The covers process...

Do judge a book by its cover...everyone else does!

Covers. Jackets. ‘The package.’ The design. Call it what you want (impressed I got a Taylor Swift lyric in there so early, shout-out to the publishing Swifties) but it’s fair to say that the cover of a book is of the utmost importance. It’s something that as publishers, we spend a HUGE amount of time, energy (and money!) on, and I thought it would be useful to talk a little about how the process really works. For authors, I think it can always be a bit strange - you might have spent years imagining what your novel will look like as a finished product, dreamed of your name on a spine, lost hours of your life picturing what it will finally look like on the tables of Waterstones - a cover can feel like a really personal thing, and yet in reality you end up having very little control over it at all (and I’m going to explain why I personally think that’s a good thing here…).

So, similar to acquisitions meetings, we have a cover meeting once a week (and it always ends up being probably the longest overall meeting, spanning several hours in total!). In most publishing houses, it is run by the art director (our art director also looks after the marketing team, which is brilliant as there is such great synergy between those departments) and attended by representatives from sales (home market and export) and the editors. Everyone sits around a big screen these days and we look at the jackets on there - in my old publishing house we used to also print them out (pre-covid) and wrap them around ‘dummy’ books so we could position them on the shelves next to already-published competitor books, as a large part of the thinking process is how we are going to make our jackets stand out against the market. Each editor will have ‘briefed’ their jackets in advance - and this comes down to another form! So as an editor myself, I brief jackets for all of my authors (we do separate briefs for hardbacks and paperbacks, as it’s common to change jackets in between formats) and we try to do this 9-12 months ahead of publication. I can do another post about timelines at some stage, but traditional publishing can be quite a long process (understatement of the year), and our sales teams need jackets in advance so that they can ‘sell in’ your books to the retailers. If we miss a deadline it can impact on the fate of a book, so it’s important that I brief jackets in a timely manner, in line with what we call ‘the critical path.’ The critical path is worked out by production, and we work backwards from when the books need to be on press.

So the briefing form has some similarities with the vision document that I talked about in my acquisitions post, but obviously it focuses much more on the visual. We fill in the basics (title, author name, ISBNs, format, pub dates, sales expectations, key retailers we’re expecting the book to sell in) and then we add in text that the designer needs to be aware of, such as a strapline (e.g. ‘A family full of lies…’), quotes (otherwise known as endorsements) and possibly a line such as The Sunday Times bestseller or Winner of the 2024 Booker Prize (if that applies!). Sometimes we might indicate what the hierarchy of those should be - if the author is a brand, and readers are drawn to their name rather than the specific novel, then their name should be much bigger. If the author is a debut, their name will usually be small (as at this stage, their name has no resonance with readers) and the title will be larger. It’s also useful to think about how shelves are stacked - for example, I moved the name of a brand author to the top of the cover rather than the bottom last week, because we realised the shelf in a retailer would obscure it otherwise. I often like to have quite a large strapline, as in commercial fiction, it’s a great way of giving the reader the proposition of the novel (i.e. what it is actually about). And of course, if you have excellent endorsements, it’s important to include those as well. We usually shorten quotes we receive from press or other authors, so that they are as snappy as possible (this is all for commercial fiction really, as that’s my area of expertise), and I like to include a couple if there is space, ideally from recognisable names. Sometimes, though, if a less well-known author has given a great quote that feels as though it really sells the novel to the reader and articulates what we want to say particularly well, I’ll choose that instead. We are often conducting various consumer surveys into what really makes readers buy books - is it what the quotes say or who said them - and so I try to take that into account as well. Ultimately, it’s all about each element of the jacket working together to create a cohesive package and strong, consistent messaging. I once was told that the average reader looking at books on a supermarket shelf spends 0.2 seconds glancing at the display, and I’ve also sat in on (fascinating!) meetings where the sales team pitch the books to the supermarket buyers, and they really do not spend long looking at each page - the covers I work on have to be strong, eye-catching, clear, and cohesive - you don’t want the title, strapline and quotes to be working against one another and confusing a reader. For example, if you want to tell the reader that this book is funny, everything should point in that direction. Of course, there is nuance underneath that - books can be funny and sad and smart all at the same time - but it’s important for us to think about what we want the package to say to a reader who is perhaps browsing quickly, or is choosing between lots of different books. Naturally, the world is also full of readers who spend more time deliberating, but in the area I work in, I want my books to appeal to a wider mass-market and reach ‘non-traditional’ book readers as well - and those readers, we know, don’t always spend a lot of time choosing. It’s also super important to think about how a book jacket will look online, so I often look at the image in thumbnail, in a line up of competitor jackets, and think about how it will look in grayscale on a Kindle - is the title clear and legible enough? Is the image sharp enough? Is it obvious what genre the book is? How will it look in a square audio format? Who are we aiming this at; who is our average ideal reader? This may sound reductive, and I’m aware that some of you reading this might find it too simplistic, but it’s very important for us as publishers to think about if we want to give the book the best chance of success. A strong jacket does not mean it cannot be beautiful, stylish, detailed and intelligent - the best book covers are all of those things, as well as being clear and commercial.

