Judging Books by their Back Covers: An Analysis of Fiction Book Back Covers

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Judging Books by their Back Covers:

An Analysis of Fiction Book Back Covers

Kathrin Varbelow (s2566230)

Supervisor: Prof. Sebastian Sobecki

Date of Completion: 8 May 2015 Word Count: 16,466

Master’s Dissertation Literary Studies Programme: Writing, Editing & Mediating

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List of Figures

Figure 1: Back covers of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Scholastic, 2014...25

Figure 2: from back covers of The Rising, HarperCollins, 2013;

The Winner’s Curse, Farrar, Straus and Giroux-Macmillan,

2014; Heir of Fire, Bloomsbury USA, 2014 and Crown of Midnight, Bloomsbury USA, 2013...27

Figure 3: Back covers of Sever, Simon and Schuster, 2013 and

Fragments, Balzer + Bray-HarperCollins, 2014...28

Figure 4: Back covers of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,

Bloomsbury, 1997, 1st_{and revised children’s edition...35-36}

Figure 5: Back covers of Cinder, Scarlet and Cress, Square Fish-

Macmillan, 2012, 2013 and 2014...38-39

Figure 6: Back covers of The Forever Song, The Eternity Cure and

The Immortal Rules (paperback & hardcover), Harlequin

Teen-Macmillan, 2014, 2013 and 2012...40-41

Figure 7: Meta-blurb of The Other Hand, Sceptre, 2009...50

Figure 8: Blurb of Come Sunday, Picador-Macmillan, 2010...51

Figure 9: Back covers of Divergent, Insurgent and Allegiant,

Katherine Tegen Books-HarperCollins, 2011, 2012 and 2013...53-54

Figure 10: Back cover of Taken at Dusk, St. Martin’s Griffin-Macmillan,

2012...64

Figure 11: Back cover of Isla and the Happily Ever After, Usborne

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List of Tables

Table 1: Most Popular Teen Genres, Publishers Weekly, 2014...20

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Introduction

When browsing through a bookstore, we often pick up a book because of an

attention-grabbing front cover. If the book title is appealing too, we turn around the

book and read what is written on its back, the so-called blurb of a book. If this still

appeals to us, we might flip through the pages and read the first lines or random

passages. Although it is the front cover and the title that draw our initial attention to

a book, it is the back cover that takes us a crucial step further on the decision whether

we will or will not buy the book. Only after having read more about the book itself, we

make a buying decision. It is this later step, reading the blurb, which interests me

most.

Much has been written on front cover design and the influence of marketers on

front cover decisions. In fact, the front cover seems to receive all attention by

publishers, marketers and even literary critics, whereas the back cover is slightly

neglected. Front covers are highly commercial. Their design has to appeal to

consumers so they pick up the book and read the blurb, which illustrates the high

imagery value of front covers. This is particularly important for books for young

readers, who are highly aware of appearances and receptive to visual advertising

(Lohmiller 14; Wedel & Pieters qtd. in O’Connel 20). A Nielsen study reveals that the

second and third most important factor influencing young readers to buy a book is

browsing in libraries and browsing in bookstores (Nielsen Don’t judge). This

illustrates how important it is to have well thought-out book covers. However, front

covers might not reveal much about the book itself and potential customers will

ultimately refer to its back. As a consequence, several questions came to my mind. Is

a back cover merely a marketing instrument, or does it reveal information on, for

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of the front cover? In other words, what is the purpose or benefit of back covers? To

find an answer to these questions, this dissertation investigates the function of back

covers.

The dissertation focuses on back covers of fiction novels. Although numerous

passages that deal with the back cover and its elements are about the blurb of general

fiction novels, a special focus lies on back covers of Young Adult (YA) titles. This is

due to the fact that numerous fiction bestseller lists are led by YA novels. Of the ten

UK bestselling fiction novels in 2014, seven books were YA titles (Dugdale par. 2). In

the US fiction bestseller list of the same year, eight of the ten books were YA novels

(Swanson par. 1). Moreover, the majority of YA novels are bought by people who are

older than eighteen years (Bowker Young Adult; Milliot). This popularity of YA books

led me to put a special focus on YA back covers by analyzing a data set of YA titles.

Investigating the function of back covers requires an insight into the individual

components of back covers. Hence, to ascertain which elements are included and

which are not and to determine a tendency and differences between formats, I

compiled a set of YA book back covers. This data set consists of 139 YA novels that

were first published in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The choice of books was based on two

criteria: a commercial aspect, meaning sales figures on amazon.com, and a social

aspect, meaning popularity on goodreads.com. Differentiating between those two

aspects is important. Taking sales rankings into account only is not sufficient as sales

ranks on Amazon can differ per hour, edition and format (hardcopy or paperback).

Also considering rankings on social media platforms like Goodreads provides insight

into the long-term popularity of books. Moreover, studies reveal that especially YA

readers are influenced by recommendations of their peers, which mainly takes place

via social media platforms like Goodreads (Nielsen Don’t judge). A combination of

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is a) between number one and number one hundred in at least one Amazon sales

ranking of children’s or teen books and b) on the Goodreads lists of most popular YA

fiction of 2012, 2013 and 2014. The results of the analysis are provided throughout

this dissertation. An overview of all results and the specific titles (including ISBN)

can be found in appendix A and B respectively1_{. The set contains back covers of the}

titles that were available on the internet. This means that some titles of the lists were

not available at all or only available in either hardcover or paperback. The vast

majority of back covers are editions published in the US. Any cultural differences

influencing back cover design are disregarded throughout this dissertation.

The dissertation is divided into two main sections; the first section deals with

book marketing, and, because book covers are part of the marketing strategy and a

major marketing tool, this part is followed by a section on the back cover and its

individual components. Section one first of all discusses the general approach of

publishers to market their books. Secondly, it explores the phenomenon of the Young

Adult ‘genre’ and whether book marketing for a younger audience requires a specific

approach in terms of back covers. The second section examines the actual packaging

of a book. It shortly outlines the major aspects of front and back covers, and

consequently, it investigates the three major textual components of back covers:

cover copy, shoutlines and endorsement quotations. The dissertation is rounded off

with a case study taking a closer look at two YA back cover copies, the short back

cover outline of the content of a book. This way, it explores whether cover copy

reveals more about the content of a book than the mere images on, for example, front

covers or whether the marketing objective also prevails in back cover copy.

