The Best Book Covers of 2011

Best Book Covers of 2011 Main Photo

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto/mattjeacock

All year long I’m around books.  At home, in the office, in warehouses, in bookstores, in libraries and book tradeshows, I see them everywhere.  It’s difficult for me to walk by them without stopping and picking one up.  Why?  The cover.

A cleverly designed book cover can propel a book’s sales.  Each of us has a different visual perspective, but you know a great visual design when you see it.  Some covers simply stop you in your tracks and almost make you pick up the book.  Other covers just fall flat, dooming the book before it even has a chance.  And a little known fact:  authors generally have little to no say in the cover design.

Every year, I collect my favorite covers of the year.  I read the best cover lists to see which covers made it.  This year, I decided to share my list of the best book covers for 2011. (See also 2012 winners).

 

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami; Design by Chip Kidd; Published by Knopf 

The Christmas Shoppe by Melody Carlson; Design by Smart Guys design; Published by Revell 

Crossroads by Mary Ting; Published by World Castle Publishing 

Folks, This Ain’t Normal by Joel Salatin; Design by Jody Waldrup; Published by Center Street  

Games to Play After Dark by Seth Gardner Borden; Design by Ralph Fowler; Published by Vintage  

Hubble: Imaging Space and Time by David Devorkin and Robert Smith; Design by Sam Serebin; Published by National Geographic 

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows by Alan Bradley; Design by Diane Hobbing; Published by Delacorte Press 

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta; Design by Rob Grom; Published by St. Martin’s Press (see my interview with Tom Perrotta)

Lightning Rods by Helen Dewitt; Design by Steve Attardo; Published by New Directions 

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs; Design by Doogie Horner; Published by Quirk Books  

Mozart’s Last Aria by Matt Rees; Design by Betty Lew; Published by Harper Perennial  

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern; Design by John Fontana; Published by Doubleday  (see my interview with Erin Morgenstern)

Odd Bits by Jennifer McLagan and Leigh Beisch; Design by Betsy Stromberg; Published by Ten Speed Press 

The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson; Design by Meighan Cavanaugh; Published by Riverhead 

The Selected Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and Sheila Fisher; Design by Chris Welch; Published by W.W. Norton and Company 

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt; Design by Suet Yee Chong; Published by Ecco 

The Snowman by Jo Nesbø; Design by Peter Mendelsund; Published by Knopf 

 Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson; Design by Joy O’Meara; Published by Simon & Schuster

 Then Again by Diane Keaton; Design by Emily Harwood Blass; Published by Random House 

The Wild Life of Our Bodies by Rob Dunn; Design by Fritz Metsch; Published by HarperCollins 

How do you feel about these book covers? Have a favorite or least favorite? If you've read one of these books, does the cover match the story? Beyond 2011, what are your favorite book covers of all time? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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  • heartns0ul

    I meant to read Mozart’s Last Aria. Looks good. I read The Legacy of Eden b/c of the cover. Great cover, great book.

    • http://www.skipprichard.com/ Skip Prichard

      It is amazing how there are times you really can “judge a book by its cover”.

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  • Gretchen

    WOW What a list!

    Great collection of covers and there’s so many to choose from. I can’t wait to get my hands on Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and Odd Bits has me very curious. This is the first time I’ve left a comment but I enjoy your blog.

    • http://www.skipprichard.com/ Skip Prichard

      Thank you for leaving a comment, Gretchen.  When you blog, the tweets and comments are the best way to know what is working or not.

  • Duncan Long

    Excellent collection of book covers (well, except for not including some of my cover work for the year – ha). You presented a nice variety of styles and genres as well. It is amazing how many great covers are being designed these days.

    Many of us take these for granted; but a look at cover work 50 years ago can be an eye opener. Layout, typeface selection, illustrations, and photos… all have greatly improved to create covers with a high “wow!” factor.

    – http://duncanlong.com/art.html

    • http://www.skipprichard.com/ Skip Prichard

      Duncan, nice site! Keep up your own great work.

  • Maria

    Really like the cover for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Haven’t read it but am going to now as just would like to have that cover!

    My favorite this year was the cover and cool spine for Watchers by Essi Tolling. Great story too.

    It’s so true what you say about covers. I have to admit that I have bought some books just because I like the cover. The book above (Watchers) got me because the spine was so eye catching. I think a lot of designers forget that in a bookshop often all you see is the spine so it has equal importance.

    • http://www.skipprichard.com/ Skip Prichard

      A best spine list! That would be a new one for sure.

  • Byron Borger

    Thanks for this fun list—and some very good choices. Hadn’t seen a few of these. But that Melody Carlson? Yikes, that didn’t struck me at all. Cliched image, or so it seemed to me… Not sold on the frosty skeleton with a Santa hat, either. What a hard call to make.

    I was just looking at the catalog of the publisher Unbridled, who do remarkable novels and almost all of their covers are breathtakingly creative.

    What about The Information by Gleick? Not sure about that one, but it conveys much about the book. I think the Tim Tebow bio is strong. The House of Prayer No. 2 by Mark Richard blew me away (as did the writing.) Oh my, I’m going to have to think about this. Thanks, Skip.

  • Drew

    My 2 cents – The Night Circus and The Leftovers are two of my favorite books of the year, and I Am Half-Sick of Shadows is on my bedside table. Now, based on this list, I am going to have to acquire The Sisters Brothers and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Great Covers!

    • Prue Sobers

      Your two cents are my two cents, too!

      I agree with Drew. And the former was nominated for the Man Booker Prize. Both are now on my list; fabulous covers, along with The Selected Canterbury Tales.

  • Steve Pate

    This is a great list of book covers. Another cover I’d recommend is the one from “The Big Idea” by National Geographic. It shows a geometic outline of a head with the mind displayed as a colorful interaction of stars and streaking subatomic particles.

  • Justin

    I have not read any of these, but my favorite two covers are The Selected Canterbury Tales and the Steve Jobs cover. I love the horses hoofs on the Tales cover. The shadows and highlights make it interesting.

    I love the Steve Jobs book because I think it represents him rather well. Simple, focused, clean. It is everything he strove for in an Apple product.

    Great list Skip… maybe some recommended readings to come off this list.

    Justin