Teasy Weezy (not final covers)

Coming in 2026!

New Printing Coming in 2026!

Coming in 2027!

Coming in 2026!

The Cover Story: Crime Fiction Now and Then and Now Again

Let's talk crime novel covers. My, how they've changed over the years. Don't believe me? Let's go back to the (almost) beginning (we'll skip over Sherlock Holmes who-dun-its for this article). The that, we need to visit the pulp mags. 

The Pulp Era

The covers of the classic pulp era stand alone as works of "cheap," "vulgar," and "violent" art -- just to mention some of the adjectives thrown at them. But works of art they remain. They knew how to attract a reader with scenes of danger and drama (and more than a little sexual titillation, of course). 

In fact, because of the patriarchal views (some might say misogynistic) of the time, it was hard to find covers that didn't have some helpless woman in various states of either torture or undress. However, even when they didn't have such covers, the images were always high points of action (maybe or maybe not related to one of the stories between the covers) or danger or violence. 

Suspense was the key question when you saw one of these covers. Will the hero save the day? Will the beautiful dame get shishkabobbed? 

These covers screamed and begged you to drop a few cents and find out. And they did it very, very well. 

The Contemporary Summer Bestseller 

Things have changed between then and now. Book covers, even thriller and crime novel covers, are more about mood and tone than telling a story it seems. That's not a judgment, just an acknowledgment. On the plus side, we're no longer inundated with helpless women and burly men saving the day or gore-adjacent covers or some of the darker pulp mags, but I'm not sure the covers to many contemporary mysteries are doing the job they're supposed to (at least supposed to in my opinion). 

As I look at the covers below, I'm not sure I can tell you what the story is actually about. Or, honestly, I don't think I would recognize the book as a mystery/crime book if it weren't shelved in that section of the bookstore. 

Modern covers, while great examples of color, texture, and typographic art, don't feel as immediate to me. I don't get a sense of why I need to open the book oftentimes. I don't feel pressured to ask the questions that make me want to see what happens. 

A quick glance below says these books could just as easily be literary bestsellers or romantic dramas as they could be any other genre of fiction. (On a related but different note, not even the titles convince me they're thrillers, but that's an article for another day.)

 

Original Novels and the Hard-Boiled Pastiches

Let's step back a few decades now, shall we? Inspired by the pulp mags, novels of the '30s and '40s through the '60s and '70s tried to recapture the awesome of the pulp aesthetic without the awful of the pulp aesthetic. Violence was back. Sex was back. And danger was once again front and center. 

Now, the violence and sex tended to be far more subdued, maybe even subtle, as it the semi-open door (still locked) or the look of fear for The Glass Key, but it was there. And it while it also conveyed mood, it didn't shy away from actually teasing the story. There was no way you didn't know what kind of novel you were buying based on the covers on the paperback racks (or most of the hardcovers over earlier years). 

The genre grew up and became procedurals in addition to private eyes. Big thrillers replaced small-scale-one-man-against-the-bad-guys of Key Largo. And the covers grew with them, distancing themselves from the "thing of the past" ideals and values of yesteryear (as you move into the '70s particularly), but the hints were there to see what you were getting into. There was no confusing even the semi-vagueness of these spinner rack covers with a copy of a literary classic or a contemporary lit hit. 

Hard Case Crime 

Hands down, my favorite publisher nowadays is the retro-pulp, hard-boiled, noirish, crime story, private dick publisher Hard Case Crime. The stories are often reminiscent of early crime novels but updated for the present or written with modern sensibilities (sometimes not). And their cover game is top-notch. They do the best job I've seen of capturing the story sensibilities of the early pulp-inspired novels of the '30s and '40s and even tease it a bit with the voyeurism of the original pulp covers before Werthem's Seduction of the Innocent shut down the fun machine. 

To be fair, a lot of these covers do play up the big strong man trope and you see a lot of sexy women on the covers, but they are rarely women in peril. More often than not, they're holding either the gun or all the cards. 

But the thing that really draws me to Hard Case Crime is how I can usually tell exactly what I need to know about the book before I buy it. I can see it in a catalog or on a shell, and bam, I know the kind of story I'm about to spend good money on. To me, that's the main job of a cover. 

And That Leaves Us...

A cavaet: There's always an exception for every rule, and for every cover I've shown here, there a several that make an equal and opposite statement to prove me wrong. You can find vague, artsy '60s paperback covers or even pulpy cover versions of classic literature. You can find gripping, story-driven contemporary covers for thrillers that don't hide the genre in colorful photographic dreamscapes. But for this article, I'm addressing the generality, so don't feel the need to play the "what about" card. I'm not taking the bait. 

Let me reiterate, these are just my opinions about covers for mystery thrillers. Your mileage may vary. You may prefer pretty covers that tease the eye like an impressionist painting or a soft-palette photo of a beautiful tree. If that works for you, fine. You do you, boo. 

