Can you Judge a Book by the Cover? The Growing Trend of YA Cover Art
We have all heard the statement “Don’t judge a book by its cover” However, the increasing trends of similar cover art in publishing has become an unavoidable eye-catcher for buyers. In the Young Adult genre, there has been an explosion of similar cover styles. This has gone so far that it has lifted one cover artist in particular- Charlie Bowater to great success in the Booktok and Bookish community. Much like the illustrated covers currently dominating contemporary romance books, select YA genres have also fallen into a similar trend. Evidently, some young adult readers have even begun to associate specific genres with a certain type of cover art. This latest trend consists of artistically painted faces and full bodies for YA fantasy and sci-fi books. The covers themselves contain lots of gorgeous colours and close-ups emphasizing the characters' faces. In the image below one can see what this aesthetic looks like. All of the books below were published within the past 5 years.
Image Source: PerfectlyTolerable. “Is Charlie Bowater the Cover Artist?” Perfectly Tolerable, May 6, 2022. https://perfectlytolerable.wordpress.com/2022/05/06/is-charlie-bowater-the-cover-artist/.
As shown in the image above these covers are striking and aim to catch the eye of readers when they sit on the shelf. Eight of the covers above were created by Charlie Bowater herself and in my own collection, I own six of the titles above. So what is this trend? And why is it suddenly so prominent now? Content creation and the curation of this style of cover art and fan art are huge selling points in fantasy and sci-fi genres. Subscription boxes, Etsy stores and online stores sell unlicensed art to readers across the world. This has various effects on the industry. On one hand fan art and cover art help build interest in a certain title and as a result cause more people to buy and read that book. This trend is not only good for publishers but artists as well. The aforementioned Charlie Bowater sells prints and licensed merch of her book art to her many online followers. If these covers sell within their intended market it would make sense to keep producing this type of cover to ensure profit. From the opposite perspective, it has now almost become an industry standard to have bonus art, fan art and merch for fantasy authors in order to build a strong base readership. Fans of certain authors and books enjoy being able to immerse themselves within not only the book but various types of media associated with that book as well. Especially younger audiences. This choice in style is not only a trendy choice but a curatorial one as well.
The question remains what is happening in YA publishing that has escalated this particular cover trend? Taking a closer look into how publishers use cover art may give us more insight into this sudden explosion. Alessandra Cesarato in a blog piece A Brief History of Book Covers explains that “Internet book sales are still affected by cover design, making books identifiable as they are promoted online. Silja explains: ‘Book covers want to sell you a product, however highbrow, and for this purpose, they have to fit into a genre and stand out at the same time. It's a kind of packaging, a claim for your attention and a promise.’” (Cesarato, 2020). Cover art itself is an essential piece of product packaging especially in the young adult genre. If a book can’t catch the attention of a reader within the first few glances it can be detrimental to the sales of that novel. Many current YA authors have opted for this “humanistic” style of art such as Margeret Rogerson whose first book published in 2017 An Enchantment of Ravens featured Charlie Bowater’s art and immediately rose to success winning four honors awards including ‘Instant New York Times Bestseller’ (Rogerson, 2023). Since 2017 Rogerson has published two other titles all featuring Bowater’s art and will release a new title later this year The Mysteries of Thorn Manor with the same cover art.
Source: Rogerson, Margaret. “Books.” Margaret Rogerson - Books. Accessed September 23, 2023. https://www.margaretrogerson.com/books/.
Nevertheless, trends like many before them eventually die out. There may come a stage in a reader's choice where instead of being enticed by these covers are deterred by the saturation of the genre. This discontent can be seen in one blog This Library Of Mine, where bookblogger Heather states “Regardless of how great the art is it feels like they all follow the same structural set-up and offer very little variety when it comes to spotting the differences. Sure, hair and skin tones are slightly changed but look at the eyes; look at the bone structure; look at the builds of the bodies. It’s all the same. There isn’t too much about these covers that really makes them different from one another if you strip away the titles. And that’s what bothers me.” (This Library of Mine, 2020). This a new emerging outlook on these covers from more and more readers who are voicing their changing opinions on this style of art. This trend in covers is not necessarily a good thing as several artists have been under fire for drawing similar styles of faces. Some even go as far as to claim that this style suffers from ‘same face syndrome’ and has become an overdone cliche that has saturated the genre.
