I'm a little late linking to this, but about week ago
The National Post published a
transcript of the panel they convened on Canadian book design (hattip:
CanCult).
I've just had a chance to read it now, and it's quite fascinating. I was especially impressed by all the thoughtful justifications given for the various methods (which designers read the book, which don't, and why). Too many interesting moments to point to, but, from my experience, Angel Guerra was on the mark about the promotional power of a good image: "it’s pretty clear that if you’re going to a sales conference or to sell to booksellers, mainly they’re not going to even read the manuscripts themselves, so the image is really important for books." And of course, a good cover is a godsend to friends who hate your book but very much like you: it gives them something else to talk about.
At Vehicule, we feel very fortunate to have a phenom like
David Drummond working for us (here's a little
feature on all the prep that went into the cover for Geoffrey Cook's poetry debut
Postscript).
Above is a sneak peek at the terrific covers David has designed for our Fall 2009 poetry list: left to right, Harry Thurston (Animals of My Own Kind: New and Selected Poems) and Richard Greene (Boxing the Compass).
UPDATE: You can read the back story behind each of the two covers on David's
blog.
One of the thrills of editing Signal Editions is working with David Drummond. David is a terrific designer, with a genius for coming up with images that work against the grain of expectation. With 140 collections of poetry published every year and with very little budget available to lift our own books above that huge tide, a good cover is often all we have to catch a reader's attention. And with everyone now realizing the need for attractive design, a cover needs to be not only good, but great. And David consistently gives us blue chip covers: memorable, smart, challenging.
