My Thought Monday #6 (The Curious Case of the Creative Cover Part Two)

Hey readers! Welcome to another thrilling installment of My Thought Monday. A weekly post where I get to rant and/or rave about happenings in the book world. I have received lots of positive feedback from my previous posts and want to keep the momentum going. This week I'll be touching on another topic that's important to all authors and bloggers. 

I'd like to offer up my thoughts for discussion among authors, bloggers, readers, and all members of the literary community. I understand that my views may be in the minority on some fronts and would love to hear your thoughts. Please note that while I would love to hear your thoughts, I will not tolerate this as a place of hate and negativity. If you so choose to put forward your thoughts via comment, Twitter, Facebook, email, etc, please do so professionally. I am fully aware that sometimes the bookish world is the last place you want to put your personal thoughts, but I, for one, am tired of being quiet. It's time for me to take a stand on issues that are important to me in this community. It is my belief that, only as a community, can we pull together and make real change in this bookish world we all know and love.

This week's topic:

The Curious Case of the Creative Cover

Part One: The Current State of the Cover Market

So today's post is going to be a continuation of my last MTM post where I discuss my thoughts on the current state of the book cover market. I'll be talking about what I love, what I hate, and what I think we can change in order to benefit readers everywhere! 

If you missed last week's post, take a moment to catch up!

Part One: The History of the Book Cover

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Few things in the book world have fried my hash lately like cover. Love them or hate them, covers are one of the most important parts of a book. As I mentioned last week, if you have a crap cover, good luck getting your book on the shelves. Far too often have I read an incredible manuscript, only to have the cover make me want to hurl. How frustrating is that? In addition to some of my fellow bloggers and favorite authors, I've complied a list of some pressure points that I feel need to be addressed.

People or Places? A few friends and I have talked extensively about this topic. What do we like/hate on covers. It's actually fairly divided. Personally, I don't like covers with people on them. Plain and simple. I just don't think it does much to describe the plot of the novel. I mean, there are clear exceptions to the rule, but overall, I'd just prefer a more abstract cover or a setting. I'm not big on people. Now, if your cover does have a person, here's what I absolute hate. Cross sections. Don't give me an arm or a torso, show the whole damn person. That's a huge pet peeve of mine. Or when you do have a full person but they are out of focus. Unless that's a reoccurring theme in your story, get that business out of here. I love covers that have an item from the story or even a setting on the cover. It really helps me envision what is happening in the story. I know this is broad, but if you picture any number of book covers in your head, you're sure to understand what I mean. I also really like 'artsy' covers. Covers of hand drawn or animated scenes are among my favorites! Also, never underestimate a well placed font over a colored background. Just saying.

Examples of amazing, people-less covers:

Stock Images. Lord, here we go. Look. I'm sorry to all you shutterstock stalkers. I'm sorry to all you Pepe Toth lover. Guys. Let's quit using the EXACT same people/pictures for all these covers. Do you realize that your cover model has been used on 50 other novels? Do your research. It all comes down to being unique in your covers. you want to stand out. I'm sure 'hot shirtless model 643' would look fantastic on your cover, but do you even care that just this year alone he's been on three other book covers, a magazine ad, a national billboard campaign for a travel agency, and on the bus stop? I'm seeing the exact same stock images everywhere. You can only alter a picture so many times. Remember that. And don't believe me about Pepe? There's an entire Goodreads group devoted to all the covers that he is on. Actually. Wait. There are multiple shelves dedicated to this:

Shelf #1

Shelf #2

Shelf #3

Fonts. Not much with cause an OCD reader to flip over the edge like the font on a cover. It all comes down to clean folks. Pick a couple of strong fonts and formulate your cover around them. It's that simple. I recently saw a cover where the designed had used 4 different fonts. FOUR. It was probably the craziest thing I'd ever seen and I haven't heard a single good thing about it. Folks, if you're designing covers, you've gotta keep that business looking great! Remember, this is your readers FIRST impression of your novel!

Simplicity. As with most things, less is more. Why do some publishers feel the need to make my eyes bleed with so much going on with the cover? Dude. Quit overdoing it. If I have to stare at your cover for 10 minutes to figure out what it is, you've already lost my interest. Be creative. Pick a few key elements you want displayed in your novel and work the heck out of it. On top of that, the more simple and clean your cover is, the more likely I am to pick it up and say 'oh, what's this about?'.

Example:

Blue and white gingham dress? Must be Oz. I'm in.