Regardless, many readers feel opposed to this view as this cover style itself is not only eye-catching but gives readers some insight into what the book might be about Sophie a blogger under the alias Beware of the Reader believes that “When you see a book none of your friends has read, by an author you’ve not read yet, the cover plays an important role. If the cover is plain, the chance is great you won’t even read the blurb and give the book a second look. I’m no different honestly.” and “I personally love covers illustrated by Charlie Bowater they are my favourites by far.”(Beware Of The Reader, 2019). Clearly this is a choice made by publishers this falls in line with the idea that a “Publisher’s curatorial paradigms are thus part of a wider process, what [I] call an ‘ecosystem of curation’, which filters and curates the mass of text.” (Bhaskar, 2019). Combining a multitude of perspectives and opinions to further the make of these covers for YA audiences that enjoy this trend.
One reason behind these trends of romance and YA covers is that these two genres make up a majority of booktok influencers' picks and reads. In an article by Trish Rooney on similar cover art it's stated that with online appeal comes social appeal, Boyer-Dry writes, “Books that are designed to render well on digital screens also look great on social [media].” (Rooney, 2022). Online content creators of book-based media can promote not only a book but the artist as well. This builds consumer loyalty to both parties, the artist and the publisher. From my own perspective, I have been captivated by this style as well and purchased the book Vespertine by Margeret Rogerson specifically because it was a Charlie Bowater cover and I owned three other books with Bowater covers already. From a buyer's perspective it works and I in the beginning absolutely loved this style. Having a similar set of covers that sell as a business practice is not a bad thing for YA markets either and many buyers purchase books with these covers simply because at its core- they are beautiful works of art.
This trend helps fund artists and authors and is beneficial in the long run for the industry as this has been going strong for the past five years. As described by InsideHook in an article on similar cover trends “Like everything else in today’s world, the similarities between the covers could be due to the almighty algorithm. It’s not just about browsers becoming interested in a book while shopping at Barnes and Noble. “It has to look good in the thumbnail and Amazon,” Buckley tells InsideHook.” (Rooney, 2022). Book covers today are hot selling points for novels. In the end, we judge a book by its covers more than we realize. With book covers attempting to be an art gallery, the most eye-catching piece will be the cover that strays from the ideals of our current standard to break the mould once again.
Bibliography
Bhaskar, Michael, 'Curation in Publishing: Curatorial Paradigms, Filtering, and the Structure of
Editorial Choice', in Angus Phillips, and Michael Bhaskar (eds), The Oxford Handbook
of Publishing, Oxford Handbooks (2019; online edn, Oxford Academic, 9 May 2019),
https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198794202.013.6, accessed 26 Sept. 2023.
Beware Of The Reader. “Discussion: Let’s Talk about Book Covers! What Are the Trends? Are
Are they Important? What Are Your Favorites?” Beware Of The Reader - Never
underestimate the quiet girl reading in her nook! She’s lived a thousand lives., November
6, 2019.
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Cesarato, Alessandra. “A Brief History of Book Covers: Blog.” Domestika, November 3, 2020.
PerfectlyTolerable. “Is Charlie Bowater the Cover Artist?” Perfectly Tolerable, May 6,
Rogerson, Margaret. “Books.” Margaret Rogerson - Books. Accessed September 23, 2023.
Rooney, Trish. “Why Do All Books Suddenly Look the Same?” InsideHook, May 23, 2022.
E2%80%9CIt%20has%20to%20look%20good,the%20last%20book%20you%20read.
This Library of Mine. “Another Cover Trend I Love to Hate.” This Library of Mine, September
29, 2020.
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