1_{The data set can also be accessed via}

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Section One:

Book Marketing

With thousands of new publications each year, the anglophone book market is huge.

More than three million titles were published in the US in 2010 alone, and numbers

are increasing (Gallagher par. 2). This includes both non-fiction and fiction books.

The second biggest category of published fiction books is juvenile fiction, with an

exemplary 32,902 publications in 2013 (Bowker Traditional Print). At the same time,

sales are diminishing, though. Therefore, the most important aspect for a publisher to

survive in this extremely competitive market is to sell their books. Although especially

editors are often more concerned with the story itself, sales becomes an increasingly

important part of the publishing industry, and editors are forced to think more

commercially. On the one hand, this is caused by the growing competition on the

market. On the other hand, the introduction of the paperback, which allows for

cheaper production and higher distribution, also contributed to the growing

importance of marketing and sales (Banta qtd. in Markle 45-46). Selling a book

requires that the public is aware of the book. This involves effective communication

and a well designed marketing strategy. Marketing strategies very much depend on

the type of book. Educational books, for example, are necessities for students and

academics, and therefore, they are sold without bigger marketing efforts (Guthrie

163-164). For books in this “information sector”, as Richard Guthrie puts it, not the

cover but the content of a book is the deciding factor for purchase (25). Fiction,

however, is considerably harder to promote, as it is sold for entertainment purposes

only. Therefore, an excellent tool to market fiction is book packaging which includes

both front and back cover. If a potential consumer has not heard about a book before

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between the reader and the book. Moreover, it is the only source of information a

consumer can base his buying decision on (Piters 2). This implies that, besides the

front cover which is crucial for the initial choice of picking up the book, the back

cover and its blurb is essential in convincing consumers of buying the book as it may

provide the only actual information in terms of content.

A distinctive feature of the publishing industry, which automatically influences

its marketing strategies, is that it is product lead (Baverstock Are 49; Mathews &

Moody 19). This means that publishers market products they want to publish (or

receive from authors) instead of titles that are needed by the market. However,

publishing houses and particularly their marketing departments become increasingly

aware of their markets’ needs and adjust their strategies accordingly (Mathews &

Moody 19). Each marketing strategy, regardless of the product, is based on the four

Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion (Kotler & Armstrong 76). These

four Ps are also referred to as the marketing mix and describe “‘the offering’ of the

company to the market” (Birn & Forsyth 5). In the publishing industry, product

(books) and price are rather similar for each publisher, which makes them less

important to the consumer side (Birn & Forsyth 6). Place refers to the point of sale; in

the book business these can be bricks and mortar businesses or online retailers,

wholesalers and distributors. The last P of the marketing mix, promotion, introduces

the most crucial part: communicating the product. It often “is the only differentiating

element between companies” as Birn and Forsyth conclude (6). However, before the

marketing mix can be established, it is essential to develop a clear positioning

strategy for the product (Kotler & Armstrong 241). This requires a closer look at

segmentation, targeting and positioning. Segmentation serves to split the consumer

market into subgroups in order to establish which customers the product (the book)

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requires an evaluation of the target segment. Lastly, positioning will help to

determine how the selected target segment will be served, meaning “what positions it

[the company] wants to occupy in those segments” (Kotler & Armstrong 216, 225 &

233).

Regardless of the product, the potential consumers can be divided into several

segments in order to approach and thus reach them more effectively (Kotler &

Armstrong 216). These segments are separated according to geographic,

demographic, psychographic and behavioural aspects. Geographic segmentation

separates markets in terms of region or country (Kotler & Armstrong 217). For book

marketing this implies that covers are designed differently for Australian customers

than for a UK readership. The different design is often a necessity caused by different

cultural norms and values. Whereas most logos or products of multinational

companies are exactly the same in each market, “the one-size-fits-all approach [...]

just doesn’t seem to wash when it comes to book covers” (Shaughnessay qtd. in

Mathews & Moody 20). Demographic segmentation means splitting the market into

segments based on age, gender religion or income (Kotler & Armstrong 218). This

seems particularly important when designing different types of book covers for

educational or fiction books. Additionally, book marketers need to consider

differences in reading habits concerning age and gender. Young readers can have

different wants concerning colour, font and pictures on book covers. As a study

reveals, they prefer short information to long detailed text (Owen Jacket Copy par.

6). Psychographic segmentation divides the market according to people’s lifestyle

choices and interests (Kotler & Armstrong 220). This implies that, depending on the

genre, book covers need to be adapted to the consumer’s needs and wishes as “people

buy books for what the purchase says about them – their taste, their cultivation, their

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consumers into segments “based on their knowledge, attitudes [...] or responses to a

product” such as according to their brand loyalty or the product benefits they seek

(Kotler & Armstrong 220). Book marketers could focus on consumers loyal to the

author or the book series, or they concentrate on typical non-buyers in order to

enlarge the market (Mathews & Moody 21). Additionally, the purpose of reading can

differentiate a segment from another. Some readers might be looking for self-help or

education, others for mere entertainment. All these psychographic aspects can

influence the packaging of a book. Young readers, for example, want books they can

easily carry around so YA fiction might be published as paperbacks before ever being

published as hardcover copy (Mathews & Moody 21).

The next step of marketing a book is targeting: selecting the right segment the

book can serve. First of all, all segments are evaluated according to size and growth,

attractiveness in the long run and the publisher’s own objectives and resources

(Kotler & Armstrong 225). For books this is very simple and straightforward as the

manuscript selection process has already sorted out books that are not in line with

the objectives of the company. Moreover, the genre of fiction books already

predetermines a certain target segment. Crime novels, for example, are bought by a

certain audience which can be set as target market for the next crime novel of the

publisher. The YA genre can be considered a target market itself: young adults.

