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Cover Makeovers: 5 YA Book Covers With New Looks

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Cover design is never not fascinating. For all that’s said about not judging a book by its cover, it’s actually a pretty powerful skill to have. You’re looking at so many elements to convey what a story is about, who it’s written for, and what books it might be similar to in order to have it reach potential readers. It’s art, after all, and considering the power of art to depict a story is not being superficial.

Authors have little to no say in their cover art, which makes the entire process more complex. How the story is marketed, its first impression to readers in stores and online, is pretty much out of their hands. And given how more and more marketing of books is online and less in-store, it’s no surprise design has taken into consideration how a cover will look when the size of a thumbnail.

Find below five YA books that are getting new designs in paperback. I always love looking at the different choices made in the new iterations. What compelled the publisher to make a change? Who does the book seek to reach now? I love to think about whether the book is now angled more (or less!) toward a teen readership. In some cases, the change is a real upgrade, while in others, it’s not. In yet other cases, the change in design leaves a big ole question mark.

Original hardcover designs are on the left, while the new paperback editions are on the right. I’d love to know which you prefer and why. Descriptions of the books come from Amazon.

 

 

Five New YA Hardcover to Paperback Makeovers

 

The Companion by Kate Alender

 

I’ve been meaning to read this one, in part because it’s horror, in part because Kimberly raved about it, and in part because I’ve read Alender’s work before and enjoy her storytelling. The original hardcover image is so great: it’s unlike anything else out there right now, with its silver spoon collecting nails. It gives creepy and chilling vibes, and with the tagline “Lies pile up. And then they bury you” really offers a lot to the reader without saying too much. The use of pink for Alender’s name is clever, a small treat to prepare the reader for the book to come.

That said, the fact the cover is so different from what’s currently on shelves may be why the paperback has an entirely new look. It reminds me of a horror movie cover more than a book cover, and it’s a design I’ve seen many times with YA horror as well. It’s a creepy house with the silhouette of a girl and a moody sky and color palate. The lights on in the windows add to the spooky ambiance. Interestingly, the title font went from serif to san serif, which I think makes it a little more genre-friendly, and more, the tagline itself completely changed. “She thought she was finally safe. She was wrong” is a very different tell for the book than the first tagline, too. The first, perhaps, leans more thriller, while the second leans heavy into horror.

Both of the covers work, though I’m drawn more toward the original if for no reason other than its freshness. The paperback would look fabulous on a display of books featuring creepy houses, right along with Alender’s earlier The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall.

The Companion hits shelves in paperback August 21.

The other orphans say Margot is lucky.

Lucky to survive the horrible accident that killed her family.

Lucky to have her own room because she wakes up screaming every night.

And finally, lucky to be chosen by a prestigious family to live at their remote country estate.

But it wasn’t luck that made the Suttons rescue Margot from her bleak existence at the group home.  Margot was handpicked to be a companion to their silent, mysterious daughter, Agatha. At first, helping with Agatha–and getting to know her handsome younger brother–seems much better than the group home. But soon, the isolated house begins playing tricks on Margot’s mind, making her question everything she believes about the Suttons . . . and herself.

Margot’s bad dreams may have stopped when she came to live with Agatha – but the real nightmare has just begun.

 

Each of Us a Desert by Mark Oshiro

 

Having loved Oshiro’s first YA book Anger Is a Gift, I have to say the cover of Each of Us a Desert left me feeling uninterested. It didn’t tell me anything about the book any more than the title did (and it’s a great title). The tagline “Find where you belong” offers nothing, either. What is the book’s genre? What’s it about? Sure, there’s a profile in the triangle shape — is that supposed to be a sand hill or a pyramid? — but the lack of seeing an expression conveys nothing.

The paperback, on the other hand, nails it. There’s been this neat trend in YA covers, perhaps something to dig into soon, where a bigger scene plays out within the cover image. As you see with the two teens on the cover, there’s an actual desert along their backs. The tagline has been all together ditched in favor of the bigger focal point of title and image, and even though I’m still not sure what the book might be about, I’m far more compelled to pick it up. The teens have readable expressions on their faces, and the look the teen on the left is serving up makes me wonder what she has to say. I like how this copy notes Oshio is an “award winning author,” wherein on the hardcover, it simply read author.

Each of Us a Desert is more captivating in its paperback iteration. It hits shelves November 9.

