Book cover clichés: have you spotted recurrent designs?

Certain themes and stories seem to be packaged with a particular aesthetic. Have you spotted this trend? Share your examplesWhy is it that books about Africa always look the same? A recent article on the blog Africa is a Country demonstrated that "the covers of most novels 'about Africa' seem to have been designed by someone whose principal idea of the continent comes from The Lion King" - reducing it, no matter the subject, geographical area or writer, to an acacia tree and a sunset. This followed a Twitterstorm triggered by a tweet from SimonMStevens:Like so many (wildly varying) writers on Africa, Adichie gets the acacia tree sunset treatment... (@AfricasaCountry) pic.twitter.com/zMQtirfrQ9.@SimonMStevens @AfricasaCountry See also soulful-black-woman-with-colourful-smudges e.g. UK pb eds of Adichie's bks. pic.twitter.com/bt7kUcaP06There is a peculiar phenomenon in English-language publishing in Southeast Asia: a ubiquitous genre perhaps best thought of as Asian sleaze. It spans fiction and non-fiction, but the cover generally features a partially clothed woman with long black hair, either in silhouette, or viewed from behind. The title is usually something along the lines of Bangkok Velvet. The author is always a white man. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Classic Book Covers Get Charming Redesigns for the E-Book Age

750 artists redesigned the covers of classic books. Now 50 of them are going on tour. The post Classic Book Covers Get Charming Redesigns for the E-Book Age appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2016-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How Pelican Books Is Reimagining The Cover In The Age Of E-Books

Penguin's storied non-fiction brand is trying to redefine the book cover, as well as bridge the gap between physical books and ebooks.The covers of our favorite books are doors that lead into their internal literary worlds, and that's enough to make their designs important: a book's cover is the... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2014-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The News Book Riot Covered This Week

Publishers Weekly names the best books of 2024, John Green will publishing a book about tuberculosis, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-11-02 15:00:00 UTC ]
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L-WORD Stars Reveal Cover of New Memoir and More Book News!

Plus cover reveals, the Booker Prize shortlist, and the trailer for HEARTSTOPPER Season 3 . Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-09-19 14:30:00 UTC ]
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4+ YA Cover Makeovers: YA Book Talk and News, August 8, 2024

What do you think about these YA paperback cover redesigns? That, plus this week's YA book news. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-08-08 15:15:00 UTC ]
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All the News Book Riot Covered This Week: July 6, 2024

The bestselling books of the week, the indie bookstore shipping LGBTQ titles to states where they're banned, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-07-06 15:00:00 UTC ]
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The News Book Riot Covered This Week

The bestselling books of the week, the best historical fiction of 2024 so far, book banning updates, and more. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-06-29 15:00:00 UTC ]
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The best design book of the year is a 700-year-old poem about Hell

Artist Sophy Hollington created a gorgeous reimagining of Dante’s ‘Inferno.’ It’s not every day that an illustrated edition of a 700-year-old classic poem explodes on Kickstarter, surpassing its $100,000 goal in less than a week. But then again, it’s not every day that an author is so... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2024-06-25 09:15:00 UTC ]
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Kobo Clara Colour review: Judging books by their covers is now more fun

Kobo isn’t the first on the color-ereader scene; Boox and Pocketbook have had color ereaders and tablets for years. Both of those companies make beautiful, premium devices that are highly capable and customizable — but they don’t offer the plug-and-play ereader experience of a Kindle or Kobo. Of... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2024-05-23 13:00:13 UTC ]
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I invented the abstract colorful blob book cover.

A satirical confession, from an imagined designer who unleashed the style of book cover with “amorphous shapes of suggestive colors” on the world. I’ve created a monster. I’m the designer who first created the colorful blob book cover. You know the ones: the vaguely egg-like, kidney-bean-like... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-05-08 17:07:26 UTC ]
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The 11 Best Book Covers of April

Another month of books, another month of book covers. It’s been gloomy in upstate New York, but according to a certain saying, all this endless rain will pay dividends one day soon. In the meantime, here are some nice things to look at: The audacity, indeed. I love a book cover that feels goofy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2024-04-30 08:55:24 UTC ]
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24 of the Best 2024 Book Covers So Far

What adult book covers have struck you as interesting, unique, or otherwise attention-grabbing so far this year? Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-04-23 12:00:00 UTC ]
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At 75, Thames & Hudson Rolls Out New Publishing Programs, Book Design Prize

The illustrated book publisher will launch a new series of small-format titles, gift program, and book design prize, alongside unique branding, to commemorate its 75th anniversary. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-08 05:00:00 UTC ]
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PRH Led in Children’s Picture Book Bestsellers in 2023, While Scholastic Took Top Spot in Fiction

Penguin Random House strengthened its grip on the picture book lists and made gains on the frontlist fiction lists, which Scholastic still rules. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2024-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Announcing the Best Book Cover of 2023

Last week, we asked our social media followers to vote for the cover of year from the best 32 designs of the year. This year’s tournament was fierce, with surprise twists and crowd favorites that bowed out early. The winner edged out the competition by a mere 6 votes. From 32 cover designs, here... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-12-29 12:05:00 UTC ]
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The Art of Paperback Cover Design

Redesign? Relaunch? Regret? Take a look at the ways publishers aimed to seduce new audiences by changing up the covers of notable books. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2023-12-27 10:02:37 UTC ]
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2024’s hottest book cover trend is . . . pastel skies.

The reign of the color-blob book cover has slowly come to an end over the last several years, and various pretenders to the throne have taken their best shot at being the next trend—sans-serif minimalism (The “Cusk”); brightly-colored paper-cut-out illustrations, usually involving women (The... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-18 15:14:58 UTC ]
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Chose the Next Book Cover of the Year 

It’s the festive season, which means our fourth annual book cover tournament begins today! We had a tough job winnowing the hundreds of thousands of book covers published this year to the best 32 designs, so we need your help to crown a winner via an interactive poll on our Twitter and Instagram... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2023-12-18 12:00:00 UTC ]
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The 138 Best Book Covers of 2023

For what is now the eighth time in a row, I am pleased to present the best book covers of the year—as chosen by some of the industry’s best book cover designers. This year, I asked 46 designers to share their favorite covers of the year, and they came back with a grand total of 138 covers […] Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2023-12-12 09:55:10 UTC ]
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Welcome to De Los | Reads: A roundup of books designed to amplify Latinx authors

The first edition of De Los|Reads features a new fiction book from Mario Vargas Llosa, a cookbook from Sandra A. Gutierrez, several memoirs and a book for children who aren't ready for bed. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2023-11-16 05:37:22 UTC ]
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