However, books can also require a closer evaluation of the segments to determine the

right target markets. The marketing department could opt for a strategy that targets

several segments with the same product. The Harry Potter books, for example, were

published with different covers for adults and for children, and they were thus

promoted to different segments. Furthermore, the publisher could decide to enlarge

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Lastly, the position of the book in the target segments’ minds needs to be

determined. It is important to “create differentiated value” of the product, so the

book will take a certain position compared to other books on the market (Kotler &

Armstrong 233). This position is formed by the consumers’ “perceptions, impressions

and feelings” of the product (Kotler & Armstrong 233). Again, the genre of a book can

partly predetermine its position. The author might also play an important role. Once

an author is known for a certain type of book or writing style, consumers will create a

category and place the author and his book in a specific position. Similarly, a

publishing company can already occupy a certain position in the customers’ minds,

which directly influences the position of their books too. McGraw Hill, for example, is

known for publishing books for higher education; Faber & Faber are known for their

poetry publications.

After having decided upon the position of the book, publishers need to

communicate this position to their target segment. This concerns the fourth of the

four Ps of the marketing mix: promotion. Publishers need to promote their books to

wholesalers, sales outlets, distributors and, eventually, to buyers and readers

(Guthrie 163). There are several ways to do so, such as advertising, PR (Public

Relations), sales promotion and packaging (book cover); an integrated combination

of these tools is often referred to as the marketing communications mix.

First of all, some people consider advertising the “most important and

essential part” of book publishing (DataMonitor qtd. in O’Connell 13). According to

Marshal Lee, it can be divided into two categories: trade advertising and consumer

advertising (428). In other words, books can be advertised on a B2B

(business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) level. It is not only the reader the book

has to be sold to but also the retailer taking the book for sale (Mathews & Moody 19).

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order to get the books in stores, distributors, wholesalers and book retailers had to be

informed about new books (Guthrie 168). Nowadays, books are increasingly bought

online which requires of publishing houses to also approach online bookselling

companies such as Amazon.

Advertising is defined as “paid form of non-personal communication” in order

to create positive attitudes about the product and eventually induce purchase (Birn &

Forsyth 60). It approaches the target segment through either print or film. The

publishing industry can make use of advertising for books, for the company itself or

for their imprints. However, costs for advertising are high and therefore often

combined with other elements of the marketing communications mix. PR, for

example, is a cheap way to get coverage in print media or other channels. Originally,

PR costs nothing or little while it maintains positive relationships between a company

and its publics. This is largely achieved through good relations with journalists (Birn

& Forsyth 57). A publisher’s most important PR tool is the press release that informs

journalists about titles, company, authors or other newsworthy items like literary

awards. The underlying goal of a press release is that journalists will publish an

article based on this release.

Another tool of the communications mix is sales promotion, which is probably

more closely linked to advertising. Sales promotion is the direct persuasion of a

consumer to buy a product which he otherwise would not have bought (Birn &

Forsyth 77). Examples are point-of-sale (POS) promotion, merchandising (POS

displays, for example), offers or giveaways. More specifically, this refers to price

reductions or personality promotion such as author signings and special offers like

“three books for the price of two” (Birn & Forsyth 80). Besides these obvious B2C

marketing efforts, publishers also need to take care of their B2B relations. Typical

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81). Similarly to all book marketing efforts, the book cover also needs to

communicate with customer and retailer. The latter is particularly important in order

to get books into the store and get bought, respectively (Mathews & Moody 19).

Finally, the perhaps most creative part of book marketing is product packaging

itself. Although the packaging of any product is the result of many marketing

considerations, the packaging of books is particularly important as, in this case, “the

product itself acts promotionally, with the cover design being important at every level

of sale and display” (Birn & Forsyth 51). The importance of book covers started in the

1950s when covers became part of every book marketing strategy (Mathews & Moody

xiii). The advantages of good cover design are that it communicates to potential

buyers and contributes to impulse purchases. First of all, the consumer’s attention

needs to be attracted by good front cover visuals. Maria Grabe and Erik Page Bucy

claim that visual aspects have a stronger impact on people than text in written form

(14). However, the back cover blurb is the decisive element convincing the consumer

to actually buy the book because no reader buys a book without knowing what it is

about. After all, the back cover has to indicate the content of the book and is a

reader’s much used information source when deciding whether to buy the book

(Piters 2-3).

Consumers usually look at the packaging in a fixed order. After having looked

at the front cover, the consumer turns around the book and reads the blurb.

Occasionally, the consumer continues to even read passages of the book itself. This

procedure is called information processing and helps consumers to eventually opt for

the most desirable book of their choice (Stokmans and Hendrickx qtd. in Piters 3).

People go through five stages when processing information: exposure, attention,

comprehension, elaboration, preference and choice (McGuire qtd. in Piters 12). The

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implies that any choice to buy a book is preceded by the consumer’s consideration of

preferences, and a random book cover will thus rarely determine the book choice

(Piters 3). This stresses the importance of a carefully drafted cover that is aimed at

the right segment with similar preferences.

A comparable explanation of this complex process a consumer goes through

when making a buying decision is the buying process as described by Robin Birn and

Patrick Forsyth in Marketing in Publishing. According to them, consumers move

through the following consecutive stages: unawareness  awareness  interest 

evaluation  trial  usage  repeat usage (Birn & Forsyth 52). Moving from the first

to the second stage involves raising the consumer’s awareness of the book or author.

To move from stage two to three, the consumer needs to become interested, so

information about the product should be delivered. In the fourth stage, personal

preferences start playing a role as consumers look for arguments and advantages.