Personally, I'd like to see crime fiction return to the style of the paperback racks before the sort of homogenous look took over publishing. I like the covers that tell the story to sell the story. Now, that doesn't mean I want to see a return to the ideals and patronizing and patriarchal values of the '30s and the '40s those old covers may have reflected, just that storytelling style. 

But, as they say, if wishes were horses... 

[Link] 50 Pulp Cover Treatments of Classic Works of Literature

Guns, Broads, Beefcake, Literariness

by Emily Temple

Last month at CrimeReads, Rebecca Romney looked at a few classic detective novels that had, at one time or another, gotten makeovers as sexy pulps—because as we all know, the easiest way to sell something is to make it look salacious (whether it actually is or not). But it isn’t only great detective novels that have gotten the pulp treatment. Classic works of literary fiction have existed as pulps from the very beginning of pulp—the new paperback publishers of the 1940s and 50s printed them right along with classic crime and some genuinely lowbrow (and sometimes quite lurid) new novels, often commissioning the very same artists to design their covers. Below, I dug up a few of these pulpified classics (not including the Pulp! The Classics imprint)—many of which I found through the excellent resource Pulp Covers. Some are true pulp covers—with overtly sexy women and tantalizing movie-esque taglines—while others are just amusingly lowbrow mass market treatments of highbrow novels. Either way, they’re even better than you’d expect.

Read the full article and see the pretty pictures: https://lithub.com/50-pulp-cover-treatments-of-classic-works-of-literature

Using Cover Mock-Ups... Why Waste the Time?

If you follow me on Facebook you'll know already that I'm a big proponent of mocking up cover designs for books I haven't written yet.

Here are a few of the mock-ups I've done to help me stay motivated just so you have an idea what I'm talking about (or don't follow me on FB).

This is a designed I built solely from a title, and by the time I was finished with the design an entire mysteries series had developed from it. Obviously inspired by seedy, sleazy 60s crime novels, this one will feature a lady of the 80s who gets drawn into the underbelly of city life in Atlanta.

A man holds up the office of a private detective. Why? I don't know yet, but when I do, it'll be because this mock-up has been constantly playing in the background of my brain. 

This one will feature a serial killer who specializes in neo-burlesque dancers. Clearly a fetishist at work. 

This one will be for a line of "Extreme" line of crime novels, all pretty clearly inspired by sleazy 60s pulps. Boy meets girl. High school ends. Boy becomes detective. Girl becomes hooker. Girls gets killed. Boy owes her this one and must solve the crime.

And to answer your question, yes. I've heard it lots of times: "Why waste time on those when you could be actually writing the book instead?"

That's actually a darn good question, but I think I have a darn good answer for it.

Because:

1. It creates an image that will rekindle the inspiration later when I'm ready for that book. Just looking at it again will bring all those feelings of excitement I had initially about the concept, and it will also remind me of the plot ideas I was playing around with in the pre-pre-pre-pre-writing phase.

2. It helps me practice the design side of my brain. It's a different way to think about a story, image rather than verbal, and that keeps my brain exercised and more trained for I sit down to write.

3. It keeps me motivated. I never have to ask, "What can I possibly work on now?"  because I have a ready-made project eagerly awaiting my attention.

Would I recommend this practice to other writers? Sure, especially if you are the kind of learner who responds to and thinks in images. If so, there's no better way to trigger memory and excitement for a project, at least that I've found. If you're not a writer who also has to exercise that design side of your brain, the side that tries to speak to you in pictures just as much as words, then mock-ups probably going to be helpful to you, and you might as well just stick with your .doc file with a short write-up about the project.

But... before you completely turn your nose up at the idea, why not give it a shot and see if it helps? You might be surprised the kind of ideas that releasing some visual creativity can give you.

There are lots of great resources online so you don't have to pay for expensive design software. Serif Drawplus is one, and so is Inkscape. Both of those are vector based (meaning anything other than the bitmapped images can be scaled up or down without loss of quality). For more traditional free image software, both PaintNet and Gimp are favorites of mine. All four of those can be downloaded and run offline. If you're looking for something you can do online for free, try either Canva or SVG-Edit.

If you decide to give it a shot, send me some of your mock-ups, and I'll share them in a future post here on the blog. Happy mocking up... er, mockupping... er, playing with fake book covers!

Baby Makes Her Back Cover Talk (With Apologies to Dr. Hook)

What sells books? Covers? Yes. Big advertising budgets? Well, most likely you don't have access to that. What sells you a book in a bookstore or online when the cover has already caught your attention? That's right... The back cover blurb. 

What makes a back cover blurb effective?

Perry Constantine: You have to approach it as a sales pitch, not a description. Entice the reader just enough to want to find out more about the book.

