So you’ve figured out what to be for Halloween. But why shouldn’t your books get in on the fun, too?
The website Facsimile Dust Jackets sells reproductions of early-edition dust jackets, sized to fit whatever book you want–so you can “dress up” your volumes for Halloween or year-round. Here’s the cover of Of Mice [...]

Think book designers are namby-pamby design nerds hunched over their Macs? Think again. The Guardian reveals the secret, extreme lengths designers will go to in order to get that perfect cover:
Deputy art director Glenn O’Neill tells me that the original jacket concept for Robert Harris’s Cicero novel, Lustrum, was to feature an image of [...]

When British books are published in the United States, and vice versa, publishers don’t generally change the text to cater to their audiences across the pond. Okay, they often adjust the spelling of a few words, like “realise”/”realize” and “practise”/”practice.” And some small punctuation changes occur—British writers tend to put their periods and commas [...]

Speaking of judging books by their covers, one branch of the New York Public Library recently asked readers to do just that. The NYPL blog explains:
At the Webster Branch, we recently put up a display with all of the books covered in brown paper. Above it there is a sign that reads: “Do [...]

As usual, my holiday shopping consisted of lots of hours lost in bookstores, just browsing around, and finding at least as many books that I wanted, as I did books for friends and family. Yep, I’m a bit of a one-trick pony on the gift front – the equivalent of an aunt who always gives [...]

For better or worse, I’m one of those people who the postal service could charge $2 to send a simple letter and I’d still ante-up. With more of us sending email, especially in a work setting (I’m all for the environmental benefits of this), municipal mail service around the world has suffered. But there’s still [...]

Imagine you’ve walked into a bookstore, browsing for something new. Besides an explicit recommendation, how do you decide what to read? If you’re like most people, you reach for a book that looks interesting… based on the cover. Mokoto Rich of the New York Times discusses how the e-book era may prevent [...]

Penguin has put out a neat little series of videos with book designers talking about their favorite fonts. Why? As one designer puts it, “Choosing a font is as personal as choosing what color you might paint your bedroom.”

Have you ever wondered how book covers get designed?
This video shows how Orbit Books’ Creative Designer Lauren Panepinto designed the cover for an upcoming novel. The whole process took over 6 hours, but the video condenses that into just under two minutes:

On Orbit’s webpage, Panepito explains:
Trust me, no one wants to watch [...]

The subtitle of the blog The Hypothetical Library is “Imaginary Book Covers. Designed for Real Authors.” And that sums up this interesting little project nicely. Book designer Charlie Orr collaborates with real authors like Colum McCann, David Lehman, and Thomas Kelly to design covers for books that the authors have not written—and [...]