Further information on the book and possible incentives might move the consumer to

the fifth stage (trial). Convincing the consumer that this book might be the perfect

read for his next beach vacation might make him move from a mere mental process to

undertaking action. In stage six the book has already been bought, but consumers can

still be reminded of their good choice which might induce repeat usage, the seventh

and final stage. In this stage book selection becomes habitual, so consumers will, for

example, automatically buy the new Grisham book (Birn & Forsyth 53-54). In all

seven stages promotion plays a crucial role. This takes place through advertising, PR,

sales promotion or, most importantly, through information provided on the blurb,

which illustrates how covers as part of the marketing communications mix can

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Marketing of Young Adult Books & Young Adult Back Covers

Having established the basic principles of book marketing, I want to provide a more

detailed look at the marketing process of Young Adult (YA) books and the role of their

back covers. First of all, let me start by explaining the concept of YA literature. The

classification ‘Young Adult literature’ is problematic in such that there are various

definitions. Some publishers distinguish between books for young readers; others

simply refer to them as children’s books. It is also defined as books marketed to

teenagers (Trites 2) or as books for an adolescent audience written by either adults or

young adults themselves (Pattee 154). What they all have in common, though, is that

“a young adult novel often reflects common adolescent issues and expresses a form of

change” (O’Connell 5). Moreover, the YA category is a rather recent phenomenon; the

term itself spread during the last fifty years (Markle 41). The problematic nature of

the term Young Adult also becomes obvious when looking at the way publishers

organize and categorize their fiction books for younger audiences. Some publishing

houses distinguish between children’s books, books for teenagers or adolescents;

others refer to their audience as tweens, middle grade readers or young adults. All

definitions refer to a segment of young readers aged between zero and eighteen or

even older. Michael Steig highlights the “fluidity of such classifications” which are, in

his point of view, “arbitrary, [...] market-driven” terms (qtd. in Trites 2). Although it

is impossible to narrow down the age span of YA readers, market research shows that

the readership of YA titles does not stop at eighteen, and “publishers are finding

themselves at a crossroads, deciding if and where teen and adult tastes meet”

(Maughan Teenage par. 8). Despite the fact that a huge part of readers of YA

literature is much older than eighteen (as is elaborated on in more detail below), for

this dissertation I refer to Young Adult books as literature aimed at readers aged

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As mentioned above, the category of YA books is rather recent. When book

sellers realized that teenagers do not want to go to the section for children to look for

books, they set up shelves for young adults within the children’s section (Yampbell

351). Having integrated a YA section in the children’s section, with the turn of the

century book chains eventually set up a separate section called Young Adult, so

teenagers were no longer kept from buying books because they had to go to the

children’s section (Yampbell 352). Moreover, according to Ami Hassler, “research

indicates that teenagers were not opposed to the section being called Young Adult,

but they did have a definite dislike for the name Teen” (qtd. in Yampbel 352). This

illustrates that the YA category is an institutionally created and market driven genre,

as Kathleen O’Connell puts it (5).

The YA genre is divided into numerous subgenres, which complicates calling it

a genre in its own right. According to O’Connell, realistic fiction is the most popular

genre of YA literature (6). However, after the success of the Harry Potter series,

fantasy novels have greatly increased in popularity. Besides fantasy, paranormal

books and science fiction also seem increasingly attractive to adolescent readers.

With Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games series, a trend of futuristic and speculative

plots has started, also called the post-apocalyptic or dystopian genre. Numerous

novels were and still are being published that deal with a dark and sinister future

world in which totalitarianism, surveillance and authoritarian control are

omnipresent. Examples are the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, The Maze Runner

series by James Dashner and the Legend series by Mari Lu (some of these titles are

part of the data set of this study). The many successful film adaptations only confirm

the immense popularity of the genre. As Caitrin Blake points out, the popularity of

these books could be ascribed to the huge media hype and marketing behind those

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what they are offered (Blake par. 6). This implies that not all of the success of the

genre can be attributed to marketing. The immense popularity of fantasy, dystopian

and science fiction novels is also confirmed by the data set of 139 YA novels I

analysed for this study which, to a large part, consists of such titles. According to a

Nielsen study, the most popular YA genres are, in fact, adventure (48%), fantasy

(45%) and science fiction (40%) (Milliot). For more details see the table below.

The overall popularity of YA books is reflected in the number of YA

publications. Whereas 3,000 YA books were published in 1997, this number

increased to 30,000 publications in 2010 (Brown par. 1). As surveys show, a huge

part of these books are actually purchased and read by adults. A market research by

Bowker, which describes itself as the world’s leading provider of bibliographic

information and management solution for the publishing industry, reveals the

following (Bowker “About Us”). According to this research, 55% of buyers of YA

literature are eighteen or older (Bowker Young Adult par. 2). Most of them are aged

thirty to forty-four, which goes far beyond the teenage reader for whom the YA genre

was initially designated. These buyers also state that 78% of the time they buy YA

books they actually buy them for themselves (Bowker Young Adult par. 2). A Nielsen

study publishes a more detailed and slightly different overview of YA book buyers.

According to this study, most of the buyers are eighteen to twenty-nine years old

(34%), followed by thirty to forty-four-year-old people (26%). The third biggest

segment consists of thirteen to seventeen-year-old teenagers (21%), which is the

actual target group of YA novels (Milliot). For more details see the table below.

However different the results are, they both show that the majority of YA

novels are bought by people eighteen years and older. The popularity of YA books can

also be observed in bestseller lists. Nine titles of the Nielsen Bookscan ‘Top 100 UK

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children’s books (Rogers). Similarly, in 2014, seven of the ten bestselling books in the

UK were children’s or YA titles (Dugdale par. 2). The US bestselling list of 2014 was

also dominated by children’s and YA books, with only two out of the ten titles being

an adult novel (number five and seven) (Swanson par. 1). John Green’s YA novel The

Fault in our Stars (also part of the data set of this study) was number one bestselling

book of 2014 in both the UK and the US. The 2014 movie adaptation most likely

played its part in this success.

Due to such a diversified readership of YA novels, one might assume that

developing audience-centred marketing strategies becomes even more complicated.

However, as Elise Howard, former Senior Vice President of HarperCollins Children’s

Division, explains, YA novels are not marketed to a different audience than the “core

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After having explained the Young Adult ‘genre’, I take a closer look at the marketing

of books aimed specifically at this young audience, and, with covers being a major

part of the book marketing strategy, I go into the specificities of YA book back covers.

