I was struck by how the majority of your passed over covers were vastly superior to the final ‘product’ — which for most of them turned the design into a safe, pedestrian generic thing.
Proof that most authors should remain writers and not graphic designers. Not that all of them had a say, but you get my point.
Well, to prevent your newsletter from becoming milk-toast, you'll need to risk bruising some egos. Otherwise, you'll lose your bite, and your newsletter will devolve into laudatory mush.
I love reading solid criticism from someone who has skin in the game, and I incorporate it into my writing. I consider it part of my success as a writer. However, this PC notion that 'everyone is a winner' is generally damaging to art.
Fair point! I don’t want that. I think I am literally contractually obligated not to talk shit about some covers, but I’m with you about “everyone is a winner.” They are definitely not.
I want to be honest but kind with my criticism. Feel free to let me know if my bite appears to be softening.
I came rushing to the comments to say this exact thing. I loved all the “rejected” designs so much more. Wish publishers were a little less risk adverse when it comes to graphic design.
That one’s called Pelican Script from Brandon Nickerson Studio. He releases a lot of fonts for free for a limited time! He announces them on Instagram, usually.
Really cool. As others have said, it's hard not to notice how your original concepts show a much more pleasing or at least interesting artistic exuberance, and then get stripped, shaved, and flattened into commercial boxes.
I'm assuming that in numerous instances the similarity of design, even colours, is because everyone got the same brief.
'In My Skin' mimics key elements of your design. I admit that I prefer the published cover a great deal more. You gave them the inspiration to get to that version.
The examples help to demonstrate how incredibly difficult it is to design book covers, and how difficult it is to be successful in that corner of the publishing industry.
Ah! Do'h. Somewhere along the way in the reading I got confused. Initially understood both versions to be yours, then it seemed as if the one on the right was the published version (by someone else).
I'll need to go through and look up the books to see where the covers landed. 😁
I'd be interested in the reasons and industry decisions around different countries getting different covers, and paperbacks having different covers than hardbacks, and then there are instances of paperbacks with multiple covers, every edition gets a new cover! I've always been curious about the change to branding a book.
Perhaps you've already shared your thoughts on this.
As to different countries' coveres: When published in different countries, publishers acquire the rights to a particular book. I imagine they'd need to license an existing cover from another country, so it's probably easier and cheaper to create a new one while also giving their version of a book a cover that is uniquely tied to their company.
You have solid ideas and I agree the first takes are out of the box and cool💡 I second that notion that everyone thinks they’re a graphic designer but it takes a lot of talent to make something good, unique and creative when it comes down to it! Also typewriter font is badass love it haha
this round-up pushed all the right buttons for my nosy little brain! i loved seeing all the covers and the reasons for each being rejected. The alternate covers for The Promise of Language were AMAZING <3
Super interesting! As an indie author who designs her own covers, I love seeing the different options, what works (and what doesn't), and which covers were ultimately chosen. I'm nowhere near proficient as a cover designer, but I hope those skills are something that can be learned with practice.
Now I'm off to check out some of those links you shared!
38-year art director here.
I was struck by how the majority of your passed over covers were vastly superior to the final ‘product’ — which for most of them turned the design into a safe, pedestrian generic thing.
Proof that most authors should remain writers and not graphic designers. Not that all of them had a say, but you get my point.
Fabulous post.
Thank you Frederick! That was definitely the subtext I was going for here. I need to be careful about badmouthing specific covers/books/people 😁
Thankfully I still get to post most of my unused jackets on my website to show the full range of my ability.
I hope this is a useful lesson for authors!
Well, to prevent your newsletter from becoming milk-toast, you'll need to risk bruising some egos. Otherwise, you'll lose your bite, and your newsletter will devolve into laudatory mush.
I love reading solid criticism from someone who has skin in the game, and I incorporate it into my writing. I consider it part of my success as a writer. However, this PC notion that 'everyone is a winner' is generally damaging to art.
