Choosing a cover

Thursday 27th Jan 2011
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When we published Room from hardback into paperback, we didn't want to make any alterations to this wonderful book. However, one of the things we did change for the paperback was the cover artwork.

Jackets, and covers, are a big deal to publishers. We spend hours agonizing over details that other people might not even notice; arguing over what a certain typeface 'says' about a book; whether the image is exactly right; if we should be going for an illustrative or a photographic approach; what words (beyond book title and author name) we want on the cover; whether X will put people off, or if Y will encourage a certain kind of reader to pick up the book. We cite comparative authors/books and talk about shoutlines and positioning and demographics...

We do it once, of course, for the hardback, and then all over again for the paperback. The first question we ask ourselves, in that instance, of course, is how similar to - or different from - the hardback do we want it to be?

In the case of Room, we had what we thought was an iconic hardback jacket, and so we wanted to keep some elements of that for the paperback too. For that reason, this one was quickly discounted - along with at least twenty other completely 'different' covers.


At the same time, though, we knew we didn't want something too similar to the hardback. So that ruled out this one.

The obvious feature to keep from the hardback jacket, of course, was the small wooden house - so that gave us these two - but we didn't feel they were quite warm enough, somehow.

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For me, Room has always been a book about a mother's love for her son, and so we decided that we should try to add a human element to the cover - keeping the house in the foreground, and trying a woman and child in the background. So, we commissioned a photographer, and made sure she had a little wooden house to put in the picture. (Not the same model as we'd used for the hardback, as that had gone astray - but luckily it was easy enough to track down another house and draw another little skylight on the roof...although the eagle-eyed among you may notice that the skylight isn't identical...)

That gave us the three below - but we felt there was too much going on with two figures and the house and the type.

So, we then asked the photographer to try with just a boy - no mother - but still with the house in the foreground. We decided we liked that approach, so then turned our attentions to the type. The cover on the left we rejected as too swirly and on the right, too blocky.

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In the end, we decided on something very similar to the hardback. We also decided to keep the blue of the hardback.

Having got the artwork pretty much sorted, we then spent ages deliberating over which quote to put on the front. As you can see, we've gone with a quote from the Scotsman, rather than Audrey Niffenegger's quote, which we used for the hardback, and also on many of our rough paperback covers.

Finally, though, we got there. And, luckily for us, Emma Donoghue approved it - otherwise it would have been back to the drawing board...

Which one is your favourite? Did we make the right choice? Let us know by leaving a comment.

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LoveLifeFoodArt
LoveLifeFoodArt posted a comment
Wednesday 9th Feb 2011 01:34
Goodness - I didn't realise how much work went into choosing a book cover! I think you've opted for the right choice for the paperback. However, I don't agree that the photo with mother and son was too busy - I quite liked the version with mother and son touching hands.
 
Mike Grady
Mike Grady replied
Wednesday 9th Feb 2011 02:04
Thanks, LoveLifeFoodArt - glad you liked the piece.

Also happy you think we chose the right one!
 
Jules
Jules posted a comment
Wednesday 16th Feb 2011 11:23
Many thanks for sharing this. Fascinating to see some of the ideas you looked at. For me the final choice was perfect. I bought this book in paperback the other day and I'm thoroughly enjoying reading it. The cover drew me from half way across the store. It really does work - intriguing but somehow beautiful - I had to pick it up and see what it was about. The fuzzy dark frame gives the impression you are peering into some secret world (in the hard-cover image it's not so obvious that a keyhole is framing it), and the toy house and distant boy say a great deal with very little. Once I'd read the one-line blurb on the back, you had a sale. I don't often buy books with so little hesitation, and now that I'm reading this one, I think you did the writer justice in many ways. I never mind being marketed to - the jacket, the blurb, the displays - when it's done this honestly. And I understand a little better now how hard it is to get that just right.
 

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