Relativity. Folks. This is important. If you're writing a romance novel, own up to it. Put that gross romantic business on the front of it. You want to have near sex on your book cover, then by God, go for it. Just don't expect me to pick it up. Honestly though, I think 'relativity' is of great importance when designing a book cover. Undoubtedly my thoughts aren't shared by the publishing world though. If your story is a zombie apocalypse story, then put some damn zombies on there. SHOW ME some horror. Show me that I've made the right decision to both keep me guessing and scare the pants off of me. You've written a story about a talking squirrel who fights crime by night? You sure as hell better find an acorn for that cover somewhere. I don't want to see your cover with lipstick and a disco ball. Seriously folks. What gives? Why are covers so like this? I've spoken to numerous authors on this topic and they've told me two things. 1) Sex sells and 2) relativity is in the eye of the beholder. Both of these are very true, but at least I know what to expect when I pick up a romance-y cover. You hear me?

Example:

 Anybody want to guess what genre these books fall under? 

Cover Models. This is probably my biggest eye roller right here. Someone please tell me when the cover model for a novel became more important than the character inside the novel? Maybe it's because I'm a guy in this bookish world, but I have such a negative opinion on this raving about book cover model business. I have a few examples to share.

Last month I attended an author event where a number of romance/erotica authors were present. May of these authors chose to bring their models with them. The event was full of shirtless men who were being drolled on by woman of all ages. I was absolutely disgusted. People who didn't even know the author were lined up fifty deep to take a picture with these shirtless strangers. Now this isn't the fault of the model, by any means, but seriously people. Authors create these characters. They pour their hearts and souls into creating these characters for us to enjoy. Why are you fawning all over the cover model like this? It honestly sickens me. It's gross. 

Lats summer I attended another author event where a model, adequately clad (thankfully) was posing for pictures and signing autographs. I had read from the author and was excited to have her sign my copy of her novel. After speaking with her, she happily signed my book, then handed it over to the model to have him sign the cover. I nearly jumped across the table. NO! Why would I want the cover model to sign my book? I'm sorry, did you write this novel? No. Get the hell out of here. Not interested. No thanks. 

I could go on and on about this topic for days, but I won't. Just know that this trend doesn't sit well with me. You know, I don't know the first thing about modeling and a year ago I would have laughed if you'd told me I could point out and name any models. Sure enough, today I can look at a book model and there's a good chance I know his/her name, country of origin, and the last five covers they were on. It's ridiculous. 

Now the book models I have met in real life has been great people, don't get me wrong. But I'm not coming to author events to meet models and, in my honest opinion, events that feature models aren't nearly as appealing. In fact, I've strayed away from those events for that specific reason. Book events are suppose to be about sharing our love of the written word, not to faint at the sight of some attractive model. Whole lot of nope right there. To be honest, I know this part is bound to offend some people and I really don't care. I couldn't give a rats ass less about who is on your cover, as long as the works inside are great.

So what can we do to fix it? In the coming weeks right here on the blog, I will be interviewing a few award-winning and renowned cover artists where I hope to get their opinion on just that question! It's time for everyone in the book world to open their eyes to the issues around us. Readers are buying less and less physical books, why should we be putting out sub-par covers for them to see when they do decide on a physical copy?

I have so many more thoughts on this topic, but in an effort to not call out any particular author on a 'bad example' list, I will just stop here. I know lots of my readers have thoughts on this topic so I'm really hoping this sparks some debate and conversation about what you like in a book cover!

In this two part series, we've discussed the history of the book cover, why it's important, and the current state of the cover market! It's been a lot of fun to research the trends and history of the covers, so I'm really interested in hearing your thoughts. Tell me in the comments below what some of your favorite book covers of all time are! What makes you cringe? What do you love? Let me know!

Next week we'll be hitting on another pressing topic that I am so excited to talk about. You'll have to come back next week to see! Until next time, Happy Reading!

-Ethan

My Thought Monday #5 (The Curious Case of the Creative Cover Part One)

Hey readers! Welcome to another thrilling installment of My Thought Monday. A weekly post where I get to rant and/or rave about happenings in the book world. I have received lots of positive feedback from my previous posts and want to keep the momentum going. This week I'll be touching on another topic that's important to all authors and bloggers. 