Back to the form! After the basics, we include the blurb, and we write a little line about the ideal reader - what else are they watching, listening to, doing with their time. For example, I might pitch a book as being for a reader who recently enjoyed Bad Sisters, or Big Little Lies, or Motherland, or who likes listening to true crime podcasts. I might think about a busy parent picking up a novel as they do the weekly shop in Asda. I might think about a young woman buying a present for her mother in her local Waterstones or independent bookshop. Or a man who only reads a couple of books a year (this isn’t a judgement on men - but we know from consumer insight that women do tend to read more fiction, as a very general rule!) Picturing the reader is a job for the publisher to do, and I actually enjoy it and find it very interesting. In today’s world too, we are genuinely competing for people’s attention - we want them to read a novel rather than watch a show on NetFlix or download a podcast or listen to music, so it’s our job to make that novel feel as exciting and appealing as we possibly can.

Then on the form, we include competitor jackets - jpegs of other books we’d see this sitting alongside (we just screengrab these from online). Sometimes we write whether we’d like the jacket to ‘lead’ or ‘follow’ the market. Lots of the books I publish in commercial fiction follow the market - I want readers to pick them up after they’ve read something similar, and to know what they are getting. That’s why you often see books that do look similar, and there are certain colours (blue, yellow!) that stand out particularly well online and that readers associate with, say, thrillers. We know that in the digital space in particular, lots of readers are drawn to covers that feel familiar, and so this is a very deliberate choice (and in my experience, most of the time it works). Sometimes of course, we’ll try to do something disruptive with a jacket - this is always a risk to be honest, but it can pay off, and usually what happens is one publisher does this and then other publishers see it working and follow suit. That’s why you will see spates of jackets that end up looking like something that was super successful (i.e. cosy crime books often use similar fonts). It’s not a bad thing in my book (pun not intended) - as long as a novel reaches as many readers’ hands as possible, I am happy! (And the authors often are too when they receive their royalty statements!) There are some excellent examples of ‘different’ looking jackets that have gained cut-through in the market recently, and that have been the bedrock for a really strong marketing campaign too (for example, Yellowface from HarperCollins).

So after the comparison covers section, editors write ideas about what we’d like to see on this jacket. These could be image ideas, or a general direction. Often I will let the designer know where the book is set, include a description of the main character, include whether we want a figure (or figures) on the jacket, include some colour suggestions, atmosphere suggestions, time period information, that sort of thing. I might have a very specific idea in my head about what I’d like the designer to try (e.g. please use an image of interlocking friendship bracelets, in pastel colours), but usually I will put multiple ideas down so that we can try a few different routes. We decide whether we want the jacket to be photographic or graphic (or we might look at options for both). We also try to include a short extract from the novel so that the designer can get a feel for the book - if the whole manuscript is ready to read, I will send this to the designer separately (unfortunately, they don’t always have time to read the whole of every single book as there are so many, but often they will read it all and that’s super helpful). The editor reads out the main points of this brief in the jacket meeting, and sales, marketing, and design give input. We also discuss production finishes - we might add spot UV to a jacket (this is what makes them shiny!) or emboss (though this is more expensive) or foil (we used to add glitter when I was earlier on in my career, but it is terrible for the environment so we stopped). If we want the colour to really pop we might add a pantone. All of these cost money though so they can be dependent on the print run and the expectations of the novel. At a later stage in the process, we will also discuss things like endpapers (and for special editions, which are very common in fantasy novels, we might add ribbons, head and tail bands, maps, or other special features to make the edition feel more exclusive).

