The process of creating cover art for new books

HostWhen you walk into a bookstore, your eyes probably dart around from one shelf to the next until something stops you. It might be a bright flash of yellow, a bold set of letters, or a strange drawing that makes you want to know more. We're always told not to judge a book by its cover, but the truth is, that's exactly what covers are for. I'm Theo, and I want to talk about how those covers actually get made, because it's a much longer and more difficult path than most people think.

HostIt almost never starts with an artist sitting down to read the whole book from start to finish. In a big publishing house, things move much faster than that. The process usually kicks off with something called a tip sheet. Think of this as a one-page cheat sheet for the book. It tells the designer the basic plot, who the book is meant for, and what the mood should be. It might say the book is dark and scary, or light and funny. The designer uses this to get a feel for the soul of the story without having to spend ten hours reading every word.

HostOnce the designer has that mood in their head, they start making what they call a mood board. This is basically a digital collage. They might grab a photo of a stormy sky, a certain style of old-fashioned handwriting, and a color like deep forest green. They're not trying to draw the cover yet. They're just trying to find the right world for the book to live in. They want to make sure that when you see the book, you feel the same way the characters feel inside the pages.

HostThere's a lot of hidden language in these designs that we pick up on without even knowing it. Designers call these genre signals. If you see a cover with very large, shiny, gold letters and a tiny person standing on a cliff, your brain immediately thinks of a big adventure or a fantasy story. If the letters are messy and look like they were typed on an old machine, you might expect a mystery or a spy thriller. These rules exist because bookstores are crowded. A cover has about three seconds to tell a shopper what kind of book it's before that person moves on to the next one.

HostOne of the biggest changes in the last few years is how the internet has changed what covers look like. Back in the day, a cover only had to look good when you were holding it in your hand. Now, it has to look good as a tiny photo on a phone screen. Designers call this the thumbnail test. If you can’t read the title when the image is the size of a postage stamp, the design is considered a failure. This is why we see so many covers now with huge text and very simple, bright shapes. Some people in the book world call these blob covers because they use big splashes of color instead of detailed paintings.

HostYou might think the author has the final say on what the front of their book looks like, but that's rarely the case. It's actually a big group effort, and sometimes it can turn into a bit of a fight. The artist might want something very strange and cool, but the sales team might be worried that it won't sell well in a grocery store. The sales team looks at what other books are popular right now and tries to make the new book fit in with those winners. They might say, this book looks too much like a sad story, but we want people to think it's a beach read.

HostThis leads to a lot of back and forth. A designer might make twenty or thirty different versions of a single cover before everyone agrees. They might change the font five times or move a drawing just an inch to the left. They also have to think about the physical feel of the book. They decide if the paper should be shiny or matte, which feels a bit like soft skin. They might even add raised letters that you can feel with your thumb. These little touches are expensive, so they're usually saved for the books that the publisher thinks will be huge hits.

HostThere's also the matter of what they call comp titles. These are books that are similar to the one being made. If a certain thriller with a red and black cover sold a million copies last year, you can bet that a lot of new thrillers this year will also use red and black. It's a way of telling the reader, if you liked that other book, you'll probably like this one too. It's a constant balance between trying to look new and trying to look familiar enough that people feel safe buying it.

HostNext time you're browsing through a shop, flip the book over and look at the very bottom of the back cover or the inside of the jacket flap. You'll almost always see a small line of text that gives credit to the cover designer. That person spent months thinking about the right shade of blue or the perfect spot for a shadow, all so you would stop walking for just a second. The name of the person who designed the cover for the famous book The Great Gatsby is Francis Cugat, and he actually finished the painting before the book was even done being written.

HostThe author liked the art so much that he even wrote a few lines into the story to match the eyes on the cover. It shows how a good image can sometimes get under the skin of the story itself. Every book you see is wearing a very carefully made outfit, designed to tell you exactly who it's before you even say hello.