Oh My God
I can’t help but feel sad. The new covers look sooo bad. It’s like when company logos were changed from something with heart and soul to absolute garbage, basic font. zero color, bland, soulless versions of themselves. Only this is worse because I actually care about books.
I live in India and [this](https://imgur.com/a/dmXUX60) is the only WOT edition I can get at a reasonable price.
It looks sooo… Nothing. It just looks like a generic blank book you would see in a furniture store to show how a book would look on the bookshelf or something.
Look at [this](https://imgur.com/a/5cH5pMl). The cover alone transports you into the world of the wheel. This is not available anywhere, at least not unless I spend 8x more
[This](https://imgur.com/a/e8WnrXG) is way better than [this](https://imgur.com/a/vAyNUSW)
[This](https://imgur.com/a/azYIPQj) is way better than [this](https://imgur.com/a/uttPwKo)
[This](https://imgur.com/a/ICHd1Rq) is way better than [this](https://imgur.com/a/HrERXtt)
[This](https://imgur.com/a/4jrxPcd) is way better than [this](https://imgur.com/a/enPls7D)
[This](https://imgur.com/a/lQQ7gtl) is way better than [this](https://imgur.com/a/fjt8Bj6)
[This](https://imgur.com/a/xgXEr1a) is way better than [this](https://imgur.com/a/pT7WrAh)
The same goes for so many more books and series. Why? Why is this happening? I genuinely don’t get it. I know people have different tastes but is there really more demand for minimalistic, bland, and soulless book covers than book covers with heart and vibrant colors and beautiful depictions of stuff about the book you are going to be reading and get immersed in? I’m so fed up of finding a book I can read, looking at beautiful covers for said book on the GoodReads thumbnail page or in a youtube review, only to find out the only version of the book being sold in India at a reasonable, affordable rate is the one I despise
by Zandpopo6969
29 Comments
Times and tastes change. What sells a book today will not sell a book tomorrow.
Minimalist everything seems to be very popular in the Western world right now, and that is where the main publishing houses are. They will jump on trends they think will sell.
Also… minimalist book covers cost less to design and print. So until tastes change in Art and decor, I don’t see book art changing to dramatically.
I agree that the book covers of the past were more dynamic and creative especially in conveying the story in one image. But the modern covers you’ve shown are far from minimal. The updated *Dune* cover, for example, has tons of shapes, textures, and other elements that far remove it from minimalism.
The style you’re confusing for minimalism is called flat design. This style of design puts a focus on two dimensional shapes, especially, along with a focus on typography. That change reflects the changes we see in our online UIs, where we now see less shadows, emboss effects, and the like, replaced with two dimensional, flat, solid-colored elements.
Design trends are cyclical, though. Only a matter of time before we start seeing more dynamic, hand-painted style book covers again.
1. There are a bajillion different covers for Lord of the Rings.
2. The examples you showed for Final Empire and Way of Kings are two different releases in two different regions. US vs UK. Hardcover vs Paperback.
And it is a matter of taste. I am actually partial to the minimalist design of BrandoSando UK releases. But the Polish and the Chinese releases are fantastic.
I wouldn’t bet on minimalism sticking around as a long term trend on novels. Advances in AI art are coming in leaps and bounds. Sourcing an eye catching cover for publishers could soon be as easy as punching in a synopsis/keyword list supplied by authors on a search query, driving digital art costs and production time down to almost nothing. Not exactly great news for artists/designers, but thats a different discussion.
They vary with print. Books are reprinted and they vary. You have to check year it was printed, or reprinted. Sometimes they give up rights and change of publisher. Might be few reason for change in books cover, paper quality, font, etc.
The new minimalism is because book covers need to look good and be legible as a small thumbnail on an ereader or phone screen. Back when book covers were just for physical books they could be more intricate.
An Illustrator cost more than a graphic designer.
Trends come and go. Wait a few years and book covers will become elaborate again as a reaction to the current minimalist fad.
The overdesigned look is dated and doesn’t work well for the many places a thumbnail of the cover is used these days, but everything’s subject. I prefer the minimalist designs, and while I understand some won’t, I find it odd that someone would be *this* upset over it.
This is a high-effort, valuable post and it’s a bummer that people are just saying that “tastes change.” I am curious about whether publishers invest resources in testing different covers and what sort of preferences focus groups have shown over time.
I also wonder if cover art tends to affect readers’ opinions of the work–especially when it depicts characters/places in the book. I have a hard time believing that this is a cost issue; it seems like commissioning some art would be a minuscule portion of the total cost of publishing and distributing a book. But that’s mere speculation.
I also wonder whether distributors and customers want the same things when it comes to book covers.
A lot to unpack here! Maybe someone in the industry can offer some insight?
I was recently working on some cover designs and asked the opinion of a friend who reads a lot.