In the meeting, if everyone is happy, the jacket is considered ‘briefed’ and then we wait for visuals. Each brief is assigned to a specific designer (most of our jackets are done in house; some are freelanced out) and we wait a few weeks to see ‘first visuals.’ Some designers specialise by genre; some are more general. Occasionally, multiple designers might weigh in (for high priority titles, e.g. brand authors) so that we can have a wider range to choose from. The designers also work with picture researches who will source images from stock photo sites such as Getty, Alamy and Shutterstock (to name a few) and sometimes we might also do a cover shoot (this is more common in non-fiction e.g. with cookery books, but I’ve sometimes had photoshoots for saga novels or historical novels too, when we need a really specific book that we can’t create with stock imagery. Fun fact: staff members are known to have appeared on saga novels, dressed up in bonnets. I was once told that I ‘did not have a saga face’ which I remain slightly hurt by). I’m not a designer, so I’m probably missing out some other crucial parts of this process that they do, so apologies for that - but this is as much as I know as I tend to leave the design elements with the designers (they are so talented! I could never do it).

Moving on, the first visuals then come back to a cover meeting, and we look at them all together as a team. The editor is usually sent them in advance, but I always hugely value input from other departments, especially the sales team, and we analyse the visuals together. It’s extremely rare that we ever see a first visual and just go with it - we usually mix elements together that we think are working, ask for tweaks, ask for things to shift around, or sometimes we feel none of the visuals are working at all and the designer needs to go back to the drawing board (they are genuinely endlessly patient). It’s always interesting to read the room, and see what our initial reactions are - sometimes there is one visual that immediately grabs our attention or elicits sounds of excitement in the room, and it’s important to listen to that authentic response (after all, we’re all readers as well as publishers).

It really is so crucial we get the cover right, so I have had books where we have literally looked at maybe 40-50 different options before deciding! In terms of where the author comes in - personally, I tend not to show my authors until we have a jacket we’re happy with in-house. If there are a couple we are deciding between (but that we are largely happy with) I might send them both to an author (and their agent) and ask for their preference, but I wouldn’t usually show authors anything that we as a publisher were not broadly happy with. This is primarily because it can complicate things, and honestly authors are not always best placed to design their own jackets because as a writer you are so close to the script that it’s challenging to put yourself in the shoes of a reader, I think. Of course, there are lots of authors who are self-published and who do design or commission their own jackets, and this is becoming more and more popular (especially in the romance space) so it’s not that an author’s opinion isn’t hugely valuable - it is - it’s that we feel it’s our role as a publisher to design the jacket and we have access to certain things (such as retailer feedback, meetings, etc) that authors do not have. When I acquire a book, though, I will chat to the author and their agent about the cover direction often as part of the pitch, to get their thoughts and check they align with ours - there is no point my acquiring a novel if the author imagines it being packaged in a very literary way and I want it to feel commercial because we are bound to run into problems later on. The visions need to align! Ultimately, and contractually, the decisions around the cover belong to the publisher, and although this can feel hard for authors, we really do spend so much time and energy thinking about covers, researching competitor jackets and sales, speaking to retailers about what covers are working, etc that it is a decision we feel qualified to make. For authors, personally I think it’s much more important to focus on your writing and the story you want to tell - it isn’t your job to analyse the market or worry about design, and although of course, the book is yours and bears your name, it would be impossible for you to gain as much market knowledge as a publisher can because the resources we have aren’t available to all writers. Working with a traditional publisher means you do enter into a partnership, and it’s so important to remember that we all have the same goal - we want the best for you and your book, we want it to reach readers, and the best editor-author relationships build trust and understanding so that anxieties can be allayed. However - none of this is to say that you should go with a jacket you hate or are uncomfortable with - and I’ll talk about that now…

So when I show my authors what we’re proposing for their jackets, I then anxiously await their feedback! I am obviously hoping they love it, but if they don’t, I 100% take that feedback on board (I also really value feedback from the literary agent). Often, I’ll explain to an author (especially if they are a debut) why we’ve made the design decisions we have - i.e. why we’ve chosen a certain image or colour, or font - and ask them to consider it further if we feel very strongly that it will work, but if an author is really unhappy I would never force them to go with a jacket they hate. In that instance, I will speak to our art team and we’ll look at other options, and send them back to the author to get more feedback. A book will never go to press without an author seeing and signing off on a jacket. I totally understand how emotional it can be to see your name on a book cover, and this post isn’t to minimise the importance of that; it’s to give a realistic take on what happens behind the scenes and why we make the calls we do (and of course, I can only speak to my own experience). Authors know their novels inside out, and some editors do probably involve them a little more (I know some editors send their authors the brief before the teams see it), but my way of working is the way I was trained in my previous company and so I personally find it works well (I hope!) - however I’m still learning and always open to feedback and the main thing I want from my career is a trusting, open and collaborative relationship with my authors. I always do emphasise to my list of writers that they can chat to me about any stage of the process, and I really mean it!