To begin with, teen marketing professional Hayley Morgan states that all strategies of

general marketing directed at teenagers should also apply to book marketing of YA

fiction (qtd. in Yampbell 358). This implies that YA books can be treated like any

other product targeted at young adults. As revealed by consumer psychologists,

adolescents are extremely sensitive to visual advertising (Wedel & Pieters qtd. in

O’Connel 20). Similarly, Darcy Lohmiller claims that book cover design is particularly

important for young readers, who are, at this stage of life, “acutely conscious of

appearances and how they determine one’s place” (14). Due to this high receptivity to

visuals, book covers prove to be the ideal marketing tool to attract the young readers’

attention; in this case, a YA book cover can be its own advertisement. The power of

YA book covers is illustrated by the fact that covers are most influential on teenagers

who are not searching for a particular title but merely look around in stores

(Yampbell 356). Studies reveal that browsing through libraries or bookstores is in fact

a crucial factor contributing to a teenager’s choice to buy a book (Nielsen Don’t

judge). Although it is usually the front cover that initially catches a teenager’s eye

when browsing through stores, the back cover plays an important role too. Leigh Ann

Jones found the three most important factors contributing to a young reader’s book

choice of which one can be found on the back cover. These factors are the front cover,

the title and the cover copy (45). A more detailed look into YA cover copies is

provided in a case study of cover copy below.

A close look at the characteristics and habits of young readers reveals further

interesting aspects. Although many scholars are concerned with the overuse of media

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suggests otherwise. In fact, 43% of people under thirty read books on a daily basis,

67% on a weekly basis, and a total of 88% of the same group have read a book in the

past year, which is more than the older segment (Pew Research Center 9). These

reading habits are important for marketers of YA books. However, even more

important is their book buying behaviour. More than half of the readers of the same

segment (aged sixteen to thirty) tend to buy their books, whereas 39% borrow them

(Pew Research Center 10). According to a 2014 Nielsen study, teenagers are mostly

influenced to buy books because they liked an author’s previous book and because

they find books while browsing in bookstores and libraries (Nielsen Don’t judge). In

fact, browsing around in shops is very typical of the YA segment (Haytko 71).

According to Bill Osgerby, teenagers shop 40% more often than others (7). This

makes them a very attractive segment for marketers. The just-mentioned Nielsen

study also reveals that, during their shopping trips, young adults are very likely to be

influenced by in-store displays (Nielsen Don’t judge). This confirms their receptivity

to visuals. Another interesting aspect influencing the buying behaviour of young

adults is their dependency on word of mouth, which, nowadays, means social media

(par. 4). Forty-five percent of young readers admit to be at least moderately

influenced by recommendations of their peers on social media platforms or reviews

and author websites targeted at teenagers (Nielsen Don’t judge). A great tool to get in

contact with the young readership is, for example, the HarperCollins website

epicreads.com, a website for young adults with a forum and other interactive features

like polls and quizzes about the favourite books and authors of young adults. A link to

this website can be found on almost every YA back cover published by HarperCollins

and analyzed for this study. Moreover, 32% of the YA books analyzed show QR codes

on their back cover which directly lead to websites with author interviews, trailers or

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regardless whether this takes place via social media or not, they tell their parents to

buy it for them (McLean “How”). The book buying process used to be different,

though; parents bought books for their children based on recommendations by book

owners and teachers. Therefore, marketers and cover designers of children’s and YA

books used to concentrate on attracting parents (Markle 52). Nowadays, children are

the “drivers of purchase activities” (McLean “How”). This offers great opportunities

for marketers to directly address young readers and design their covers accordingly.

Besides looking at their book buying behaviour, it is also important to look at

some of the preferences of young readers. First of all, this young segment is highly

susceptible to trends (Haytko 72). Teenagers follow trends, so YA book covers should

do the same. In fact, covers of YA novels often imitate previous successful novels that

established a certain trend (O’Connell 16). YA book covers often reveal the major

themes and issues of current YA culture (Mathews & Moody 4). This trend affinity of

teenagers is confirmed by Ami Hassler who remarks that “teens [...] are smart, savvy

shoppers and they want the look of what they read to reflect current trends” (qtd. in

Yampbel 357). This requires high trend awareness of publishers and marketers in

order to create up-to-date design for both front and back cover. The components of

the blurb offer various opportunities to integrate such trends. Textual elements such

as back cover copy, endorsement quotations or shoutlines can make references to

popular themes and topics. Kelly Markle describes the copy of the YA novel Rhymes

with Witches by Lauren Myracle, which is a good example for references to trendy

topics and movies. The following shows the back cover copy of Rhymes with Witches:

No one notices Jane—not the jocks, the stoners, the debaters, the drama geeks,

the cheerleaders, and especially not the Bitches, the school royalty made up of

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no one can help but worship her. Imagine Jane's surprise when the Bitches

approach her to be their freshman member. She wants this kind of popularity

more than anything, but when she discovers the sinister secret of the Bitches'

power, she's forced to make the toughest choice of her life. This savagely funny

book will be the talk of the season.2

The first thing a reader might notice is the categorization of social groups, which is

typical of YA movie, book or magazine descriptions as Markle states (15). It is likely

that young readers identify with the character of the book because search for identity,

friendship, love, fitting in and acceptance are typical themes adolescents deal with. In

fact, fitting in or social acceptance are very closely linked to teenagers’ focus on

trends (Markle 14). This means that adolescents follow trends because they want to

belong to a certain group and feel that they are socially more accepted if they follow

trends. Consequently, pointing out such popular themes on the blurb can help

publishers sell their books. The summary text of the paperback copy of Blue Lily, Lily

Blue, a YA novel by Maggie Stiefvater which is also part of the data set of this study,

takes a similar approach. As can be seen below, it reveals several themes of the book

which might attract the young reader. These themes are: fitting in, friendship and

betrayal.

2_{Lauren Miracle, Rhymes with Witches qtd. in Kelly Markle, Judging Books by their Covers:}

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Figure 1: back cover of Blue Lily, Lily Blue, Scholastic, 2014. ISBN: 9781407136639. (Paperback)

Moreover, endorsements can refer to other successful and popular novels or movies.

