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RE: Cover Talk
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From: Barthelmess, Thom <tbarthelmess_at_dom.edu>
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:26:58 +0000
This is a fascinating topic. I have a few observations:
1) I find I'm not so concerned with book covers all looking the same. It seems that, more and more, the books themselves are imitating other book s that have sold well. It's no surprise that their packaging follows suit.
2) I am concerned with book covers that don't match their contents. Th e Romeo and Juliet Club by Phoebe Stone comes to mind. I have no problem wi th the cover from an aesthetic point of view. My problem is that is doesn't have any appreciable relationship to the book within. Nothing there says W WII London to me. The cover for Franny Billingsley's Chime gives me the sam e pause. Here I will admit that the cover itself is not to my taste. But th at's only an issue for me. The bigger issue is that the cover promises some thing very different from what the book delivers. I really loved the book. The cover is just so, well, slutty. I am not looking for a book cover to at tract a large audience. I'm looking for a book cover to attract its own aud ience. But I could see where a publisher might indeed be looking to attract a large audience.
3) During a publisher panel at the Boston Globe Horn Book Award Sympos ium this past fall, a publisher rep talked about an increasing focus on wha t a book cover looks like postage-stamp size on a computer screen, as so ma ny purchasing decisions are made that way. Makes perfect sense, and it had never occurred to me.
4) This discussion has me thinking about mostly YA and to some degree middle grade fiction. I wonder why. I bet there are trends in picture books and biography and science books and all kinds of other books, too. That's just a curiosity.
Cheers, Thom
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 4:37 PM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Cover Talk
As we noted in our topic description, we've been seeing a lot of faces and feet on book covers. What have you seen--or perhaps just as important--NOT seen (for better or worse) on the jackets of books for children and teens?
Megan
February: First Part of Month: Cover Talk: For awhile, it was photographs of faces. More recently, it's been feet, whether bare or decked out in A llStars, flip-flops, flats, or Doc Martens. There are trends in cover art just as there are trends in subject matter when it comes to books for child ren and teens. We'll spend the first part of February discussing book jack et first impressions, hits, and misses, and pondering the mindset of market ing (accurate or not) when it comes to cover art in books for youth. (Chec k out the blog JacketKnack for more on cover art: http://jacketknack.blogsp ot.com/)
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:26:58 +0000
This is a fascinating topic. I have a few observations:
1) I find I'm not so concerned with book covers all looking the same. It seems that, more and more, the books themselves are imitating other book s that have sold well. It's no surprise that their packaging follows suit.
2) I am concerned with book covers that don't match their contents. Th e Romeo and Juliet Club by Phoebe Stone comes to mind. I have no problem wi th the cover from an aesthetic point of view. My problem is that is doesn't have any appreciable relationship to the book within. Nothing there says W WII London to me. The cover for Franny Billingsley's Chime gives me the sam e pause. Here I will admit that the cover itself is not to my taste. But th at's only an issue for me. The bigger issue is that the cover promises some thing very different from what the book delivers. I really loved the book. The cover is just so, well, slutty. I am not looking for a book cover to at tract a large audience. I'm looking for a book cover to attract its own aud ience. But I could see where a publisher might indeed be looking to attract a large audience.
3) During a publisher panel at the Boston Globe Horn Book Award Sympos ium this past fall, a publisher rep talked about an increasing focus on wha t a book cover looks like postage-stamp size on a computer screen, as so ma ny purchasing decisions are made that way. Makes perfect sense, and it had never occurred to me.
4) This discussion has me thinking about mostly YA and to some degree middle grade fiction. I wonder why. I bet there are trends in picture books and biography and science books and all kinds of other books, too. That's just a curiosity.
Cheers, Thom
From: Megan Schliesman
Sent: Wednesday, February 08, 2012 4:37 PM To: ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject:
Cover Talk
As we noted in our topic description, we've been seeing a lot of faces and feet on book covers. What have you seen--or perhaps just as important--NOT seen (for better or worse) on the jackets of books for children and teens?
Megan
February: First Part of Month: Cover Talk: For awhile, it was photographs of faces. More recently, it's been feet, whether bare or decked out in A llStars, flip-flops, flats, or Doc Martens. There are trends in cover art just as there are trends in subject matter when it comes to books for child ren and teens. We'll spend the first part of February discussing book jack et first impressions, hits, and misses, and pondering the mindset of market ing (accurate or not) when it comes to cover art in books for youth. (Chec k out the blog JacketKnack for more on cover art: http://jacketknack.blogsp ot.com/)
-- Megan Schliesman, Librarian Cooperative Children's Book Center School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 600 N. Park Street, Room 4290 Madison, WI 53706 608/262-9503 schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ ---Received on Fri 10 Feb 2012 12:26:58 AM CST
