HEAD BLOG

A question for you: should book covers be relevant?

It’s reasonable to expect that a book’s cover depict the contents of the book. So the answer must be “yes”.

That’s all there is to say. Thank you.

Only, marketing being marketing, that isn’t all there is to say. Not by a long chalk.

The book business stands alongside that of movies in its sophisticated use of cover art. In terms of some of the wider aspects of marketing it can often lag behind other businesses, but when it comes to packaging, books have it… covered (I’m sorry, I’m sorry).

The goal for a piece of cover art is to sell the contents. That means attracting attention so that you and I pick it up and read the back blurb which informs us this is the book for us. That could be done through an exciting précis or by splashing the names of other respected authors beneath favourable quotes. I’ve often wondered how well a book would sell if the back were actually the front, foregoing any pretence at illustration altogether.

Assuming, however, the illustration is in place, what should it depict? Should it be aiming to convey the plotline or should it be a scream, a scream that says “BUY ME”?

There is a lot to resist in the “buy me” approach, artistic integrity not least. One trick of this approach is to follow the best-sellers. My colleague, Carl (@firsthead) discussed this with me recently and observed that standing in one of the hyper-commercial supermarket book stores, one can divide the books up into their follow-me status. It’s like Amazon’s recommended approach. In one block of books you can see the repeated figure of a person walking away from the viewer – from this we know that if we liked Shadow of the Wind we will like this. Then there is a block of books with cathedral arches (gothic, naturally) for the Dan Brownites. Like Jodi Picoult? You’re in luck, the detail of the child’s shoe or partial face, washed in a nostalgic sun – that’s for you. And then of course there are the flat neon tones of the chick lit covers, a handbag, a lipstick, a pair of heels and the drunken typography that once heralded the Club 18-30 holidays and now toned down slightly for the modern fun-loving lady.

At once we are invited to judge the book by its cover. At once we decide whether to investigate further or dismiss entirely as being “for women” or for “light” readers. We are not, in other words, encouraged to look deeper and discover.

Publishers are of course just trying to sell books, in volume. And why wouldn’t they? It’s a business. Many writers these days understand the business of writing; the grit as well as the inspiration. These writers face the commercial truth of publishing. A writer must understand how to sell as well as how to write. Listening to them discuss the business side of writing is a revelation.

So why the surprise when it comes to a cover not reflecting the contents of the book?

One reason, of course, is honesty. In the 80s entire nations of videogamers were well used to routinely being lied to by advertisers. Claims that a game was life-like were, oddly enough, the more honest of ads, accompanied as they were by actual images of the 8×8 characters you were supposed to emote with. Far more common were beautifully painted covers promising worlds undreamt of. These were often supported by “in-game” images that were anything but.

All this didn’t seem to diminish the appetite for battling across new worlds  but book covers speak a different language and live by a different set of rules.

Books cannot be oversold through pictures of exotic slave aliens or sweeping vistas. Their visual power rests in the imagination of the reader who is far more able to understand and accept the “sizzle” of a well designed jacket.

Books can, however, be mis-sold in other ways. Make out that a treatise on 17th Century radicalism in French baking is like Harry Potter and readers may well be slightly miffed. Miffed enough not to be fooled twice even, perhaps, if the author does follow this with the perfect wizard book for all ages.

Another reason authors might not want their books hailed as the next Dan Brown is one of integrity.

Ok. Let’s skip over that one.

A book cover design must promote the author as original whilst showing readers it belongs to something they will feel comfortable reading. It should face down contradictions to be part of a genre and yet stand out in that genre.

So to the first question we asked: relevance? Only if it is relevant.

Two days of consecutive sunshine has us all in weather mode. Whether it is to long for cooler days or to talk about how marvellous the heat wave is (followed by a glum prediction of it ending soon), the weather leaps into conversations at every opportunity.

Marketing is similarly hasty in its willingness to take advantage of each change in weather, be it an oncoming storm of football fever or the potential break in the clouds offered by a long awaited election.

Here is something which unites us all, it seems to say, something we can all talk about. And look how switched on to the national mood we are. You might think all we do is sell crisps but really we are your friend and as such we can take liberties with your time by striking up a conversation.

Much akin to a stranger sat on the bench next to you who decides to try his luck with a line about how long term weather predictions have us suffering through a rainy summer before offering us advice of a handy umbrella shop (owned, incidentally, by his brother), the eager Marketeer will stop at nothing to catch your interest.

So it is we have had every form of product sold to us on the strength of a weak “vote now” campaign and so it will be that the World Cup will be drained of any effectiveness as products rely upon our dumb willingness to buy anything from anyone provided they have a fine line in football related conversation pieces. This lawn mower is a like a game of two halves you say? Adorned with a flag even? By the cup, I’ll buy one and visit your store again.

It may be that certain topics hold a common interest for many people. But it also true that they make for short term conversations and fair weather friends.