Again, Myracle’s Rhymes with Witches provides a good example. With the back cover

quotation “Move over Mean Girls” the book hints at its similarity or even superiority

to Mean Girls, a 2004 movie that was immensely popular amongst (especially

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Besides these textual components, design oriented elements can follow certain

trends. In the seventies and eighties YA covers were mainly designed with

watercolours; during the late eighties and nineties designers exchanged the

watercolours for photographs (Yampbell 356-357). Modern technology facilitated the

use of different graphics, images and photographs which made the books look more

refined and attractive. Due to increased possibilities in design and material of covers

and due to the trend susceptibility of teenagers, the simple usage of trendy colours or

images might help selling the book. Ami Hessler confirms that “covers that have [...]

the most popular colour of the season tend to fare very well” (Hessler qtd. in

Yampbell 357). The set of 139 YA back covers reveals that, at the moment,

illustrations are most popular. For their backgrounds, 57% of all covers have

graphically illustrated backgrounds, 30% carry photographs and only 13% show a

simple one-coloured background.

Besides background illustrations, graphical images or photographs of any kind

also very frequently occur on back covers. Ninety-four percent of all back covers of

my data set carry at least one graphic illustration or photograph. When looking at it

more closely, I found that the majority of those back covers carrying design elements

have illustrations or graphics, such as signs, decorations or drawings (82%), and a

little less of those carry photographs (including pictures of other book covers or

authors, 59%). Several books show both illustrations and photographs. Many

illustrations reappear on books of the same author and series, which reinforces

recognition and creates a book brand. This is elaborated on in section two on back

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Figure 2: from the back covers of

The Rising, HarperCollins, 2013. ISBN: 9780051797088. (Hardcover)

The Winner’s Curse, Farrar, Straus and Giroux-Macmillan, 2014. ISBN: 9780374384678. (Hardcover) Heir of Fire, Bloomsbury USA, 2014. Print. ISBN: 9781408839126. (Paperback)

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Exemplary photographical elements on back covers are:

Figure 3: back covers of Sever, Simon and Schuster, 2013. ISBN: 9781442409101. (Paperback) And Fragments, Balzer & Bray-HarperCollins 2014. ISBN: 9780062071088. (Paperback)

It has been established that adolescents are highly receptive to trends, which requires

high trend awareness of publishers and marketers of YA books in order to design

their book covers accordingly. However, trends change quickly. A way to deal with

this short life cycle is repackaging books; new covers can be designed to give them a

more modern look. In fact, this is “a popular and often successful marketing attempt”

(Yampbell 360). According to Beverly Horowith, editor-in-chief at BDD Books for

Young Readers, forty to sixty book titles are repackaged every year (Maughan

Paperback Reissues par. 14). Therefore, if a cover is out of date and does not sell

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(Yampbell 361). Even YA classics from centuries ago are repackaged to attract the

modern reader (Horn qtd. in O’Connell 10). Moreover, anniversaries are excellent

occasions for repackaging efforts, and several books of the same author can either be

repackaged into one volume or into individual editions with the same or similar

packaging (Maughan Paperback Reissues). The latter reinforces brand recognition

and thus has a major sales function.

Another common practice is the repackaging into movie tie-in editions.

Especially YA novels are increasingly turned into movie adaptations as this particular

group likes to read about their TV or movie heroes (Maughan Teenage par. 17).3_This

is often accompanied by special editions of the book carrying the film poster and

characters on its cover, which is, from a marketing perspective, a clever way to

promote both book and film. As Johannes Mahlknecht puts it, this “not only

increases the public’s awareness of a film but also generate additional sources of

income” (Mahlknecht 138). However, Karen Raugust states that the actual movie

tie-in editions are a small piece tie-in the whole film merchandistie-ing tie-industry, with, for

example, more than twenty-three million original print copies of the first Hunger

Games book and only two million copies of movie tie-ins (Raugust Promotional

Power par. 5). Nonetheless, movies boost the book sales as they bring in new readers

(Raugust Promotional Power par. 6). In most cases, the book is still the same, and

merely the front and back covers are exchanged for the movie poster, which increases

sales for minimum efforts.

Whether repackaging a book for young readers or designing a first-time cover,

for both instances it is crucial to think of the target audience and their special needs

and wants. Young readers want sophisticated book covers (Clark et.al 43, Yampbell

3_{For example, the very recent adaptations of the Twilight series, The Hunger Games, the Divergent}

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358). According to Cat Yampbell, they look for “innovative and refreshing but mature

[covers], resembling an adult book” (358). Angus Killick, Director of Marketing at

several children’s divisions of publishers, goes even further when claiming that

teenagers want to be treated as adults and producing “books that look like adults

books” helps increasing their sales to young readers (Maughan Teenage par. 7). A

clear separation of young adults from children was further strengthened by the

introduction of the YA section in bookstores. Although adjusting the location might

have provided a solution to selling more YA novels, and in fact sales increased after

this adjustment, the YA market is still a challenging one (Yampbel 353). It is difficult

to keep up with the fast trend changes in the market as Andrea Martin, marketing

manager of Tyndale Kids, states (qtd. in Yampbell 356). Secondly, as illustrated

above, the market goes beyond the young adult reader which often requires a broader

marketing strategy targeting both young adults and older segments. It regularly

happens that books initially marketed at a young audience sell well to older readers

too (Maughan Teenage par. 9).

All these aspects might influence the way marketers approach this young

audience. However, do they actually follow certain guidelines, or do they rely on their

intuition and experience? In the 1940s, the choice of covers was often made by

publishing directors based on their personal preferences (Powers qtd. in Markle 47).

One might assume that this has changed with the increasing means for market

research. However, as Cosette Kies discovers, many publishers still base their cover

decisions on “a set of vague rules” or, as she puts it, on mere “publisher’s wisdom”

(Kies 89). Although this mainly refers to the design of front covers, it is safe to

assume that similar rules apply to back covers. However, it is important to state that

Kies’ article was published twenty years ago and conventions might have changed

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Section Two:

From Front Cover to Back Cover

We all know the phrase ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’. However, in the case of

books, we all do so. This is why the design of book covers is so crucial for the sale of a

book. Marshall Lee distinguishes thirteen factors that influence the sales of a book;

one of them is cover design (12). In fact, a book cover “can be the most important

factor in deciding whether a book will be successful” (Smith 70). The first contact a

reader usually has with a book is through its cover. It provides the reader with clues

of the content, and, most ideally, of the genre and atmosphere too. Similarly,

according to Thom Barthelmess, the main task of a book cover is “to communicate

the book’s content and conveying information concerning both what the book is

about and what the book is like” (74). Thus, a book cover should hint at tone and

mood of the text (Vienne 45). As Barthlmess also points out, a major role of the cover

is to sell the book (76). This rightly indicates that book covers are a key marketing

tool and thus have strong commercial weight.

