The art of the book cover

by kelly on July 27, 2010 · 6 comments

I love looking at cover designs and thinking about the role they play in forming a potential reader’s perception of the book. We’re all swayed by these designs, even if we wouldn’t want to admit it. Certain color palettes (bold primary colors or stark black and white, pastels or shades of gray, blue, green) evoke specific moods and emotions. Same goes for objects (a windowsill, a gun, a dish or glass, a flower) and animals (a bird, a lion, an insect) and people (a woman in a long dress staring off in the distance, a man in soldier’s uniform). Caustic Cover Critic writes thoughtful posts about covers. Here he notices a stock photo being used over and over on different books, and here he lauds the incredible artwork of Niroot Puttapipat:

Reading the Past is one of my favorite blogs about historical fiction. Sarah Johnson (@readingthepast) is a reference librarian at Eastern Illinois University and has written two guides to the genre. Her most recent post examines covers too–the difference between hardcover and trade paperback designs on several books written by men, including Brooklyn by Colm Toibin and A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. With each one, the figure of a woman has been added to the paperback design. Johnson wonders if this makes women readers more likely to buy . . .

Beyond the Covers is the blog for the California company The Book Designers. Here we get to see the evolution of a cover design through all the versions before the final cover is chosen. Check out all the ideas for Janet Gurtler’s The Weight of Bones. My favorite is this one, but the final cover is tbd.

Come on–tell the truth. Have you ever bought a book for its cover?

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How much does setting matter to you?

by kelly on July 20, 2010
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In a couple days, we are off to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, for a family vacation with Mister and his kin. That is how they say it in his neck of the woods, you know.

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Crowdsourcing a story for the South Haven lighthouse

by kelly on July 16, 2010
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I spent several summers as a kid in South Haven, Michigan, where, in my humble opinion, they have the most beautiful sunsets in the entire world.

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Blogroll revision

by kelly on July 14, 2010
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You all are too nice to say anything, but let’s be honest–my blogroll has been getting a little stale. I have decided to start fresh by posting a list of featured links every so often, so that I can talk about what I like right now.

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Our fearless leader!

by kelly on July 12, 2010
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I think Randy Richardson has a time machine in his basement. It’s the only explanation I can come up with for how he is able to be a full-time lawyer, husband and father, writer of novels and numerous essays, Cubs fan, and the extremely dedicated president of the Chicago Writers Association.

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We have a winner!

by kelly on July 7, 2010
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This eleventh-hour entry by Emily, Clint, Maya, and Raj truly is the worst of more bad sentences. It’s simple, and yet somehow confusing. In addition to overusing adverbs, this sentence also includes a reference to common-law marriage, which I just decided is the clincher.

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Give me your bad, your really bad, your huddled prose . . .

by kelly on July 3, 2010
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“For the first month of Ricardo and Felicity’s affair, they greeted one another at every stolen rendezvous with a kiss–a lengthy, ravenous kiss, Ricardo lapping and sucking at Felicity’s mouth as if she were a giant cage-mounted water bottle and he were the world’s thirstiest gerbil.”

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Chicago Library Commissioner responds to Fox

by kelly on July 3, 2010

FOX News Chicago ran a story earlier this week questioning whether the internet and e-books have made libraries unnecessary and that they are, therefore, a waste of taxpayer dollars. Most people with half a brain cell know that argument is profoundly stupid.

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Finding the silver (or, in this case, charred) lining

by kelly on June 30, 2010
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Swan’s Island, Maine is a lobster-fishing island town accessible only by ferry. Like many small towns, Swan’s Island has a beloved library, this one in an old schoolhouse. Or, I should say, the town had a beloved library.

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