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Double Takes: Four For One

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I’ve got a four cover double takes — it’s been a while since we’ve done one of these, hasn’t it?

Same model in Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Tantalize as in Julie Hearn’s Ivy, though it’s the opposite side of her face and a much tighter crop. It’s interesting to me how both of these covers have some sort of green in the background. That makes the red pop a little more. Both of these books are a few years older, but the same cover model makes an appearance in a paperback released this year:

I don’t care for how the cover of Cecelia Ahern’s The Book of Tomorrow looks, and I find the cover model head to be sort of oddly chopped off and placed on it. I like how her red hair is enhanced (I mean, how often do you see a red curly haired girl? Not often, says a girl with red curly hair). But the cover set up doesn’t work for me — I dislike how the title is all lowercase and then the author’s name is in all caps. Then the tag line is in standard caps-lowercase styling. The book image is more than half of the cover, too, then suddenly a girl’s head sprouts from the top of it. It feels out of place. It also looks to me like the orange color of the font is different from the red color of the girl’s hair, but that might just be my screen’s resolution or a result of the image being digital rather than in print.

It’s the same model in Denise Jaden’s recent Never Enough as it is in Mara Purnhagen’s Haunting the Night, an ebook novella released in August 2011. The girl’s image has been flipped, so that she’s looking up and to the left in Jaden’s cover and up and to the right in Purnhagen’s cover. But let’s talk about how different the backgrounds of the images are. I quite like the Jaden cover background because it’s quiet. It’s all white with just some wisps of branches in the background. There’s something simple and clean about it that makes it stand out a little bit to me. Knowing the Purnhagen book is an ebook release only makes talking about what it’d look like on a shelf silly, but I do think it’s a little busy. I love the color, but the girl is definitely swallowed up by the heavy coloring and clouds. Also, that balloon above the title is distracting me and also amusing me.

One of my favorite covers in recent memory is the one for Ilsa J Bick’s Drowning Instinct. It is eye-catching. I love the way the girl is sideways, the way the water falls off her face, the blue background, and the way it just fits the story. I had never seen a cover like it . . .  until I saw the cover double on Pamela Callow’s Damaged, which actually published before Bick’s title. What’s most interesting to me is not just the same treatment of the cover model with the water dripping down, but even the blue background is quite similar. The biggest difference in design choice is that the Callow cover isn’t as tightly cropped as the Bick cover model. But you know, I still think this cover is great and it works in both cases.

Pip Henry’s I’ll Tell You Mine published this year in April — it’s an Australian title. There’s only half a face in the cover, but you can see the whole girl’s face on Susan Bischoff’s 2010 self-published title Hush Money. Both are fairly striking covers, I think: I love the pale face with the dark eyes and eye makeup against the dark background (though Bischoff’s girl is definitely pinker than Harry’s). Both use fairly simplistic fonts for their titles but they’re strong enough font-wise to also stand out against the black behind it. It’s interesting to note that Harry’s cover has a girl with dark lips and dark nail polish while Bischoff’s cover has no nail polish on the girl’s finger and a nude lip. The stripe of red on the cover of the book on the right stands out a little bit, but overall, I think both of these covers work. It’s rare I like a cover with a face on it, but this one says a lot about the book without saying much at all.

Any additional doubles to these covers above? Like any of the treatments better than another?

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?

The mid-series cover switch

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It’s not really a surprise anymore how much I think about book covers and about the trends relating to them. However, there is a trend that’s becoming more and more popular, and it’s one that doesn’t bother me much on a personal level so much as it bothers me as a librarian: the mid-series cover change. I’m not talking about when a series changes appearance when it goes from its hard cover iteration to a completely new paperback look; I’m talking about when the paperback change in appearance is forced on the hard cover before the entire series has released. Before I explain why it’s frustrating, let’s look at a handful of examples.

Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan — on the left is the original hardcover book, followed by the paperback cover look. Here’s the second book in the series, and how it appears in hardcover:

Rather than continue with the dark, simplistic look of the original hardcover, Spark‘s first appearance will follow the look of Glow‘s paperback. For what it’s worth, I think the original look of the series was fantastic and gender neutral. It was stark, clean, and simple. The new designs are a little too gendered for my liking (because this series has great appeal to both males and females) and they’re way overcomplicated. There’s too much running/floating/weird expression making going on. They don’t scream scifi in the way the first look does.

Then there was the change-up in how Elizabeth Miles’s series about the three furies looks. On the left is the original hardcover look of book one, Fury. The paperback look is on the right. I’m not sure I understand the difference since the first certainly looks much more like it fits the content than the incredibly generic cover on the right. Here’s what book two in the series looks like, in hardcover form:

Envy at least has the same red flower petals donning the cover. It still tells me absolutely nothing about the book. Is it just me or does this model look like she’s in her 20s and in no way a teenager? The longer I look at this redesigned series, the more it reminds me of another series that got a similar redesign treatment. And looks just as generic, too.

