Love this post at the Hub about why YA novels deserve better book covers. Unlike much of adult fiction, there are a lot of strange model shots–pictures of girls that crop off their heads, pictures of just girls’ faces, lots of bright colors and big fonts. That doesn’t mean these kinds of covers can’t match a particular story or style. But much of the time, they don’t fully reflect the depth of the story inside. And perhaps even more than adult readers, teens can appreciate a cool design aesthetic. (Check out the stuff that’s posted on Tumblr.) Just because YA readers are younger doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate awesome cover art.
Capillya Uptergrove looks at some covers that work well, such as Winter Town by Steve Emond, which keeps things spare and lovely, or Insurgent by Veronica Roth, which can appeal to readers of any gender. A few other recent covers I’ve lived are The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr, Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, and Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. These tend toward the more minimal, which is my taste, but I think they’re good examples of how to design a cover without relying on a model shot.
Just like YA content has been expanding over the last few decades, I think we’re going to see more covers that push boundaries over the next several years. Again, teens are already very design-savvy. Why shouldn’t YA get more covers that reflect that?