From award-winning author Mark Oshiro comes a powerful coming-of-age fantasy novel about finding home and falling in love amidst the dangers of a desert where stories come to life

Xochitl is destined to wander the desert alone, speaking her troubled village’s stories into its arid winds. Her only companions are the blessed stars above and enigmatic lines of poetry magically strewn across dusty dunes.

Her one desire: to share her heart with a kindred spirit.

One night, Xo’s wish is granted―in the form of Emilia, the cold and beautiful daughter of the town’s murderous conqueror. But when the two set out on a magical journey across the desert, they find their hearts could be a match… if only they can survive the nightmare-like terrors that arise when the sun goes down.

Fresh off of Anger Is a Gift‘s smashing success, Oshiro branches out into a fantastical direction with their new YA novel, Each of Us a Desert.

 

How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi

 

 

The next couple of entries on this look at cover makeovers fall into the category of surely, there’s a reason for the small change but I have no idea what it might be.

Ahmadi’s How It All Blew Up begins as a red cover. The title treatment here is interesting, with “Blew Up” rendered with shadows behind each letter and at an increased size, compared to the rest of the words. We have a big blurb from Angie Thomas, as well as the words “A Novel” beneath the title. It’s a fine cover, and offers to the reader what to expect: a contemporary, coming of age story. The teen on the cover appears to be brown, further letting readers know who the lead in the story is.

The paperback, which hits shelves September 28, takes the same cover images and turns the background to yellow. The squiggles, presumably to indicate “blowing up”/stress/angst, pop a big more with the color change, and the boy has been resized to be a little bit smaller. Ahmadi’s name now lies at the bottom, in what appears to be the same font as the hardcover’s title, while the title itself changed fonts entirely. “Blew Up” is still larger than the other words, but now all of the letters have black outlines.

Perhaps most curious in the change is the disappearance of “A Novel” and the appearance of another blurb, this one from Adam Silvera. In many ways, this now feels like too much on the cover, especially as the squiggles take on more prominence and yellow itself is a bright, energetic color. There’s a lot of writing on the front cover of the book.

Neither is better nor worse, but I love thinking about the why here. What compelled design and marketing to go with yellow here? To add another blurb — one that doesn’t actually say anything about the book? To get rid of “a novel?”

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda goes to Italy in Arvin Ahmadi’s newest incisive look at identity and what it means to find yourself by running away.

Eighteen-year-old Amir Azadi always knew coming out to his Muslim family would be messy–he just didn’t think it would end in an airport interrogation room. But when faced with a failed relationship, bullies, and blackmail, running away to Rome is his only option. Right?

Soon, late nights with new friends and dates in the Sistine Chapel start to feel like second nature… until his old life comes knocking on his door. Now, Amir has to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth to a US Customs officer, or risk losing his hard-won freedom.

At turns uplifting and devastating, How It All Blew Up is Arvin Ahmadi’s most powerful novel yet, a celebration of how life’s most painful moments can live alongside the riotous, life-changing joys of discovering who you are.

 

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

 

 

The hardcover design for I’m Not Dying With You Tonight is simple and straight forward: two girls, one Black and one white, are on opposite sides, facing in opposite directions. The title being smack in the middle draws your attention to their faces, and the mirrored title and author fonts reflect that back. It’s a nice use of patterns. The bold choices in colors works well, too. There is power in that cover, without ever once trying to say there’s power in it.

But I will say, I’m even more compelled by the paperback makeover. The elements that worked in the hardcover are made more urgent when the girls are face to face, their eyes staring right into each other, rather than into one another’s mouths. Your eye is drawn to the title, and the layering effect of the city scape behind them adds nice dimension. We know this book was a New York Times bestseller, and both Angie Thomas and Nic Stone blurbed it. I’m generally not a fan of blurbs, especially multiple ones on a cover, but in this case, those blurbs establish this title as a read alike, even if the single words (“Powerful” and “Vital”) are kind of meaningless. The lengthier blurbs on retail websites offer way more to the story itself.

The new cover reminds me of adult contemporary reads a little more than YA, but that’s a value-neutral statement. This has a wide appeal range.

My one criticism of the paperback is something that, to the untrained eye, probably isn’t noticeable: the size and spacing of each word in the title is different. It’s a small difference, meant to squeeze the title between the faces of the girls. It happens in the hardcover, too — look specifically at “Dying” — but it’s easier to see on the paperback.

Both covers are solid, but I prefer the paperback a little bit more.

I’m Not Dying With You Tonight hits shelves in paperback September 7.

