyton engages with her focus object — the back of the head of the boy who sits in front of her. I dig the hardcover look of this book because it’s not only pretty gender neutral, but because we don’t see the boy’s face. Again, it’s a fairly simplistic cover and concept. It’s appealing because, despite being simple, it’s also different enough to stand out. I dig the handwriting font for the title, though I think it is very easy to overlook the author name on this cover. It’s shoved in the corner in a narrow font. The paperback cover, on the right, conveys an entirely different feel than the original. This cover? Romance. This is the cover that will appeal to readers wanting a story with kissing in it (though that plays such a small role in the story that ultimately I think readers might be a little mislead). The couple, though, looks so modern and relatable, I think; these kids are freshmen in any high school right now, no question. There’s a much more feminine feel to the paperback version, and on many levels, it reminds me of the newer looking Lurlene McDaniel books. I think that’s because of how modern the couple appears. I am glad to see Leavitt’s name gets a lot more attention on the paperback, but the title is easy to miss, I think. I wouldn’t say the paperback nor the hardcover does it better. Rather, they aim at two entirely different audiences and I think readers will be drawn to one over the other, depending on what they’re expecting to get from the book. Sean Griswold’s Head will be out in paperback September 18.

Thoughts? Any do it better than others?