She said she prefers simple, plain covers. We went over some examples and she disliked anything that looked like the old-school examples you have.
She’s obviously just one person but it’s interesting that even in my small social circle, I’m seeing a demand for the minimalist style of cover.
Just an artistic phase
I hear you. Sometimes I really detest new covers, and I’m not really a fan of most of the trends right now, like the cartoon people on the cover trend, or the bland sci-fi covers that are basically ASTRONAUT IN SPACE with a title. I think some publishers are being way too cautious because they don’t want boundary-pushing art to impact sales.
Minimalism seems to be the trend in general as far as drawing and advertising goes. Google image search “new simplified logos” that so many big corporations are using now and you’ll see what I mean.
I blame the e-reader. Digital has resulted in more books being produced than ever before, and cover art is a casualty of that. It pains me deeply.
Book cover design used to be an art form now, it’s another form of tedious manual labor. I despise the Sans serif fonts that is so ubiquitous. I lament the death of painted covers. Whether it was romance, horror, military, detective, fiction had to entice the reader visually first to get their attention. And the 20th century brought thousands upon thousands of stunning covers. Yes there are digital artists who create can create intricately detailed covers that look awesome, but most artwork is turned out on the cheap.
They don’t even make books out of best quality paper anymore. We live in a strange time when there is more to read than there has ever been in history but the idea of a physical book is dying. Or at the very least relegated to Niche status.
Mostly I think it is because the publishers dont want to pay for good covers. As an indie I have to try and make decent covers and it is tricky
You haven’t seen the previous covers. A lot of the ones I have for wheel of time are single color besides the title. I was confused.
The problem with the Way of Kings cover isn’t that it’s minimalist but that it’s not entirely clear that it’s a fantasy novel.
I prefer the new cover of The Hobbit – it’s pretty and elegant – though I agree for children the old cover would be preferable.
I agree other than with Brandon’s books. Idk why but I prefer all of his UK covers to his US ones.
I can’t disagree with you more. I find the older covers dated and tacky looking. I much prefer to pick up a brightly colored novel in the library than a muted one with a painted design on it. I read lots of thriller and horror too and would be much more attracted to a full black book with plain red text than one with a classical painted design on the front. Maybe it’s more exciting because it’s more of a surprise whats inside?
A mysterious hooded figure holding a longsword and obscured by a mass of solarized Photoshop textures, while standing in front of another mass of Photoshop cloud textures, starts to look super dated super quickly, and a stripped down cover begins to draw attention to itself by comparison.
Also, as everyone else noted, it costs less to make, and looks better as a thumbnail on a smartphone screen.
I kind of prefer the minimalistic look in most book covers.
I don’t like when characters or images of scenes or the world are on the cover. Often times the conflict with the images I create in my head and makes me wish there was no cover. Also— while there are plenty of illustrated covers I adore— some can look really old fashion or present the wrong impression — I’ve lost count of the books that I tried to avoid because I thought they were cheesy romance, or low quality fiction because the illustrated cover just looked cheesy.
Plus there are both good and bad minimalistic titles covers.
The minimalistic Dune cover you showed was gorgeous— I thought it was more artistically pleasing than the illustrated one. There were plenty of atrocious covers you gave as examples— but that has little to do with their minimalism and more to do with the fact it looks paid someone like $10 to put something together in photoshop and the lack of love is really apparent.
I agree with you completely , not a fan of the minimal boring covers lately
Idk, maybe the publishers don’t want to pay an artist to draw fancy cover art.
I definitely miss seeing more detailed and artistic covers, but if they’re gonna be simplistic, they can at least delve into more interesting choices instead of having some bland font with a little to no detail background. they make the covers with up close stock photo-ish pictures of mysterious girls look like masterpieces 😭
Because everything is getting minimalistic, e.g. games/apps too. I hate it as well, but it’s more ‘accessible’.
Had a publisher as a client before and honestly it comes down to the trends and also cost. Minimalist book covers are in trend so we do it, and also hiring people to draw is so much more expensive than getting out designer to do pretty typography,
> It’s like when company logos were changed from something with heart and soul to absolute garbage, basic font. zero color, bland, soulless versions of themselves.
This is because logos need to be clear enough to be seen on mobile devices and across multiple different platforms. People remember simplified icons over overly complex
Some of the book covers aren’t great, sure l, but I prefer some of the “designed” covers and they don’t take as long to create.
The old Sanderson book covers were literally illustrations/paintings which take an incredibly long time. Hand illustrated text takes a lot longer than using a pre-existing typeface. Also, illustrations & paintings can’t really be vectorized like these designed covers. Meaning you can make the cover as small or big as you need without losing graphic quality.
I personally like the minimal cover where my eyes have “resting” spaces when i look at it. Also the colors are softer which imo gives a warm invitation to read.