I'd like to offer up my thoughts for discussion among authors, bloggers, readers, and all members of the literary community. I understand that my views may be in the minority on some fronts and would love to hear your thoughts. Please note that while I would love to hear your thoughts, I will not tolerate this as a place of hate and negativity. If you so choose to put forward your thoughts via comment, Twitter, Facebook, email, etc, please do so professionally. I am fully aware that sometimes the bookish world is the last place you want to put your personal thoughts, but I, for one, am tired of being quiet. It's time for me to take a stand on issues that are important to me in this community. It is my belief that, only as a community, can we pull together and make real change in this bookish world we all know and love.

This week's topic:

The Curious Case of the Creative Cover

Part One: The History of the Book Cover

You've pulled into your local Barnes and Noble and are perusing through the aisles for your next five star read. With so many to choose from, how do you pick just one? Covers. 

When stacked up (literally) against the masses, what makes your novel stand out in the crowd? Captivating and creative covers. 9/10 times, I'm not even looking at who wrote the book. If you don't have a fun cover, good luck getting readers to notice your book. 

I'm going to let you guys in on a little secret. I do just a book based on its' cover. And guess what? You do too. So do your friends, so do other bloggers, and even authors. It happens. Whoever thought up that expression should have seriously picked another analogy. This one is false we all judge based on covers! It's a sad reality. It doesn't matter how great your written word is, without a great cover, you're going to have a hard time with sales and promotion.

Why are covers so important? When did this trend start? What are readers looking for? These are all phenomenal questions that we in the book world need to be asking ourselves. Particularly authors. 

So, I thought it would be fun to start out today's post with a history lesson. Put on your thinking caps people, we're taking a journey across time!

*****

Picture it: the bazaars of ancient Greece, the year 360BCE. The Greek philosopher Plato was well known for the intricacies of his cover scroll. Plebeians from all around harked at the sight of his creation!

This is a joke. Nobody was rushing out to get their hands on the latest edition of Allegory of the Cave. Was it because Plato had an awful sense of graphic design? Probably, but I guess we'll never truly know. 

Authors have been writing and readers have been reading since the beginning of human civilization. From cuneiform to mass publication, writing has come a long way. But at what point did the cover become just as important as the writing? Let's explore the 'modern era' of cover design.

With Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in the fifteenth century, books were first able to be mass produced. It was decided early on that books needed a proper binding and 'cover' to protect the pages within, thus the 'cover' was born. As you can imagine, these early covers were more practical than eye catching.

For nearly three hundred years, book were bulky shapeless things that weren't even slightly aesthetically pleasing. Books were heavy, but more importantly, books were expensive. My research has shown me that in today's numbers, purchasing a print novel with bound cover in those days could have costed upwards of $300. That a lot of money for a novel, am I right? Needless to say many were not purchasing novels. The entire system of reading for pleasure really wasn't what we see today. Cheaper, boundless versions of books were abundant, but for obvious reasons, many of those didn't make it to today. Centuries of use and decay would have rendered those manuscripts worthless quick. 

So you see, covers are made for so much more than just us to look at. They have purpose. Protecting the works inside from the elements. Ensuring the the ink didn't fade and that the durability would protect that binding during travel. 

Boy haven't times changed?

Side Note/Fun Fact: Books were most always bound in leather during the early period, but not always. A variety of animal pelts have been used for binding, include human skin. Yes, you read that correctly, human skin. Totally morbid, but it's on my bucket list to one day own a book bound in human skin. How crazy is that? Here's a picture of one from the collection of the Harvard Law Library.

Anyway.

So, as you can imagine, things got complicated over time. Books were published more and more often and I can only imagine it became more and more difficult to distinguish the works of one author from another when you have ugly brown/black covers all over the place. Someone eventually had the bright idea that in order to make a book stand out, they were going to need to utilize all that blank space on the front of a cover. So... with the eighteenth century equivalent of a rhinestone gun, the creature minds got to work. Jewels, paints, and drawings were used to bring the beauty of a novel onto the outside cover. Bringing covers, as we now know them, to life.

You guys have probably seen covers like those above before. They're beautiful works of art and are really just as much an expression of art in human history as they are book covers. With these covers we now have something both useful and aesthetically pleasing. You could sell your books (well you weren't selling your books, but that's another topic for another day) and people would know it was yours, how awesome!

