Fairly recently, the New York Times published an article on authors and how much influence they have when it comes to the designing their books' covers. Although the cover may suit the book's content really well, the reality is: not much. Many authors have their own website or blog to promote their books, and it often sounds like they have very little or no control at all. In
"Cover Stories," which was published on August 10, 2008, Steven Heller says of authors and the degree of control they possess over the appearance of their books:
Most authors have no control over their book covers. The designs are chosen by an art director and approved by a committee; usually the author doesn't even see the cover until the process is completed. But some writers, by virtue of either their renown or contractual caveat, not only get to accept or reject designs, but also choose the designer. Although rare, prolonged designer/author relationships contribute personality to an author's books, even when the individual designs are decidedly different. The following are three cases of enduring chemistry.
The discussed authors and designers include Milton Glaser + Philip Roth, Rodrigo Corral + Chuck Palahniuk, and John Gall + Haruki Murakami. Maybe it was because I had just finished defining key terms, but when I saw John Gall's cover designs for Murakami's novels, I was immediately reminded of the global presence of design, and of learning about Japan's emergence as a design-oriented nation in particular.