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she’s going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren’t friends. They hardly understand the other’s point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they’re going to survive the night.

 

Wicked As You Wish by Rin Chupeco

 

One of the biggest pet peeves of readers and librarians is when a book in a series gets a new look before the series ends. This means an inconsistent look on shelves and a challenge for helping readers find a book they’re looking for and describing by color. Were a series to maintain two looks — one in hardcover and one in paperback — throughout, it might not be so irritating. But I can’t think of many cases where that’s happened.

All of that is to say the hardcover of the first book in Rin Chupeco’s “A Hundred Names for Magic” series is getting a new look in paperback. The hardcover is such a neat look: each of the letters offers some kind of insight into the story, tying it all together with the concept of magic. There’s a lot of images packed into the design, and yet, it doesn’t feel busy. I’m a huge fan of the series title and number being included, too, right below the title. The color palate here is itself magical.

And while many of these things carry over into the new paperback, particularly the colors and the series title, there’s something that feels less compelling for me. There is the teen looking over their shoulder, a universal offering to walk into the story with them, but the explosion of orange in front of the person is confusing. Perhaps because this is a digital cover and not in person, it’s hard to tell if that’s meant to be a dragon or a phoenix or other creature. At the bottom right, there’s what looks to be a ferris wheel or, perhaps, some kind of climbing plant structure. What was not busy in the hardcover turns into an overly busy visual in paperback.

I do like the font and title treatment on paperback, and I find it interesting the addition of the word “trilogy” to Chupeco’s accolade.

The paperback isn’t bad, but it’s a bit confusing and a little generic in comparison to the hardcover. I’m also curious about the change when the second book in the trilogy has yet to be announced. As of this writing, there’s no title, cover, or publication date.

Wicked As You Wish hits shelves October 1.

Once upon a time, the magical Kingdom of Avalon was left to wither and die after the Snow Queen encased it in ice. Its former citizens are now refugees. Which is why crown prince Alex and his protectors are stuck in… Arizona.

Tala Makiling has lived her life as an outsider. Her family curse, the one that’s doomed her to be a spellbreaker, someone who destroys magic, hasn’t won her too many friends. Except Alex, who trusts her and her family to keep his royal identity a secret.

And then one night, a famous creature of legend, the Firebird, appears in their tiny town, reigniting hope for their abandoned homeland. Alex and Tala team up with a ragtag group of new friends to journey back to Avalon. Their path is filled with danger―from deadly prophecies, to terrifying ice wolves, a traitor among them, and the Snow Queen herself. But if they succeed… their story would be legendary.

 

Note:

Because the nature of this post is to explore and discuss design, I’ve elected not to include the names of artists or designers. I went back and forth on this because crediting is important and something more people who write or talk about books need to do, especially related to covers, but ultimately, because the changes happen more often in marketing and sales than they do in design, I don’t want to draw attention to an individual who may or may not have had much say in what they produced.

What I’m Reading Now

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Daughter of Sparta by Claire M. Andrews

I don’t read nearly as much YA as I used to, but this book – a reimagining of the myth of Daphne and Apollo – is right up my alley, and would have been a big hit with teenage me too. In Andrews’ story, Daphne is a warrior of Sparta, trapped by Artemis into retrieving certain items that have been stolen from Olympus and need to be returned, otherwise the gods’ powers will fade and disappear entirely. Apollo accompanies Daphne on her quest, of course, and I’m curious to see what parts of the original myth (where Daphne is turned into a tree in order to escape the amorous advances of Apollo) Andrews keeps and how she manipulates them. I’m only a few chapters in and I’m finding the writing a bit clunky so far, but it’s plenty exciting and has a great hook.

 

Nefertiti by Nick Drake

The premise of this historical mystery for adults is that the great queen of ancient Egypt, Nefertiti, has disappeared, and her husband, the pharaoh Akhenaten, has commanded a detective named Rahotep to find out what has happened to her. It’s based on what was once thought to be a real event: Nefertiti, queen of the pharaoh Akhenaten – credited as the first known monotheist in history – died or disappeared during the 12th year of her husband’s reign. Prior to 2012, Egyptologists were unable to find any reference to her after this time, leading them to conclude that something had happened to her. In 2012, however, after the publication of Drake’s book, an inscription referring to Nefertiti as present alongside her husband was found from the 16th year of Akhenaten’s reign, ruling out this idea. Still, it’s a good jumping-off point for a story, and I’m enjoying Drake’s historical details. This is a much more immersive ancient Egyptian historical fiction than Agatha Christie’s take, though the characters come across as a bit stiff, and so far I’m not fully invested in them as a result.

