IVP's art director and design team generate many cover design concepts for each new book. Of these, the strongest candidates are presented at a cover approval meeting. There the publishing committee (including editors, marketers and IVP's publisher) reviews the possibilities and determine which cover is best for the book. Often four to eight alternatives are offered, providing a range of approaches; i.e., some versions may be intended more for the Christian bookstore market, while others may be geared for the general market. Some may be more popular, others more academic, some more classic, others more contemporary, some more conventional, some more edgy. The range of options helps the IVP team determine which approach is the best fit for the book.

The questions that the team asks include:

• Which cover would be most distinctive in the marketplace?
• Which cover is most immediately appealing or visually attractive for the primary intended audience?
• What does the cover communicate in terms of cognitive and emotional content to the intended audience?
• Does the cover appropriately represent the book, the author and IVP?
• Does the cover work for book industry gatekeepers? For intended end readers? For multiple markets?

In reviewing hundreds of potential designs each year, as well as presenting books to sales reps and book buyers, the publishing team has acquired years of collective publishing wisdom in discerning which covers work and which do not. IVP also reviews the publishing success of every book, noting the merits of the cover designs of the 2500+ books it has published over the years. A blend of subjective perspective and objective sales data and criteria help the team determine which cover will help the book to reach the maximum number of readers. When a cover is selected, an image is sent to the author.

IVP Sent Me a Cover Design. Now What?

When IVP sends a book cover design to the author, this means that IVP has determined that of all the options and possibilities explored, this design is the strongest and most likely to be viable in the marketplace. We are not infallible, of course. Any feedback you pass along to your editor will be weighed as part of our overall deliberations, but is not necessarily the most decisive factor. The author represents one of several constituencies and readerships, and IVP makes its final decision based on what it judges best for the book's overall success.

If you show covers to other people to get their feedback, it can be helpful to do so via a disinterested third party, as the author's presence can often skew people's responses. While feedback from friends and relatives is occasionally helpful, often these perspectives are less important than that of those who have no connection to the author. After all, those who already know the author are predisposed to read the book regardless of what the cover looks like. IVP is more concerned about the book's reception by those who represent the core audiences for the book and who may never personally encounter the author.

Tips to remember:

• The cover does not need to communicate every theme and aspect of the book. That's what the book's content is for. The cover should signal one or at most two key aspects of the book.
• The primary intent of the cover is to stir interest and encourage the book browser to pick up the book, turn it over and read the back cover copy or the sample material available online. Gaining attention is more important than communicating literal content, as browsers make intuitive decisions in the split seconds it takes to look at the cover. (See Malcolm Gladwell's Blink for more on this.)
• A cover cannot tell the whole story. It should not have so much packed into it that becomes confusing and distracting. It should evoke the feel of the main theme of the book while still having some mystery, offering something that intrigues the potential buyer without explicitly giving everything away.
• A cover needs to be similar to other covers of the book's genreto signal quickly to the reader/buyer what kind of book it is. A cover also needs to be different enough to stand out from other books in the field.
• The emotional vibe of the book should connect with the intended reader's starting point of felt need, not necessarily where the book hopes to take them.
• Book design is different from graphic design in general, so what is current in design of CD covers, movie posters, magazines, billboards, etc. may not necessarily be transferable to book design.