Book Jacket Program

I’m baaack! Well. Sort of.

I have not posted to this blog in years. When I first started, I couldn’t find anyone else talking about YA book covers. I was a fan of a book cover blog that covered adult book jackets, and thought there should be a blog covering young adult book jackets. By the time I stopped, there was so much interesting talk out there in Blogland, that I didn’t have anything to add.

But I just did a conference program on the subject and I need a place to put my links. I am still following the topic, so I’ve decided to continue to aggregate links here. Who knows? I may have something to say about a cover ever now and then.

In the meantime, I promised links to the people who attended my program – and here they are:

Ted Talk by the famous book designer. In my program, I asked “What does a book cover do?” I recommended watching this Ted Talk.
Chip Kidd: Designing Books is No Laughing Matter. OK, it is.

We talked about process. In this post, Lucy Ruth Cummins explains her process in designing the cover of Becca Fitzpatrick’s “Hush Hush.”
An Interveiw with Lucy Ruth Cummins at Jacket Knack

The photographer for the cover of Hush Hush talks about his process for photographing the subject on “Hush Hush.”
Making the Cover for Hush Hush at Porto Blog, February 1, 2011

We talked about the use of stock photography. This is the website of a common source, Getty Images.

We saw the video, with special attention to the use of stock photography.
The Making of a Book Cover: BLAMELESS, by Gail Carriger

In our discussion of the use of stock photography, we looked at some of the “lookalikes” highlighted here.
Lookalikes at Pop Culture Junkie

I mentioned some of Elizabeth Bluemle’s comments from this article.
Publishers: Want to Improve Sales? by Elizabeth Bluemle at PW Shelftalker, October 26, 2011

We talked about the author’s stake in his/her own book jacket, and showed this as an example of multiple drafts, and the author being happy (or not) with the final cover choice.
Arts & Drafts at Lisi Harrison’s blog and also
Six Writers Tell All About Covers and Blurbs by Matthew Gallaway at The Awl, April 4, 2011

We talked extensively about book cover trends, referencing these posts:
The Season of Windblown Hair – or, the Zeitgeist of Book Covers by Elizabeth Bluemle at PW Shelftalker, July 22, 2010
Uncovering YA Covers: 2011 at
Trends in Young Adult Book Covers at
2013 Cover Trends: Part One, Part Two and Part Three at Stacked.

And also “Whitewashing” for which you can find lot of articles in a Google search (whitewashing book covers). This one was good:
It Matters If You’re Black or White: The Racism of YA Book Covers by Annie Schutte at YALSA’s The Hub, December 10, 2012

And some possible new trends, which I may post at a later date.

We talked about book covers accurately representing their stories. Melissa Marr talks about two books in this post.
Deconstructing Book Covers & Pondering Misleading Clues by Melissa Marr, May 28, 2012

And the “Cover Reveal,” which can be found on author and publisher blogs, Facebook pages, and in other blogs.

We talked about ready-to-go book covers for the self-published.
Paranormal Premade Book Covers at The Book Cover Designer

An finally, we talked about interesting things people were doing with book covers like:
Matching nail polish to book covers.
At Razorbill and at Macmillan.
And matching flower arrangents to book covers.

Keep up with what’s going on in YA book covers on my Articles page!