Do You Read the Book? And Other Questions about Book Design

Answer: It Depends.

Aug 25, 2024

Hello Dear Reader,

This is A Book Designer’s Notebook, a newsletter about books, design, and creative practice from the desk (and couch) of Nathaniel Roy.

Today, I’d like to answer some questions I’ve gotten about book design. But first, a couple caveats:

The answer is always “it depends.” Book design—and publishing in general—is super interdependent. I can usually explain these dependencies, but I may be using that phrase a lot in this newsletter.
This is just how I do it. Other folks might have different answers.

Let’s go!

What’s your soup-to-nuts process?

Every book cover I design starts in my notebook. I write the pertinent cover and deadline information, as well as some notes about the creative brief, so I can begin by spending some time away from the computer—this is important.

Part of my note-taking process involves creating mind maps. I do this in order to make associations and connections between thematic visuals that might not be immediately obvious. So much about graphic design is juxtaposition.

Then I sketch. Usually. The sketches flesh out some of the written ideas and explore where things may go on the page. These are very crude—but that’s a good thing. Many of the ideas sitting next to these crude sketches are also terrible. But getting them out of my head and onto the page is essential.

Some cover options developed from the above sketches.

After I have a handful of sketches, I open Photoshop. It’s important to have a few ideas I like at this stage, otherwise I will get stuck on one idea and take it too far before developing any others. I’ve done this many times.

Then I iterate, iterate, iterate. To paraphrase Aaron Draplin, pixels are free. I make a “sketches” folder on my computer in which I am likely to have upwards of 30 files with a) things that look terrible and b) covers that have only the slightest variations.

Then I distill this motley crew of files into the first round of covers through a process of editing and selection. Then I revise, based on feedback from a number of parties (it depends!), usually involving an art director and at least one editor. Then—usually—a cover is approved.1

Months later, I design the full cover in InDesign once the book’s interior is complete.2 I receive a template that details dimensions and other specifications like bleed.

Then, to print!

How many design options do you typically create for a book cover project? And how many do you present to the author? (Is that how it works—is the author like the client?)

Different publishers ask for different numbers. This can correlate with their rate,3 but on average I provide 3–4 options. I often include (a) and (b) versions of at least a couple covers.

Then more versions inevitably shake out in the revisions process. This can be major or minor—it depends. 🙂

Sometimes the author is involved—to varying degrees—and sometimes they’re not. Every publisher does this differently. Sometimes the author is the publisher, so naturally, they are the client.

So, when you design a book cover, do you read the book first or have an idea what the book is all about?

Sometimes! I know designers that do. Chip Kidd, one of my book design heroes, talks about getting this question and how of course he reads them. But the man works for Alfred A. Knopf. I freelance for a lot of university presses. Who publish great work, to be sure, but they can get a little academic, and are usually nonfiction. It’s much easier to extract salient ideas from a nonfiction book—I’m always provided with summaries, and sometimes excerpts—without reading the whole thing.

When I work on fiction (which is more rare right now) I read more. Sometimes all of it, sometimes just some of it. It depends on my time, what I’ve gotten from the client, and how fast my brain churns out ideas based on the writing.

Sometimes I think I should read everything—but I’m not sure my cover for a book on rhetoric is going to get any better by having read it.

Typefaces! How do you like to match typefaces with moods/themes/topics?

I like to find contextual reasons for choosing a typeface, even if nobody but me knows. For instance, the author of The Promise of Language is a Black man who grew up in the Civil Rights-era, and the memoir dealt in part with his youth. So I chose this font called Bayard from the great Vocal Type Co., inspired by signs from the March on Washington. There are also a few comps that use one called Martin, a font based on signs from the Memphis Sanitation Strike of 1968.

Language was also a big theme here so I also chose some old serifs that have been used in book layouts throughout time.

Choosing fonts can be overwhelming, so I like to put up some guard rails on the trail. But don’t get me wrong, there’s still lots of scrolling through font menus, trying stuff that doesn’t work, and just going with ~vibes~.

Any tips on cold calling art directors or getting your work seen?

Do good work. Little else matters if you don’t. Make some fake covers if you don’t have any real published books in your portfolio.
University presses list their staff and contact information online. You’ll get a lot of silence and “we’ll keep your info on file,” but I’ve gotten good work this way.
Find ADs on Instagram and interact with them there, in a genuine manner, before asking them for anything.
Get lucky. Be persistent.
Ignore all this and do it your own way because I’m also still figuring this out.

I’m always fond of covers that use illustrations or paintings, what are the challenges that come with these kinds of covers? I imagine using a historical painting by an artist from the 18th century is very different from working with an illustrator to have them draw the cover (assuming you DO work with an illustrator).

Working with an existing illustration is easier, because you know what you’re going to get. The challenge here is making choices that accentuate the illustration but also create a strong and unique book cover. If it already exists, someone else may have already used it on a book cover.

I don’t work with commissioned illustrations often, but the primary challenge with this is communication. Sometimes it’s communication I’m doing, sometimes it’s from another party. Has the idea or brief been communicated effectively? How has the artist interpreted it and made it their own? Does the illustration work with regard to the physical specifications of a cover and all the supplemental text?

When you need to source photography for your book covers, where do you go searching?

I often start with Adobe Stock, iStock, Shutterstock, and Alamy for standard stock images. Getty if the publisher is putting up the money to license.

If I’m looking for something more specific, or maybe vintage, I’ll hunt through the Library of Congress or Smithsonian public domain collections.

Sometimes the publisher will provide me with images related to the book.

I know that as a designer, you look at covers with an especially critical eye. Which cover design made you actually read the book?

Even as a cover designer, I usually need at least a couple points of reference to actually read a book, though I always pick up the good covers at the bookstore. That being said, I bought Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg based on Lauren Peters-Collaer’s cover (and an interesting premise). If a cover has collage, I’m going to be intrigued.

Feast Your Eyes by Myla Goldberg | Goodreads

And as I mentioned in this Note, Catch-22’s cover by Paul Bacon has long had an influence on me.

What are ALL the things you need to consider when designing a book?

The tone of the book
The intended audience
Is the book trade or academic?
The book’s trim size
Direction from the publisher
Related titles, to reference or avoid
How the book is being printed
- What kind of paper is being used
- Is it print on demand?
Some other things I’m not thinking of right now

Do you get free rein to design or does a publisher ask for a specific idea/look?

It depends, but it’s usually a little bit of both. I actually prefer direction that gives me a starting point and also gives me a jumping off point for new ideas.

Ideally, you’re hiring me to bring something new to the table, not just execute a prior vision—though there’s still some of that in my work, too. For one client project where the author was heavily involved, I ended up basically recreating the god awful cover the author created in Canva. I did not put my name on that cover—but I did cash that check.

As part of the cover design process, do you give input on other design aspects of the book like size, deckled edges, interior design elements, etc.?

Get ready—it depends. If it’s a publisher, they have usually decided the trim size before they hire me. If it’s a self-publishing/indie author, I work with them to choose a trim size that makes sense for their budget and their book.

Ultimately, I can make suggestions, but production decisions are up to the people paying the printing bill. I’ve made suggestions for style of paper, a cropped jacket, special finishes like gloss or foil, but they do not always come to fruition.

In traditional publishing, cover designers typically don’t have much to do with the interior design of the book. However in my work at Fifth Avenue Press and for the aforementioned indie authors, I often design both the cover and the interior and make choices to try and link the two together.

Got more questions? Leave a comment and stay tuned for another installment.