Who designs the covers for books? How much do they tell the story even before the first page is read?

You may be surprised that authors usually have little to no input on the cover designs for their books. It is understandable that professional designers create book covers. After all, the skill of the writer rarely extends to the graphic skills that help a book to stand out. Indeed, publishers view the book cover design primarily as a marketing tool. Commercial publishing houses sometimes make it difficult for authors to have input about what the cover will look like, or even communicate with the designer. I prefer to collaborate with an author when creating a book cover. I even read the whole book! You might be surprised to learn that many book cover designers read no more than a few pages.

There is a lot that goes into a cover design, and now that most books are sold online, a cover design must read at a fairly small size.

As an independent artist and designer I specialize in multiple languages and scripts. I’ve been pleased to work with a number of authors who wanted a more collaborative voice in the visual component of their books. I listen carefully to what authors tell me about their books. I even read their books. Most book cover designers are never even given the opportunity to read the book before they have to submit a design.

Here is a selection of book covers I’ve designed:

Front, back and spine of the collector’s edition of the fantasy novel, Testament of Steel, by Ashura Davis:

One of a series of books by Elaine Lightningbolt

30th Anniversary Catalog for Sweetwater Print Cooperative

Marilyn Eisenberg’s memoir

The first book of a series being written by Lama Losang

T. C. Sherman’s book was published by Cambridge University Press

Cover for the theatre production “Oedipus at Ichetuckneea”

One of several covers I’ve produced for author Aditya Rao

Elaine Lightningbolt’s most recent novel

Another book by Aditya Rao

Sukkah

For this book cover, I created a calligraphic design and fired the ceramic tile, which I then photographed to include in the final cover design:

I designed covers for both the English and Persian editions of this book

Cover for the theatre production “Voyage Imaginaire”