Lauren Oliver’s Delirium came out in hardcover form with the design on the left. I remember thinking it looked sort of like the girl was mid-sneeze in the image. I think it was meant to be a dreamy look, but it doesn’t really look that way. The cover on the right is the paperback issue. Isn’t it strikingly similar to the Miles series in terms of having a big face surrounded by plants? They chose to stick with this look for the hardcover release of the second book and will continue it with the hardcover look of book three, too (at least at this point):

There is nothing spectacular about these at all. But at least they keep the same model on all of them. It’s a big departure from the original hardcover look, though, and looks so similar to Miles’s books.

There’s also Andrea Cremer’s series which got a makeover mid-series. On the left is the original hardcover look for book one, Nightshade. The cover on the right is the redesigned series look and is the paperback issue of the title. But that look is what carried over into the second book’s hardcover design and into the third book’s hardcover, too:

Wolfsbane is book two and Bloodrose is book three in the series. They don’t look anything like the first hardcover look, having a little more edge and urban fantasy appeal to them (the first hardcover look to me is a softer look). If you’re curious, the advanced review copy of Wolfsbane did carry the first look prior to publication but changed. I think I prefer the original look, but I haven’t read this series. I suspect the second look — the harder appearance — might be a better “fit” for it, though.

Ilsa J Bick’s zombie series “Ashes” is getting a way different look, too. On the left is the original hardcover design (which is creepy, especially in person) and on the right is the way it’ll look in paperback form. I like the look a lot, actually: it’s different and still manages to give off a nice creep factor — though in no way like the original look. The hardcover version of the second book in the series, Shadows will carry the new look on the cover:

Redesigns are into this running thing, aren’t they? I really dig this cover. I think what’s working for me in this redesign is the title treatment. It’s striking because it runs a little differently and allows the reader to sort of construct their own image of the story. Shadows doesn’t hint at the creep factor in the same way the original cover of Ashes does, but I think that might be okay. I have a feeling book two is less about the start of the apocalypse and a lot more about survival.

Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me is getting a new look, too. On the left is the original cover, which features all of the same elements that every other book does: a girl in a pretty dress. It doesn’t really tell anything about the book. It is striking in person, though, since the silver has a nice sheen to it. The right is the redesign of the series, featuring an eye floating in the air. It doesn’t really do anything for me. I guess it’s different from the trope covered in the original look. But here’s the redesigned look on the hardcover release of the sequel:

Unravel Me‘s hardcover looks so similar to the paperback release of Shatter Me that I am pretty sure they’ll be easily confused (I can imagine without doubt being asked if they’re the same book because they do look that similar to one another). I guess this cover is brighter and perhaps more hopeful as a result. Either way, it’s not a girl in a dress, though it’s not necessarily standing out anymore.

I loved the original hardcover look of Daisy Whitney’s The Mockingbirds. It’s so simple and clean and just fits the story. The paperback iterate is on the right. It’s not bad, and it, too, is pretty striking. I love the look of the girl on the cover and how it feels somewhat noir. That said, I am sad that the hardcover of the companion book, The Rivals, didn’t get the original treatment at all and went straight to the paperback look:

I wish they’d gone with the look of the ARC on this one for the hardcover release, rather than jump straight to this look. This carries that same sort of noir look as the paperback of The Mockingbirds, but it features some random guy on the cover (with weird face stubble if you zoom in enough).

Maureen Johnson’s The Name of the Star started out with the look on the left. I think it effectively captures the historical/mysterious nature of the book, though I was never a fan of the girl/shadow effect going on. On the right is the look of the paperback, which I really dig. It’s simple, but it captures the haunting feeling very well. The title treatment works for me. Here’s what the hardcover of the second book will look like:

I’m a big fan. BIG fan. Again, the simplicity does everything for it. You know where and when it’s set, and you know there’s something suspicious going on. And really, that is all you need to know. But this hardcover look and the paperback of The Name of the Star are certainly a departure from the very dark, shadowy look of the original hardcover.

Holly Black’s “Curse Workers” series almost made it through the entire hardcover trilogy of the series before getting a cover change, but not entirely. Above are the hardcover looks for White Cat and Red Glove. These covers were knockouts, in my mind, particularly White Cat. There is huge appeal for both males and females in it, and the fact the guy is so mysterious looking sells the story. Do I need to start on the creepy red glove on the girl’s shoulder in the second? Alas. Both of these books got the paperback redesign and now look like this:

These are so unremarkable to me. They look like advertisements out of the 1970s, with the look of the image and the font choices. The hardcover of the final book of the series, Black Heart, got this look, rather than the original one:

Books aren’t gendered, and I truly believe a good story can work for anyone, but these covers are definitely working toward appealing to females much more than males. I am not a fan of this new look, as I think it’s a little sleepy and won’t stand out on the shelves the same way the originals did.