By the mid nineteenth century, another new trend had emerged: dust covers. Or 'book jackets' as we often call them now. Early dust jackets were printed cloth that was only meant to protect the novel from the place of production/purchase to home. At that time, the cloth (and later, probably once they realized how wasteful the cloth was, paper) would be disposed of. These early dust jackets were only meant to protect the book, but were quickly found to be excellent promotional materials. The use of dust jackets has persisted all the way to today, where they are common among most all hardback novels. If you're interested in learning more about the history of dust jackets, there's an entire website and museum collection devoted to them. Check it out at the British Library Dust Jackets Collection site. Probably the most well-known example of a modern use of dust jackets is the Harry Potter series. Most all readers own the hardback copies of these novels and can see the usefulness of the dust jacket.

It wasn't really until the mid to late nineteenth century that we really began to see the emergence of book covers that we can relate to today. Ones where the cover art showcased what the insides words relayed. Covers that were relevant to the story. And that is where the real fun began.

For obvious reasons, this was kind of a big deal. 

 (These books are worth so much money, ridiculous amounts of money people.)

From very humble beginnings, book covers came from a place of convenience and efficiency and have evolved, slowly, to the covers we know today. While they aren't all attractive, by any means, each cover told a story. Each cover was a labor of love and something both the author and the reader could cherish.

The twentieth century came and the literary world exploded. The vast numbers of high quality literature that came out of the late 1800s left the world with lots to read. From romance to horror, the world was a readers paradise for the first time. Publishers popped up left and right, printing books for the masses. Libraries were stocked, schools were provided for, the world was a bookish place. With literacy rates at an all-time high, the world was ready for the next big thing.

Paperbacks.

Early Penguin paperback. As you'll come to learn, Penguin played one of the biggest roles in the implementation of the paperback novel. 

Gone were the days where a book needed the kinds of protection a hardback would offer. With printing prices on the rise, a new type of print really took off. I intend on one day doing a whole post on the history and impact of the paperback on the literary world, so this part will remain brief. With a paperback novel, printers were able to mass produce a cover and a book in one quick print. They were cheaper to make and easier to transport without sacrificing the quality of the novel within. This also introduced a much easier world of cover design. Much like printing a piece of art, covers could now be designed in any way and printed with ease.

This was an awesome addition to the literary world and one that has, clearly, had one of the largest impact on the book world.

Coming into the later half of the twentieth century, we saw the invention of computers, bringing with it the developing software and machinery to really push publishing into the next stage of evolution. The field of graphic design grew, propelling us to today, the twenty first century.

As you can clearly see, the book world has undergone some massive changes over the years. It's nothing close to the world it was in its' infancy. Like all things, a continued evolution of human society and civilization, in addition to emerging technologies, will continue to alter the book world. 

According to 'Google's Advanced Algorithms', there are over 129,864,880 published novels in the world today. That's nearly one hundred and thirty million, and growing each and every day. That's 130 million covers to see! What are you waiting for? Get to looking!

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To be continued next week...

The Curious Case of the Creative Cover Part Two:

The Current State of the Cover Market

I just threw a whole lot of information at you guys and I hope you were able to not only follow along, but learn a bit about the history of book covers. This topic started as a discussion about what I like/don't like out of book covers, but I thought it was important for us to fully understand the purpose of a cover before I tear into my critiquing them. This will be my first 'two-part' series. Next week's post will dive into my thoughts on the current state of the cover market and, trust me, I have many. 

I hope my historical tirade hasn't bored any of you to death quite yet. Did you learn something in today's post? What did you find most interesting? In the comments below, share with me your favorite old time-y book cover info. Maybe a favorite novel in it's early state. I'll be continuing this discussion over on Facebook where I will be hosting a giveaway for one lucky discussion participant! 

Head over to our Facebook page by following the links in the top right-hand corner of the blog to join the discussion!

Be sure to comment below with your thoughts! Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time, Happy Reading!

-Ethan

Hey friends! In case you missed my big announcement last week, I have some absolutely incredible news! I am honored to announce that One Guy's Guide to Good Reads was nominated for Best Blog of the Year at UtopYA! The UtopYA Awards honor the best of the best within the literary world and I am beyond blessed to be up for consideration. Nobody is quite sure how my name got thrown up in there, so.... I encourage everyone to go vote before they realize the error ;)

Also, while you are there, cast your votes for some of my all-time favorite authors! If you have questions, please don't hesitate to shoot me a message! Voting is open until Thursday 5/21! Don't forget to vote! Share with your friends and get the word out! There are some incredible nominees this year and I cannot wait to see who walks home with an award!

I cannot thank you all enough for your constant support over the past year! God Bless and Happy Reading (and Voting)!

**Follow the link below to cast your vote**

http://bit.ly/voteutopyaawards2015