There are numerous studies that reveal the factors contributing to the sales of

a book. Richard Guthrie summarizes nine reasons why books sell: author, cover art,

price, reviews, personal recommendations, advertisements, POS (point-of-sale)

display, interviews and endorsements (Guthrie 174). A study by Bowker reveals

similar results; people buy books based on the following aspects (from biggest to

lowest influence): the topic/subject, the author, the series, personal

recommendations from people they know, flipping through the book and liking it,

price, book title, book characters, other reasons, cover/jacket

description/testimonials, special offer/price, good book review (Slideshare Bowker

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cover in the form of endorsement quotations) have less influence on the buying

decision than author or topic. However, other experts are convinced of the

importance of covers. Some even go as far as calling the paratext (i.e. the packaging of

a book) the text itself (Yampbell 348). According to Cat Yampell, “literary merit

becomes irrelevant if the book does not [...] reach the reader”, and eventually, it is the

cover that “determines a book’s success” (348). Similarly, Alison Donalty remarks

that a book sells well due to good writing, but “when a book bombs, it’s the jacket”

(qtd. in Britton 30).

Much has been written about front covers. In fact, when talking about book

covers, most people mean the front cover. However, as the focus of this research lies

on back covers, I will make a clear distinction between both. The front cover usually

consists of an image, the title of the book, the author’s name, endorsement quotations

by reviewers and, sometimes, of shoutlines such as “the new novel by the new

bestselling author”. Endorsements and shoutlines are also a major component of

back covers and thus elaborated on below. The ultimate goal of a front cover is to lead

the potential buyer to the information provided on the back of the book and/or on the

jacket inside (Yampbell 348).

Publishers and marketers all agree on one aspect: there is no formula for a

successful front cover. It should draw the consumer’s attention to the book and

eventually entice him to purchase. However, the front cover of books strongly

depends on two (interrelated) factors: the intended audience and the genre of the

book. Firstly, the target audience determines the marketing strategy, which has direct

influence on front cover design. A book cover of a Young Adult (YA) fiction novel, for

example, has to be modern and up to date and use bold images with “the most

popular colors of the season” to be attractive to the trend-driven teenagers (Hessler

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front covers. As Ronald Piters points out, the front cover is the consumer’s first clue

about the genre of a book (7, 127). This means that a front cover communicates its

genre and thus has to be designed accordingly. Another factor that influences the

design of front covers is the type of book (academic books, fiction, non-fiction etc.).

To sum up, the front cover reveals target segment, genre and type of book. In fact, a

book cover is the customer’s in-store information source to refer to in order to make a

buying decision (Leemans & van Oosterhout qtd. in Piters 3). It is the back cover that

reveals most information about a book, though. Once a consumer’s interest is caught

by the front cover, title or name of the author, he will want to learn more about the

content, author or opinions of others about the book. Therefore, the consumer will

look at the blurb and decide whether this book is worth buying. For this reason, “the

wording of the jacket description [...] makes its important contribution to sales”

(Smith 109). Joanna Penn stresses its importance by describing the back blurb as the

sales pitch of a book (par. 2). According to Marshal Lee, although the design of such

cover is based on both editorial and sales considerations, the cover is a selling tool

(425). This is the reason why designers tend to be “more concerned with

sales-effectiveness than with editorial accuracy” (Lee 425). An example of such lack of

accuracy is the first Bloomsbury edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

The back cover shows a mysterious wizard with a pipe in his mouth. However, he

does not resemble any of the characters of the book, and readers soon raised

questions about this wizard. This is why Bloomsbury replaced the wizard with the

book’s well-known character Albus Dumbledore for the later edition. The illustrator

of this cover revealed that it was not his intention to disregard editorial accuracy but

that he was simply asked to paint “a wizard to decorate the back cover”, which is what

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Figure 4: back covers of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,

Bloomsbury, 1st_{and revised children’s edition. ISBN: 9780747532743. (Paperback)}

As we can see in the images above, a back cover consists of several components. The

question about the exact factor convincing a consumer to buy a book is still largely

unanswered, though (Guthrie 164). Andrew Haslam distinguishes between seven

back cover elements: ISBN/bar code, registered retail price, blurb or book

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books outside trade publications), reviewer’s quotations, author biography and list of

previous publications (161). My analysis of 139 YA novel back covers reveals further

components of blurbs. First of all, back covers can carry book excerpts or cover copy.

Moreover, QR codes (a barcode redirecting readers to online sources) have

increasingly been placed on back covers. Furthermore, shoutlines about content,

prizes or other marketing messages found their way on almost every back cover. Of

the set of YA novels analyzed, 86% carried shoutlines.4_{Lastly, illustrations and}

photographs besides the background image are a very common feature. Especially

books from a series (the majority of books analyzed belongs to a series) often contain

images of other books of the series, or small illustrations (logos) that are repeatedly

used for each book. In general, illustrations such as symbols used for books can

represent atmosphere, plot, character or even author of the book (Lee 226). A

repeatedly used symbol has marketing power. It can cause brand recognition from

the reader as “repetition creates brand familiarity” (Kotler & Armstrong 177).

