Leeway on cover art for first book

[DogBarman]

I have a contract for my first book with a major press, and have just submitted my manuscript. Someone on the editorial team got back to me asking which of their pre-made cover designs I would like to use - but frankly they're all pretty miserable, with a kind of muted corporate aesthetic and no place to add an image that relates to the book's topic.

Has anyone else been in this position before? I imagine I will have to suck it up and go with the least offensive cover design, but I don't understand why it wouldn't be in their best interest as publishers to put something more interesting on the front of the book. Would I be stepping too far out of line to ask for different options?

[Ruralguy]

You aren't going to sink the book just because you ask for other options or offer other options. The likely reply is "We know our audience.  The type of image you suggest might bring in a few people, but in our experience the images we already have in store do a better and more consistent job"

[fourhats]

Also, if it is a book in a series they publish, they may have a uniform cover design for that. If you do as for a different image, you should be prepared to pay for the reproduction rights to use it.

[Katrina Gulliver]

I know a press that does this - if you have another image you own (or can get) the rights to, you're allowed to suggest it.

[aside]

I was able to provide my own image on my first book, but did not get to approve the final design (which has my name in black on a dark portion of the cover, so you can barely read it).  My image and the overall design look great, but nobody knows who wrote the book.

[sinenomine]

The in-house cover design for my first book was blandly hideous; I paid for rights (about $200) for an image I liked, as apparently did others — it's been used subsequently on two books on related topics from other publishers.

[polly_mer]

For an academic book, few people are making purchasing decisions on the cover art.

[Morden]

Didn't the press give you something about art guidelines? The press I publish with, you're allowed to suggest (and pay for) cover art, but they have final approval. But as Poly says, I doubt many academic books get sold because of the cover art.

[mamselle]

Depends on the topic.

In the arts, and some areas of language and history, your readers may well judge the saviness of the book by the suavity of its cover.

I often do, in terms of whether to pick it up, look inside, etc.

M.

[DogBarman]

Thanks, everyone - I'll go ahead and ask. Although you have convinced me that a boring cover might not be the end of the world.

[fourhats]

Depends on the topic.

In the arts, and some areas of language and history, your readers may well judge the saviness of the book by the suavity of its cover.

I often do, in terms of whether to pick it up, look inside, etc.

M.

Absolutely! I'm in the humanities, and my books are considered cross-overs, and are aimed to appeal to both a trade and academic audience. A number of academic presses are going this route to increase sales.

[Ruralguy]

Yeah,it's not going to matter for the first 200 sales, all to libraries. But if it's the kind of thing that might appeal to non relatives perusing on Amazon, then the art might matter and could account for hundreds more sales...but probably not thousands, and probably not right away.

[Wahoo Redux]

I was lead editor on an anthology of classroom exercises.  We had, I thought, a catchy, non-fuddy-duddy title which the editor did not like.  Wanted a fuddy-duddy title.  We of course went with the editor's suggestion.  It sold, but not as well as we had hoped.  I think our original title would have been much more eye-catching. 

[jerseyjay]

I think it depends on the press and the discipline.

My first book was part of a series that was aimed at the 200 library research libraries in the world that would buy a book at such a high price. The cover was boring and in line with the others in the series. When it came out in paperback, it had a cover featuring an abstract painting that had nothing to do with the subject but similar to tall the other books in the series.

My second book is from an academic press and is aimed at a bit more broad (albeit still scholarly) audience. They asked me to send in some ideas, to state anything (color, font) that I would absolutely refuse to have, and then made their decisions on that. I was consulted, and I guess I have a certain veto power, but it is really in the hands of the editor/marketing/design people. It was similar with the title, by the way. I came up with several suggestions, but they picked the one they thought was best. It was not my first choice (although it is not bad). Again, I could have vetoed it, I suppose, but it wasn't my choice.

As has been mentioned, most libraries do not buy a book on the cover (in fact, if there is a jacket, they will usually discard it). The cover does impact other buyers, of course, but rarely as the main issue.