Fair point! I don’t want that. I think I am literally contractually obligated not to talk shit about some covers, but I’m with you about “everyone is a winner.” They are definitely not.
I want to be honest but kind with my criticism. Feel free to let me know if my bite appears to be softening.
A workaround would be for you to alert me of a bad cover and then I’ll write about it over on my newsletter.
I’m kidding.
Have a great holiday!
I came rushing to the comments to say this exact thing. I loved all the “rejected” designs so much more. Wish publishers were a little less risk adverse when it comes to graphic design.
Thanks Jake! Sometimes you can get one through, but you do have to get used to that happening if you want to do this job.
Tell me about the font for The Battles of Texas. Looks gorgeous
That one’s called Pelican Script from Brandon Nickerson Studio. He releases a lot of fonts for free for a limited time! He announces them on Instagram, usually.
https://www.bnicks.com/shop/p/bn-pelican-script
I agree with the others here, a lot of the ones on the left are better. Beautiful covers, thank you for this post!
Thank you Sydney!
Really cool. As others have said, it's hard not to notice how your original concepts show a much more pleasing or at least interesting artistic exuberance, and then get stripped, shaved, and flattened into commercial boxes.
Thanks Andy, much appreciated! That’s often the name of the game in this industry—but we keep trying shit. You learn resilience, or you quit.
I'm assuming that in numerous instances the similarity of design, even colours, is because everyone got the same brief.
'In My Skin' mimics key elements of your design. I admit that I prefer the published cover a great deal more. You gave them the inspiration to get to that version.
The examples help to demonstrate how incredibly difficult it is to design book covers, and how difficult it is to be successful in that corner of the publishing industry.
Everyone got the same brief, yes, because “everyone” is me 🙂 I designed all of these covers both rejected and approved.
Final covers are often iterations of earlier, unused versions which is why some of these are similar concepts.
Ah! Do'h. Somewhere along the way in the reading I got confused. Initially understood both versions to be yours, then it seemed as if the one on the right was the published version (by someone else).
I'll need to go through and look up the books to see where the covers landed. 😁
No worries! I could have maybe been clearer. The book on the right is the approved cover, but also designed by me.
Well, you did say "rejected" covers!
I agree with most of the publishing decisions. 😁
I'd be interested in the reasons and industry decisions around different countries getting different covers, and paperbacks having different covers than hardbacks, and then there are instances of paperbacks with multiple covers, every edition gets a new cover! I've always been curious about the change to branding a book.
Perhaps you've already shared your thoughts on this.
I touch on the hardcover-paperback design change a little bit below. Basically, it all comes down to trying to maximize sales!
https://www.bookdesignersnotebook.com/p/do-book-covers-matter
As to different countries' coveres: When published in different countries, publishers acquire the rights to a particular book. I imagine they'd need to license an existing cover from another country, so it's probably easier and cheaper to create a new one while also giving their version of a book a cover that is uniquely tied to their company.
Ah, the second version was accepted?
You have solid ideas and I agree the first takes are out of the box and cool💡 I second that notion that everyone thinks they’re a graphic designer but it takes a lot of talent to make something good, unique and creative when it comes down to it! Also typewriter font is badass love it haha
this round-up pushed all the right buttons for my nosy little brain! i loved seeing all the covers and the reasons for each being rejected. The alternate covers for The Promise of Language were AMAZING <3
Fascinating! I love the first Promise of Language cover (flowers on a black ground).
I really enjoyed this read! Thank you! I have a degree in graphic design and I'm fascinated by some of these rejections.Great stuff!
Thank you! There's a million reasons why things get rejected.
Super interesting! As an indie author who designs her own covers, I love seeing the different options, what works (and what doesn't), and which covers were ultimately chosen. I'm nowhere near proficient as a cover designer, but I hope those skills are something that can be learned with practice.
Now I'm off to check out some of those links you shared!