Book design & cover art

In a comment on my post last week about Katie Fforde's new novel, Summer of Love, Galant mentioned the design of book covers & how important it is in enticing her to pick up a book in a bookshop or library. Galant picked up Katie Fforde's first book, Living Dangerously, on the strength of the cover & I did exactly the same thing. You can see that original cover here at the top. I loved Katie's Penguin covers, those lovely painterly interiors. I was not so impressed with the later chick lit pastel covers (the second cover above) but I was already a devoted fan so I kept reading the books no matter what the covers looked like. More recently there's been another change to the third cover design which I like more than the stick figures but not as much as the early covers. I've read that Katie Fforde's sales soared when the stick figure covers were released so it was obviously a good move from a sales perspective and what do I know anyway?

I recently reviewed Fanny Blake's first novel, What Women Want, & I made a similar comment in my post that I wouldn't have picked the book up in a bookshop if it hadn't been sent to me for review as I felt the cover didn't do justice to the contents. I had a lovely email from Fanny Blake's editor asking me what I would like to see in a cover.

Now, I know that tastes & fashions in cover art change. We've been through the historical novel headless women & the bright pastel chick lit stick figures fashions & I'm not sure what's next. Galant's comments started me thinking again about the importance of first impressions (and I wonder if Pride & Prejudice would have been so loved & imitated if Jane Austen had stayed with her first title for the book, First Impressions?). I wonder if the increase of online shopping, e-books & the decline of browsing in bookshops is having any effect on our buying habits?

I also find it interesting that both Linda Gillard & Sue Hepworth in their posts here have written that the desire to have some control over the way their books looked that was one of the factors that led them to self-publish their latest titles.

I'm also interested in what we as readers think of as attractive design. There are some publishers who I think do a brilliant job of producing beautiful books. The look of the book is as important as the contents. Of course, it depends on the audience the publishers imagines for the book. Some publishers like Persephone & Virago in the early days, had very strong ideas about the look & design of their books. They had an audience in mind & they were very successful in marketing to that audience. The fact that these publishers have a loyal following of readers who love the design of the books & who lament the loss of the original VMC covers, is a testament that readers feel very strongly about books as physical objects.

Vintage Classics, Oxford University Press & NYRB classics are other imprints that have very distinctive looks. I love their elegant & witty designs. Posts I've written about book design & cover art in the past have always generated lots of comment. Here it was Penguin & OUP & here it was forthcoming reprints of Mary Stewart, Stella Gibbons & Winifred Holtby.

So, what do you like or dislike in book covers? Have you ever bought a book because of the cover art even if you have copies already (I know I'm guilty of that - here & here)? Favourite authors that you're loyal to no matter what the cover looks like? Favourite publishers who have never let you down? If any publishers or designers are passing, I'd like to hear their perspective & they might be interested in the view of the common reader.

Hesperus Press

What a great idea. Jane Austen is the world’s most popular author. Instead of publishing another edition of Pride & Prejudice or Persuasion, why not reprint Lesley Castle or Lady Susan? Someone new to Dickens may be daunted by the size of David Copperfield or Bleak House. Why not dip your toe in the water with one of his volumes of Christmas short stories such as The Holly Tree Inn? This is what Hesperus Press has done & I think it’s a brilliant idea. They’ve taken on the classics market at an oblique angle & found a niche that they’ve made their own. I love classic fiction. I’ve read all of Austen, the Brontes, Gaskell, most of Dickens & Hardy, lots of the Russians & now I’m discovering Zola & Balzac. Hesperus are broadening my reading even more with their reprints of lesser-known works by well-known authors. I’ve especially enjoyed the series of Dickens’ Christmas editions from his periodicals, All The Year Round & Household Words. These were special holiday editions consisting of a series of stories linked by a theme. Dickens orchestrated it & often wrote several of the stories. But, he invited other authors, including Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Amelia Edwards & Harriet Martineau to contribute as well. I don’t think they had been reprinted until the Hesperus editions. This is what’s so innovative about the Hesperus list. You have recognition of the author &, for the classics lover, the delight of finding a new book. Another favourite is Wilkie Collins’s The Frozen Deep. This is the story that became the basis of the play Dickens was acting in when he met & fell in love with Ellen Ternan. Although I knew the basic plot from reading biographies of Dickens, I’d never read the play or this original story. Hesperus Press books are also beautiful. They’re all around 100pp long, the cover photos are gorgeous, the paper is creamy & I love the French flaps (I think that’s what they’re called) that make the book a little sturdier than a paperback but not as heavy as a hardback. Perfect handbag size. I never leave home without a book, so size is important when choosing my lunchtime coffee reading. You can see a few of my Hesperus titles above. I have a couple more on preorder (Scott’s Highland Widow & Jenny Wren’s Lazy Thoughts of a Lazy Girl) & a whole lot more in my Book Depository wishlist. Balzac’s Colonel Chabert (remember the movie with Gerard Depardieu?), De La Mare’s Missing, Bacon’s Henry VII, Braddon’s Lawyer’s Secret, Zola’s For a Night of Love... If I wasn’t highly disciplined, I’d be ordering this lot right now. But, I still have a few Hesperus books on the tbr shelves so I’ll start with those & look forward to ordering some more soon. I wish I could include a link to their website but the Hesperus Press website has been under construction for a very long time & shows no signs of appearing & their blog hasn't been updated since August.