Through symbols and illustrations books can become their own brand. Such “visual

symbols and imagery [...] can be remembered easily and associated with the brand”

(Kotler & Armstrong 177). Examples of symbols are:

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Figure 5: back covers of Cinder, Scarlet & Cress, Square Fish-Macmillan, 2012, 2013, 2014. ISBNs: 9780312641894, 9780312642969 and 9780312642976. (all hardcover)

The three back covers of The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer all show the symbol

of a crescent moon. Interestingly, only the hardcover editions show this specific

symbol. Similarly, names and book titles can be part of recurring illustrations. This is

the case with Julie Kagawa’s Blood of Eden series. Although the back covers of the

series’ separate parts look very different, both paperback and hardcopy editions carry

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The logo of the series appears at different positions for each book. The hardcover

edition of the latest book The Forever Song displays the logo at the top, which means

that this is the first item a reader will see. The paperback copy of the 2013 book The

Eternity Cure also carries the logo at the top (part of the data set but not depicted

above); the hardcover edition of the same book presents the logo at the bottom, as

does the paperback edition of The Immortal Rules. There seems to be more

arbitrariness than predictability in the position of the logo of the series. However, as

the newer editions tend to put the logo at the top, one might assume that this is done

for immediate brand recognition. In other words, if customers pick up the later book,

they will notice the logo right away, and, in case of previous contact with Kagawa’s

series, they will immediately connect it to the earlier publications.

What is a Blurb?

A wide-spread but problematic expression for the back cover of a book is the term

‘blurb’. Unfortunately, the term is used in various ways. According to the Dictionary

of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, a blurb is the short content description of a

book on its dust jacket. Similarly, the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as the

“descriptive paragraph [...] of contents or character of a book” on a book jacket (OED

“blurb”). Both sources agree that a blurb consists of words of praise formulated in

advertising language. Lluïsa Gea Valor also states that blurbs tend to use the typical

language of advertising by, for example, directly addressing the reader (“you”) or

through “curiosity arousers” like rhetorical questions (41). In her point of view, this

functions as a marketing tool and helps to hook the consumer to buy the book (42).

The term ‘blurb’ originated from the American author Gelett Burgess. His short novel

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jacket: “Yes, this is a ‘BLURB’!”. This text was accompanied by a picture of a shouting

(blurbing) woman called Miss Belinda Blurb (Wilton par. 4). She was thus the first

testimonial used for promotional purposes of books. Burgess himself defines a blurb

as follows:

1. A flamboyant advertisement; an inspired testimonial. 2. Fulsome praise; a

sound like a publisher... On the ‘jacket’ of the ‘latest’ fiction, we find the

blurb; abounding in agile adjectives and adverbs, attesting that this book is

the ‘sensation of the year.’ (Wilton par. 6)

However lucid this definition is, the modern use of the term ‘blurb’ varies from

person to person. Some refer to it as the whole back cover with all its components;

others consider a blurb the mere summary of the content of the book. Furthermore,

people use the term to describe the words of praise by newspapers or reviewers. For

publisher Clive Bingley, a blurb should make a point about the book’s content and

praise (qtd. in Eaglstein & Berman 17). In other words, he considers the blurb to

consist of a subject summary and critical acclaim. To clarify which component of the

back cover is referred to, Kate Douglas distinguishes between the “publisher’s blurb”,

which is the descriptive paragraph about the book’s content, and the “book jacket

blurb”, which refers to the quotations provided by famous authors or critics. The

latter is divided into “solicited blurbs” (requested by the publisher or author) and

“review extract blurbs” (taken from already published reviews in periodicals)

(Douglas 808). Corinne Kratz, on the other hand, uses the term “summary blurb” for

what Douglas calls the “publisher’s blurb” (185).

For the sake of clarity, I use the term blurb to refer to the whole text (i.e. all

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summaries of the content, endorsement quotations and other text appearing on the

back cover. When referring to the summary or content information, I use the term

back cover copy, a term mainly used by copywriters in the field of marketing and

advertising. The quotations of authors, newspapers or journalists are referred to as

endorsement quotations or simply endorsements. Blurbs also tend to consist of

so-called shoutlines, brief advertising messages promoting author credentials

(“Bestselling author of ..”), the book itself (“Two men love her, the whole land fears

her, only she can save them all”5_{) other additional information (“find out what}

happens next”, “look for bonus material on...”), and endorsement quotations (“Praise

for ...”). Moreover, in some cases captivating book excerpts and short author

biographies can be found on the blurb. These textual components are often

accompanied by images such as photographs of author or other books by the author

or from the field, and ornamental illustrations. All these components of blurbs are

looked at in more detail below.

The arrangement of individual elements of a blurb is a matter of design

choices. It can be spread out over a photograph, an illustration or simply be placed

over a background of one colour. In my analysis of 139 YA book back covers,

forty-two (30%) novels show a photograph on the blurb background, seventy-nine (57%)

an illustration and eighteen (13%) a simple one-colour background. Except of the

background in one colour, there is no significant difference between the background

image of hardcover and paperback copies (33% of paperback and 67% of hardcovers

show backgrounds in one colour; nearly 50% of both formats also carry photographs

or illustrations).

It seems plausible that the design and the elements of blurbs are dependent on

the type of book. According to Kratz, it is in fact the blurb that is most different for

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trade titles and academic books (184). Whereas display books such as art books often

show large illustrations in form of photographs or design on front and back cover,

trade books (especially fiction) are more varied in their cover design and often

include a photograph of the author on its back (Kratz 185). This is not the case with

academic back covers which rather carry cover copy, endorsement quotations and

advertisements for other books from the publisher. However, one needs to keep in

mind that this might be true for books published in the nineties when Kratz’s article

was written. My analysis of YA book back covers from 2012-2014 reveals that

photographs of authors only appear on six out of 139 back covers, which is less than

5% and thus contradicts Kratz’ statement.

The Back Cover Copy

As established above, a major function of the book cover is to sell the book. As with

any product, a good way to do so is by means of a persuasive argument (Baverstock

Market Books 46). For this purpose, a good copywriter is usually hired to promote

the product in the most favourable way. A short text for the back cover, also often

called advertising copy, is composed. This copy is a publisher’s chance to advertise

the book without any additional costs since every book needs a cover. The cover copy

became increasingly important during the 1920s (Van Pelt qtd. in Markle 40). In

John Van Pelts opinion, such copy offers “the most effective means to establish

contact with the reading public” (Van Pelt qtd. in Markle 41).

As summarized by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong, the core of any

marketing strategy is the four Ps of marketing communications: product, price, place

and promotion (Kotler & Armstrong 76). In this case the product is a book. The cover

Judging Books by their Back Covers: An Analysis of Fiction Book Back Covers