And finally, let’s look at one last series which has had not just one redesign mid-way through the series, but two:

Beth Revis’s Across the Universe began its life with the look on the left. It’s standout, but I read a number of criticisms that it wasn’t authentic to the characters in the story (I don’t know since I haven’t read it). When it came out in paperback, it took on the look on the right. Still pretty standout, in my mind, though both versions of this cover have appeal to a more female readership. Here’s what the hardcover of the second book in the series looked like when it came out:

A Million Suns took the best parts of the first look for the series and mashed it with the good parts of the second book. Again: it’s striking. It looks like a space-set scifi novel. But with the paperback release of A Million Suns and the release of the third and final book in the series, Shades of Earth, all three books are getting a new look:

The hardcover of Shades of Earth will take on the look to the far right here, while the other two books will be issued in paperback with the new style. I think of the three iterations of the cover, this is the one that nails it. You know these books are scifi, and they are so neutral that readers who love genre fiction will know this is something they need to pick up. It’s completely ungendered. What’s so remarkable, I think, is that there isn’t a person or an image on the covers; it’s simplistic and clean.

Series looks change as a result of sales and marketing and for a number of different reasons. A new look can spark new interest, especially if the original look for a series didn’t necessarily hit the mark. In a crowded YA landscape, getting the look right is important to the bottom line. Working the right look for a series is tricky, too: whereas standalone titles can have their paperback look remarkably different from the hardcover and have little impact on future titles, a new look in a series can impact the sales for future and past titles in that series. 

Many readers comment that these sort of series look changes bother them because then their shelves look strange. The covers don’t match, the complete set may be in differing sizes and shapes. It’s not harmonic. But that doesn’t matter a whole lot to me, the reader. What matters to me is that this sort of mid-series change, where the hardcover book takes on the new look before the series has finished its run, is difficult to work with in the library.

First, when the covers change their appearance, there isn’t instant recognition of continuity on the shelves. A casual browser wouldn’t know, for example, that The Rivals, as it appears in its new hardcover look, is the companion to The Mockingbirds in its original look. A casual browser wouldn’t know that Unravel Me‘s hardcover is in anyway related to the hardcover of Shatter Me. Part of why so much time and thought and money is invested in cover designs is because that is how readers’ attention is grabbed: a good looking cover grabs them before they dive into the flap copy or description. This is the same case in the library, in that browsers are more apt to grab a book that appeals to them visually. So when the covers are so disparate, it’s tough to know whether or not they’re companions or part of the same series unless the time and energy is invested in reading the copy (browsers have to get to that point first, though).

More than that, though, many librarians are not up on their YA. This is for many reasons, including specialties, library size, time of day a patron visits the library and who they talk with, and so forth. So when a patron approaches a librarian and asks for the next book in a series or asks if two books in a series with varied looks are related, it’s possible that the librarian would have no clue. Even if they were to go into their library’s catalog, there wouldn’t necessarily be a lot of aid, either:

 
You’d have to do a little more digging to figure the connection out (a good librarian would do that, don’t get me wrong, but the truth is, there is nothing here to suggest a connection so the chances of it being investigated further are somewhat slim). It’s easier when the books put their series name on them somehow — as in the case of the Johnson and Ryan titles. But, as you can see above, not all of them do. 

Where as big book stores can more easily swap out their unmatched series, libraries don’t often have that sort of luxury. Which then brings me to wondering about whether or not libraries are doing themselves a disservice in someway by purchasing the hardcover editions of hot series books. By the time they purchase the books, a new design for the paperback might be in the works, and the new design might take effect starting with the second book of the series, which then gives them a mismatched set. Given how tight library budgets are, there are rarely times when both a full hardcover set and a whole paperback set can be purchased, so arguably, it almost makes sense to hold off on purchasing series books until they’re out in paperback form. Of course, that then is a disservice to patrons, who expect (rightly so) their libraries to be purchasing new items when they’re released — particularly if they’re buzzed, popular titles like most of these are and have been.

Even though libraries are only part of the purchasing power when it comes to publishing, it seems like these sorts of changes have a great impact on library collections. Not just because they don’t match, but because their lack of matching does make browsing, readers advisory (think about the things pointed out above, particularly when it comes to appeal of a new look to different readerships), and display marketing (think about how a display with the three different hardcover iterations of Revis’s title would look) more challenging. It makes keeping up with purchasing challenging too, since the books look different. The chances of the next book in the series to be overlooked because visually it appears so different from the first are good. This also further drives a wedge in the knowledge gaps that exist among staff who may know little or nothing about YA books and still find themselves needing to know about them.

What are your thoughts on series books that get changed half-way through? Do any of the ones above look better in their original or redesigned covers? Do you see appeal factors changed on any?