 

Girl, 11 by Amy Suiter Clarke

I read a ton of mysteries and thrillers, which can include some pretty gruesome plot points, but I’ve never gotten behind the true crime trend. I like my murders fictional, preferably with justice visited upon the perpetrator at the end. When the crimes are real, they stop being entertainment. So this novel is an interesting pick for me: a true crime podcaster who specializes in cold cases gets wrapped up in an active case, one where it seems like the current subject of her podcast – a serial killer whom most believe is dead, but was never caught – is the culprit. The mystery is compelling, though hard to read: the serial killer abducted young women and girls, poisoned them over days, physically abused them, then murdered them and left them to be found by the public.

Despite the well-written story and audio production (there are excerpts of the podcast, which include ringing phones, background noise during public meetings in restaurants, and so on), my main feeling as I read this book is of annoyance: I’m annoyed by the main character’s insistence that she be taken seriously as an investigator because of her podcast. Furthermore, I’m annoyed by her insistence that her podcast is a way to close cold cases instead of just stoke the lurid imaginations of thousands of internet strangers, particularly when it concerns a serial killer who murders children. If you like true crime, to each their own, but let’s be honest about why you’re creating or listening to this podcast: it’s entertainment, not a public service. The current fascination with real-life murders and serial killers is really distasteful to me, and the idea of a podcaster as an amateur sleuth rubs me the wrong way. I recognize this is a bias of mine and at least partially undeserved, but there it is.

Digging Deep: Five Excellent Deep Dive Podcasts To Try

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I love a good podcast. Despite being a reader and having a YA podcast, though, I tend not to listen to podcasts about books or reading. I prefer something different, and I’ve come to find in the last year or two exactly what it is I love about a show: a well-researched deep dive into social, historical, and/or cultural phenomena. These shows tend to be scripted or rely on significant research for the hosts to share, meaning the show notes for each are a treasure trove of great reading material post-episode.

While I don’t have a commute and don’t do a whole lot of driving, I find plenty of time to listen to podcasts. Like with audiobooks, I listen to them while doing household chores — think showering, folding and putting away laundry, cleaning — as well as more recently, while feeding the baby. I don’t often get to listen in big chunks of time, which mirrors why it is nonfiction tends to work better for me both in audiobooks and for pods. I don’t feel like I miss out popping in and out of the story or show.

Recommending podcasts is like recommending music to me. I don’t feel especially qualified to do it since it’s not my area of expertise, and then when I have shared a podcast or music I love with someone, I tend to believe they already know about it and it’s not new to them. This is often not the case, though. But because it’s not books and therefore, a space I feel super confident in, I don’t tend to share as much. But let’s change that today!

These five podcasts are in my regular rotation and/or were podcasts I listened through when I discovered them. All of them are deep dive podcasts. Grab whatever podcatcher you use (I’m a Spotify podcast listener, if you’re wondering) and be prepared to listen to so much good stuff.

 

5 Great Deep Dive Podcasts About Social, Cultural, and Historical Phenomena

 

Five Excellent Deep Dive Podcasts on Social, Historical, and Cultural Phenomenon

 

Maintenance Phase

Hosted by Michael Hobbs — who you’ll see again shortly — and Aubrey Gordon, author of the book What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat (excellent on audio, though be prepared to be bummed Gordon doesn’t perform it!), this biweekly podcast tackles topics on health and wellness. This is a fat positive show, and it seeks to shed light on things that are or once were trendy in weight loss, health, and diet culture.

Both Hobbs and Gordon are in their 30s, so many of the topics they touch on are ones I remember or was familiar with growing up. Their chemistry is fantastic, and it’s clear how much they enjoy each other and the ways they push one another to dig even deeper in their research. My only complaint is when they joke about being able to talk about a topic for three hours, they don’t. Give it to me!

You do not need to listen to this one in any order or begin in any specific spot.

Recommended episodes: “The President’s Physical Fitness Test,” “Snackwell’s Cookies,” “Snake Oil,” and “The Wellness to QAnon Pipeline”

 

You’re Wrong About

You think you know the story behind a historical moment or a cultural event, but do you really? That’s the premise of this outstanding podcast, hosted by Michael Hobbs (see above!) and writer Sarah Marshall. The show looks at how the media and our collective memory have reshaped significant events or stories. It’s jarring to see where things I believed to be true or people I thought I “knew” were not/did not match the realities, thanks to how their stories were spun.

