026: Hot Takes on Book Cover Design with Elisha Zepeda
Where we fully endorse judging a book by it's cover
If it were up to Elisha Zepeda, you’d never buy a badly designed book again.
As a book cover designer, Elisha’s built a following on Instagram and TikTok (with +120k book cover lovers!) by breaking down his design process, from choosing the perfect reference image through to the publisher’s (often divisive) final call.
Today he’s here with a crash course in the world of book cover design, starting with the most important lesson of all: industry hot takes.
That’s Niche: Book Cover Design Industry Hot Takes
Elisha’s Expertise:
I worked at a bookstore for four years and saw that all the cool people purchased cool books with cool covers.
I decided I wanted to be the one making the cool covers on the cool books for the cool people.
Genre Fluid
I firmly believe genre standards shouldn’t exist. So many times my covers are rejected for being “too artsy” (that’s a direct quote). Or the perceived audience will feel it is “too smart” (also a direct quote…and I’m sorry, did you just call your audience dumb?).
Good design will trump any genre standard. It’s not that complicated — if it looks cool, people will notice. And that’s the goal of a cover right? Getting people to notice on a shelf?
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Title legibility is not a concern of mine
Nobody is walking into a bookstore saying “oh, what title is going to grab my attention?” — it’s all about the art.
Art is what converts “I’ll add this to my reading list” into “I’ll buy this right now.” If it looks good, you bet it’s being displayed on a shelf at home. (“Woah this person has cool art, and they read? Nice.” — your guests).
(To publishers concerned about sales: artistic covers also widen your market by offering the book not just as reading material, but as art to be displayed).
Woman looking away
If I’m asked to make another cover with a woman facing away I might. Just. Lose it. My entire comment section is people saying they hate it, that they actively dismiss books that have it. So why do publishers push it?
My theory is this — if people are buying books with this cover concept, I’m assuming they don’t care about the design as much as the content. So by having a woman facing away, you are eliminating a massive audience to appease a small audience who doesn’t care what the cover looks like. Not to mention they all look the same and are indistinguishable from one another (don’t get me started on teal/yellow thrillers).
Let designers design
I’ve never, ever, ever, had a publisher ask my opinion on a set of designs I’ve made for them. (This is understandable but frustrating — I’d rather be the designer than the person at the top of the chain whose job is to sell the book).
That said — after I’ve hunkered down designing my heart out, they’ve never asked “designer whom we specifically hired to make this look good, which one do you like best?”
This baffles me. Why would you pay a designer to design if you don’t value their professional design opinion? I wouldn’t make you something I wouldn’t buy myself.
Book covers are like movie trailers
The best trailers give an abstract glimpse at the tone of a movie without revealing every detail. The tone is key.
A24 films all have completely different settings, love stories, friendships, soundtracks, pacing. But the audience says yes every single time they see A24’s logo. Why? The tone. A24 is able to communicate the tone of their movies so well in trailers/posters that an audience will want to see both a traveling shell that rips your heart out as much as a group of students losing their sh*t after a mushroom trip in rural Sweden. This is why I believe the most important element to communicate on a book cover is the tone — not a photorealistic scene, not a character, but the tone.
This is much easier said than done though. How do you express tone visually? Well, that’s why covers are best when they lean into artfulness, rather than “making sense” (have we not learned from David Byrne by now?).
Books are one of the few formats that allow interesting art to be introduced into mainstream media. There are no bounds to what a book can or should look like, and there are no rules in art. Trust your audience to pick up an appealing cover that doesn’t spoon-feed the topic to them. It really is as simple as: book looks cool, person picks up book.
Misc Recs
Unrelated things Elisha likes that you might, too
🎵 Alice Phoebe Lou’s Brodie Session
This session is my new happy place. APL please hire me as a musician in your band.
🎸 Hologram’s ‘Chroma Console’
It’s a guitar pedal that’s as beautiful to look at as it is to play with
❌ Saying no
Your happiness depends on it
☕️ Decaf coffee
All the flavor, none of the jitters, easier sleep, clearer mind. Please stop the decaf slander!
🤫 Driving in silence
My buddy and I drove to Portland recently. 3 hours, no music, amazing.
I hope this inspires you to buy more beautiful books from more beautiful bookstores. And, next time you’re in an airport bookstore, turn any ‘woman looking away’ covers to the back (don’t actually… but if you do….).
See you next week with Izzy’s no-nonsense guide to karaoke etiquette. Buckle up.