Luckily, I am privileged to work with a host of very talented designers at work, and they create some absolutely stunning jackets! One of my favourite things to do too is rejacket the backlist books - the market changes over the years, of course, and if we get a great new cover look for an author that really resonates and sells well, we’ll often revisit the backlist and rejacket their older books in a similar style. We can then do things like price-promote the ebooks all at once, or even reprint the hard copies and re-sell them into retailers (this is rarer but does happen, especially for bigger brand authors - we call it ‘old as new!’) It’s wonderful to give older novels a new lease of life, and I’ve done this successfully on several occasions.

The other thing that might be of interest is the difference between paperback and hardback jackets. As I mentioned, we often change these in between formats, primarily because we’re appealing to different types of readers. In between formats, we will probably have secured more quotes (press quotes from reviewers who read the hardback, for example) and so we might add these on, and we might make the title larger and more stand-out. Sometimes it will be a totally new image (if a hardback hasn’t performed well we might change it completely, and occasionally if that happens, publishers change a title as well and put a ‘previously published as’ note online or on the cover somewhere) and in general, we will want the overall look for a paperback (B format size) to be more commercial, more mass-market, and clearer. Paperbacks are obviously cheaper, and sell in different retailers (i.e. supermarkets might take paperbacks from less well-known authors, but only take hardbacks from brands) and are eligible for different promotions (e.g. Richard + Judy is a paperback promotion with WHS). So all of that comes into play. If a jacket changes radically between hardback and paperback, it doesn’t necessarily mean there was an issue with the hardback - sometimes the market may have moved on, sometimes we might simply want a new and fresh look, or a seasonal look if the hardback published in winter and the paperback is scheduled for the summer, sometimes we might have had feedback from a retailer or from readers (we also look at Amazon reviews, and for example if a lot of readers said the cover was misleading or similar, we’d take that into account). One thing that I find happens a lot is we feel like a cover is too dark post-publication, and we brighten it for the paperback and the ebook/audio edition. So many books are bought online now that it’s crucial to ensure the saturation and brightness zings!

Overall, a jacket is a selling tool for a book - despite the phrase, people do judge books by their covers, and (sorry to sound like a broken record here) they are pretty crucial to a novel’s success. If you are an author and you have questions about your jacket, I really encourage you to ask your editor and voice your concerns, with the caveat that we are always doing our best for you and that we will want your novel to sell! There are some gorgeous, exciting, innovative jackets in the market and more being produced every day by extremely talented designers, and I love the creativity and thought that goes into the process. Sometimes I am genuinely blown away by how brilliant a jacket is (sometimes, it has to be said, I have experienced the opposite, but we get there in the end!) and to be honest, it’s usually not that straightforward a process - there can be a lot of back and forth, a lot of tweaking, the occasional tearing out of hair - but hopefully in most cases, we get a jacket that everyone likes and it sails smoothly onto the shelves.

As an author, too, I’ve been lucky in that on the whole I have liked the covers of my five books. The first one I was less sure about (I was worried it looked like horror) but actually it sold pretty well and I stopped worrying! The second one we did look at quite a few options (I originally thought it looked a bit Young Adult) but the third, fourth and fifth I pretty much loved straight away! The last two have different jackets in the US (the US market is different, and usually covers are changed) and the foreign rights editions are always so fascinating to see. I love being sent foreign editions of my books and seeing how they have interpreted the jackets - even if I can’t read the text inside! Because I see this process as both an author and an editor, I do understand how scary it can be to put the power in a publisher’s hands, so I hope the above helps give context and that it allays some fears (and that if nothing else, you find it of interest!)

Thank you as ever for reading - the response to this Substack so far has been amazing, so please do continue telling your friends and comment below if you have further queries or if you have topics you would like me to cover in The Honest Editor.

Happy Easter! I hope it brings you everything you wish for (even if that’s just a couple of days of rest). Here’s a photo of the Easter bunny standing at a bus-stop in South London that I took yesterday, just to make you smile.

Phoebe x