After a few iterations, my final cover is heading for galley printing! I am blown away by how Hawthorne’s designer, Adam McIsaac, captured the themes and feel of my story in the aesthetics of the book cover. And I feel so lucky to be with a publisher that still values the importance of a high-quality cover with double-scored flaps, a silky nonscuff matte lamination, and a weight that says “this is not what you get on an e-reader.”
Adam’s design house, Sibley House, has been creating Hawthorne’s covers since the beginning. Here is a fascinating and visually stunning retrospective that shows the incredible dedication to the relationship between a reader and the book as an object they hold in their hands. It’s basically book + design porn.
In this Q&A, Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts publisher Rhonda Hughes talks about her perspective on book covers. In it she says, “Books are judged by their covers. It’s one of the most important sales tools. To be more precise it’s the quality of the book, the paper, the binding, the smell of ink as well as the cover design that creates brand identity and generates sales.” Here is a wonderful podcast with Rhonda Hughes and editor Liz Crain about why Hawthorne continues to creates not just books but art objects.
Some of my other all-time favorite Hawthorne covers by Adam:
Autobiography of a Recovering Skinhead by Frank Meeink
Clown Girl by Monica Drake
The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yuknavitch
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