Still, as Kidd tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer, all books — electronic, hardcover or paperback — need covers. "They need some kind of visual representation, whether you're going to be seeing them ...

But the whole episode underscores a larger fact that I’ve come to believe after writing about book covers for years—killed covers are often where you can find the really great stuff.

The year's best covers, as chosen by the art director of The New York Times Book Review. However ornamental book jackets may be, they are also entry points to both the good and bad ideas that ...

A good first impression is, of course, the goal: to elicit curiosity and excitement before you’ve even picked the book off a shelf. But a great cover can fortify itself in our consciousness ...

or they have these family photos that they want you to try using on the cover, or sometimes it'll just be a phrase that they pulled out of the book. It can be really anything,” she says.

The phrase “never judge a book by its cover” is starting to look old hat ... post to social media and now everyone knows you are reading so and so’s latest masterpiece.

We may earn a commission from your purchases. We were all taught the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but when you’re browsing books at your favorite bookstore, it’s ...

Among the many challenges book cover designers face is trying ... the heroine and cover star of Where’d You Go, Bernadette, by Maria Semple, from 2012. On that cover, a woman’s face floats ...

An idea came to mind — I would put the excess books without a space on the shelf on full display in front of some of the rows, with the full cover facing me, so I could look at my collection of novels ...

Or do you keep your hands to yourself in a bookshop? The question is seen as a vital one for publishers keen to preserve the traditional paper book. Why? Because a tactile, finger-friendly cover ...

Year-end lists have a way of distilling what’s most memorable about the books we’ve read; one of those elements can be a striking cover that stays with you into the next year and beyond.