Amy Leigh Strickland: What would entice you to pick up this book? You’ll want to make a list of the essential plot elements, the core bits of the conflict. I don’t want to hear every twist and turn. I’ll read the book for that. Those twists are only interesting in the context of the story when I’ve gotten to know the characters. I don’t want to know every subplot at this phase of the purchasing process... If you’re rambling on about multiple characters, telling me every twist and turn of your plot, you’re doing it wrong. If you’re giving me the entire history of your world, you’re doing it wrong. If I hear the phrase, “but it turns out, she’s the chosen one,” you’re definitely doing it wrong.

Looking for a few good... examples of back cover copy.

Bobby Nash: The back cover copy is important because it is the 2nd look a person has at the book to decide if he or she wants to pick it up. In a bookstore, a potential customer sees the cover, it grabs their attention. The reader picks it up, turns it over, and reads the back cover. If that grabs them, they might open it up and read a few lines. In on-line sales, the same is true, except that information is all on the screen.

L. Andrew Cooper: A back cover blurb is one of a book’s most important pitches -- the pitch to the audience who doesn’t know what they might be getting and needs help to decide. It has to have a hook, a sense of character and story (or subject and thesis, for nonfiction) in a short enough sound bite to grab attention and say, “This is the kind of book you like to read, but not so much like those books you’ve read that it’ll be too familiar!” It’s also got to say something about the author, something to make the reader think the author has what it takes to sustain interest for however hefty a time the weight of the book suggests. A snippet from a bio or a review to go along with the tempting sound bite… everything short, neat, packaged, glittering and beautiful. Good blurbs are hard work!

Bill Craig: The back cover blurb has to work in conjunction with the cover to grab the reader's interest and imagination.

Kristi Morgan: What makes a back cover blurb effective? Keywords that explain the genre and content effectively. Short, engaging. Not a long blocky paragraph with too much description. Just enough info to tell what the book is about, build some interest and intrigue but don't give away any spoilers.

For the changing, highly ebook-driven market, is back-cover copy as important as it used to be?

Kristi Morgan:  I think so. Most people use the back cover blurb as the Amazon listing description, so it's important.

L. Andrew Cooper: Blurbs are as important as ever, if not moreso, because the copy from the back of the book usually ends up being the copy that sells the book on Amazon and other sites, too, so it’s going to support the “product” across formats. For e-books, buyers might not be able to hold the book and do a flip test, but they can read whatever blurb information the authors and/or publishers have provided, so a lot of pressure falls on a small amount of text.

Bobby Nash: Absolutely. It may not be on the back cover in this scenario, but that information is still relevant and helpful to the reader so it becomes part of the description on the page.

Bill Craig: I would say the back cover copy or description is even more essential in the field of e-books because there are so many out there. That copy is an essential hook to grab a reader and get them to buy the book.

Perry Constantine: If by the text you put on the back cover of a paperback, then no, that's not important because most of us won't be in bookstores to begin with. But if you're talking about the description on your book page, then that is crucial. The first thing that will get someone to click on your book is the cover. If the cover gets them to click on it, the very next thing they'll look at is the description. It's the second most important tool in your marketing arsenal.

The back cover of The Ruby Files Vol. 1. 

What advice do you have for those writers asked to help create back cover copy or self-publishers looking to improve their blurbs?

Bobby Nash: Look at the type of books you like to read. Look at how those publishers handle back cover copy and blurbs. Use that as your starting base. Remember, tease the readers so they want to buy the book. Don't spoil your secrets or get bogged down in details on back cover copy. Just give it the pitch. Blurbs may or may not help. I don't have any real data there. If the reader trusts the opinion of the person giving the blurb, then it probably helps.

Kristi Morgan: It's not just the content that matters. The layout is important, too. I have seen some really great front covers with poorly designed back covers. Don't skimp on the back or the spine. Choose a color scheme and font that looks professional.

Perry Constantine: Approach it as a copywriter, not an author. Look at other successful books in your genre and see what they're doing with their descriptions. Compare them to yours to see what you're doing wrong. Libbie Hawker's Gotta Read It! is a great resource for writing effective descriptions.

Bill Craig: Lead with action! You want a hook to grab potential readers and make them want to read it!

Amy Leigh Strickland: If you’re at a loss for how to write a book description, get your butt to the DVD section at Target and walk around reading the backs of movie boxes. What catches your attention? What drives you away? What tense are they writing in? What tone? How long are the blurbs?

L. Andrew Cooper: A big mistake is confusing a blurb with a synopsis—you’re not summarizing the story, or even giving a rough overview of how the story gets going. Some story orientation might be part of a blurb, but a blurb might also be a snippet from a scene followed by very brief commentary about how the qualified author has opened up a new world of adventure/horror/romance/whatever. A blurb is not what the author wants to see shown off about what’s inside the book. It’s whatever you can say about the book that makes sense on its own and still grabs a reader to say, “Let’s go.” Also, publishers will (in this writer’s experience) often ask you to write potential blurb copy and then use it as one of several sources for the final blurb. Use the opportunity: find something genuinely fetching about your book, highlight it with your best prose, and turn in the best blurb you can. Your good work is likely to give you more control of what your marketing (your blurb and everything related to it) looks like.

