Buzz
by John Wolf

I want to talk to you about book covers. We all know how important they are to the success of book marketing, but can you tell a great cover from the ordinary? People have tried dazzling colors and eye-shocking patterns, but indulge me a moment while I tell you about a revelation I've had recently when I thought about my own book covers. Exhibits A and B:

  

In exhibit A, a nice cover, but in exhibit B, it says more. It implies maybe a murder mystery. It attracts attention to what's inside the cover. That's what makes for a better book cover. Now let me show you a series of covers that hopefully make my point.

  

  

These covers reach out and grab you. The subtle humor is magical. It takes you in its arms; you feel comfortable, you want to open the magazine and start reading. Book covers designers can take a lesson from this approach. It has to better than the artificial come-on you see on so many books. This is better.

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It was recently brought to my attention by Jennifer Farley in her blog about the new cover designs Penguin books were doing for their classic series. Penguin, in fact, is known for their formulated cover designs. The early ones were based on this model:

  

It was known as the Grid Layout and many books in 1946 used this pattern to place critical eye catching locations and symmetry.

German typographer Jan Tschichold was appointed head of design and devised rigorous templates for all Penguin’s books. These templates were used for years on Penguin book covers.

Penguin recently collaborated with the AIDS awareness fund and a team of designers created some interesting new covers for Penguin Classics. The new covers feature a large red band at the bottom to connect to the awareness fund. Above this is the familiar Penguin logo centered between the words “Penguin Classics”. The artwork that is the main attraction for the books is very interesting and gave me the idea that the cover should be more than just a look. It needs to make a statement. Since these are classics, everyone knows the title and author, but to attract attention, the clever art does just that. Read more about this at
http://thepenguinblog.typepad.com/the_penguin_blog/2010/05/seeing-red.html.

  

A good book cover has to provide a clever trick to the eye and mind to capture the potential buyer's imagination. Once you lock-on to their feelings, you have a sale.

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