I discovered You’re Wrong About a year or so before Hobbes started Maintenance Phase, and it’s been neat to hear his perspective on each of the shows. Marshall’s also great at what she does, and I can only hope we see her in-progress book about the Satanic Panic sooner, rather than later.

You don’t need to listen to this one in any order or start in any spot. There are a few shows that take place over multiple episodes, such as the ones on OJ Simpson and Princess Diana. The topics aren’t given short shrift.

The podcast is weekly, but sometimes it is a few weeks between episodes. I can only imagine the piles of research for many of the shows.

Recommended Episodes: “Losing Relatives to Fox News,” “Wayfair and Human Trafficking Statistics,” “D.A.R.E.,” “Disco Demolition Night,” and all of the Diana episodes.

 

Under the Influence

I don’t even remember how I stumbled upon this podcast, but it hooked me immediately. This is a show you do need to listen to start to finish, but it’s so compelling that stopping can be a challenge. It truly got me through those first few weeks postpartum.

Hosted by writer Jo Piazza, Under The Influence is about the world of mom influences on social media. How do they become famous? What happens to them when they achieve a notoriety? Why do many of them get caught up in the world of MLMs or subscribe to QAnon beliefs?

Piazza found herself spending hours diving into the world of mom influences and realized it made for a compelling podcast series. This is not a show that’s going to demonize these women; instead, it’s a look at how they’ve been cast in popular culture, why and how white influences are given far more opportunities than influencers of color, and what happens when an audience turns on an influencer. There are certainly moments when, as a listener, I rolled my eyes thinking about things I’ve seen. The show unpacks those reactions and instincts in such a savvy way.

Start from the beginning with this podcast. There are 12 episodes. 

 

 

History of the 90s

Kathy Kenzora, a former Toronto reporter, started a podcast called History of 1995, and the popularity of that show led to an expansion into a deeper dive into the history of the whole decade. This podcast is incredibly researched, and Kenzora develops a narrative that’s hard to stop listening to once you stop. I’ll note that her voice isn’t the most engaging, likely because you can tell she’s reading a script, but her perspective as a Canadian is especially interesting to hear when she digs into US-centric stories (her episode on the Oklahoma City Bombing, for example, defines the various government departments in the building — something US folks would never likely think twice about).

The wide range of topics is what keeps me coming back to this one, as well as the nuggets of insight I’d never considered before. One episode may cover a specific music genre such as Grunge (which made me pause in reconsidering how I’d never classified Pearl Jam as grunge, despite the fact Eddie Vedder was one of the first grunge artists) and then the next might explore the truth behind the Atlantic Olympic Bombing (this episode was composed SO WELL that I didn’t even think about the real bomber until the very end, when Kenzora reminded the listeners we never touched that yet).

You can listen to these biweekly episodes in any order. I think some of the two-parters would have been better as a longer one-parter, but they’re still worth listening to both if the topic is of interest.

Recommended Episodes: “Nickelodeon,” “Woodstock ’99,” “Girl Power,” and “Olympic Bombing and the Wrong Man, Richard Jewell.”

 

 

The Dream

The Dream has produced two seasons so far, and I think the second season is much weaker than the first. Perhaps it’s because Maintenance Phase does something similar and better, or perhaps it’s because the “wellness industry” is a topic I know more about than the show has offered. That said, the first season is an incredible deep dive into Multi Level Marketing (MLM) schemes and the dark history behind them, as well as how they lure folks in.

Hosted by Jane Marie and Dann Gallucci, the show really focuses on the capitalist underpinnings of two arenas that aren’t called capitalist machines enough. Rather, MLMs and wellness “sell the dream” of a lifestyle that simply doesn’t exist, using exploitative measures to do so.

I read Amanda Montell’s recent book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism in March this year, and it was really worthwhile to think about what The Dream explored in comparison with how MLMs and other groups use language to situate themselves as different, as powerful, and as the means to achieving that “ideal” life.

Start from the beginning with this podcast. There are 11 episodes in season one and 10 in season two. 

 

 

Are there any similar podcasts in your rotation you love? I’m always looking for more, and I’m especially interested in similarly-minded podcasts hosted by and about people of color. Leave your recs for me, and I hope you found something new here to enjoy.