The Cover Story -- What Makes Book Covers Work?

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a book cover had better be worth about a hundred thousand. So, what makes a book cover effective? Let's find out from several key artists and publishers who work on them. 

 

It's been said a lot that faces sell a cover. In your experience, do faces tend to enable stronger sales, and does it matter how large the faces are on the cover?

Jeff Parker: I like design-y covers most of the time, conceptual stuff like Dave Johnson does. I think the way books are racked together in a big mass with other images, something a bit simpler and bold with images and color choices stands out better and has a chance to be seen.

Frank Fradella: Yes, faces sell a cover. Faces sell everything. I can take two slices of an orange and a whole banana and lay them on a table and what you'll see are two eyes and a mouth — a face. We see faces everywhere; we subconsciously LOOK for faces everywhere. The best cover won't just be a face, but you want that human connection.

Logan Masterson: There's a lot to consider here. Faces are great, especially for romance, paranormal, and character-themed properties, but they aren't the definitive answer. Neither is the inclusion of action definitive. To see what works, check out the original Wolverine limited series #1 cover: Face, beckoning "action," tremendously effective. But also, the Kitty Pryde/Wolverine Wanted cover, more action, more faces, but with less emphasis. The emphasis is on the framing. Personally, I think that illustrated covers trump photo covers every time. I tend to avoid fiction with photo covers.

Aaron Meade: I can only chime in on the action/adventure/superhero genre' from my point of view. That said... Faces are ok on covers depending on how they are used to portray what the story inside is about. It depends on the artists vision and storytelling abilities. I always LOVED the use of a ROLL CALL on superhero team books that bordered the cover itself. That said, you don't want to over use it or any technique.

Jenny Reed: The first rule of thumb is that the cover must be interesting to look at. People must see the cover and start imagining what's inside. While showing people isn't necessarily required (depending on the genre), any people who do show up must be doing something interesting. A face staring into space isn't particularly interesting - unless there's something really strange about the face.

What about action covers? Do they work well for contemporary fiction, or are they best used for adventure novels and comics?

Jenny Reed: Cover art trends change rapidly. What counts as a great cover today, is a lousy cover five years from now (and vice versa). It's hard to keep up. Also, cover art expectations vary widely from genre to genre. For example, romance covers generally want to see something implying romance - a couple kissing, a hot guy in a sexy pose, a girl in a prom dress, or something along those lines. However, a romance cover would not sell a science fiction book, or a sports book, or your typical action comic book.

Frank Fradella: The answer is between the pages. If there's a lot of action inside, then the cover should speak to the audience who likes that in a book.

Aaron Meade: I think the more action you can portray on any cover of any genre' will be better than dull no action covers.

Logan Masterson: As for the general keys, I think there are three.

1. Tone. The cover's got to carry the tone of the book, whether that's bright and brilliant action or deep, dark mystery.
2. Design. Attractive, appropriate fonts that contrast or accent the cover illustration, placed to accent the image and balance the overall effect.
3. Professionalism. The cover needs to be pro. It shouldn't look like something desktop published in 1996. It shouldn't be jammed up with text, or too many logos, or any of that stuff. The elements should be integrated attractively, and the illo itself needs to be high-quality and appropriate. 

What are the most important things to keep in mind when designing a successful book cover or a successful comic book cover?

Ruth de Jauregui: Your type treatment. Scrawny little letters that fade into the cover image are just not as effective as something that the buyer can actually read. Also, look at the size of the cover on Amazon, Barnes and Noble or other website. Can the buyer see it? Can they read the type? Does the cover "read" as a romance, science fiction, fantasy, action story? Consider your audience too. A half naked woman on the front of a YA urban fantasy may look pretty, but it's not appropriate for the audience. Also, last but not least -- actually LOOK at the dang main character. If he/she is described as dark complected with natural hair, don't put a dang blonde on the cover. It's inaccurate and offensive and buyers like me notice these things. I might still buy the book, but I'll talk mess about that cover forever.

Logan Masterson: As a former website designer and illustrator, one picks up the little details that others miss. It's not some unquantifiable mystery -- it's the proper alignment of elements, colors, and content.

Aaron Meade: Most important thing...show in art a synopsis of what the reader is about to read. Show THE most exciting and enticing portion of the interior story. Galvanize the readers eyes so they will gravitate to your book over all the others.

Frank Fradella: Color, contrast, composition. Beautiful women never hurt. Go look at Frazetta and keep looking. It's all there.