When a book is already much loved, any new design runs the risk of ruffling some feathers. In 2013, Faber published a 50th-anniversary edition of The Bell Jar that featured an illustration of a woman fixing her make-up in a compact mirror. It drew a mixed response, with some accusing them of trying to repackage it as ‘chick lit’, and the publisher releasing a statement defending the design, saying: “We love it, and the sales since publication suggest that new readers are finding it in the way that we hoped.”
Some books can overcome an unpopular cover. Much has been written on why Elena Ferrante’s best-selling and critically acclaimed Neapolitan novels, which chronicle the 60-year friendship between two women from Naples, have covers akin to a Hallmark card. Authors themselves aren’t always fans of their own covers. In 2015, a newly unearthed letter to her agent showed Agatha Christie hated a design for her book, Sad Cypress, calling it “common” and “awful” and asking for it to be pulped and redone.
Such staunch views just show how important book jackets are, says Payne. “It’s always lovely to hear passion. It’s always lovely to get feedback, even if the feedback isn’t all positive. If every book jacket you designed was successful every time it would mean that you never took any risks. Ultimately, disappointing jackets are those that are somehow safe.”
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What makes an iconic book cover? - BBC News
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