In late April 2025, Sophia Nguyen wrote an article for The Washington Post asking, “Why do romance covers all look like this now?” The article detailed the recent transition from photorealistic, dramatically posed “clinch covers” to the brightly colored vector covers that now dominate the genre’s shelves. Several factors played into the shift—a need for more diverse representation than that offered by stock photo libraries, a desire to bring new readers to the genre, wanting to highlight the bright and bubbly feelings the books promise their readers—but Nguyen’s article sums up the many reasons with one quote from Julie Schrader, Sourcebooks’s associate creative director: “Trends are trends.”
Trends and tropes within genres—far beyond just romance—have always shaped the stories writers choose to tell, but they play just as important a role in how we present our stories visually. To play off the adage, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a book cover must be worth somewhere between fifty thousand and one hundred thousand—maybe more, depending on how long it takes to tell your story. A good cover must tell readers about what they’ll read without spoiling the plot, follow genre conventions while standing out from the crowd, obey general design expectations and your book’s formatting specifications …
It’s a lot of weight for one design to carry.
Earlier in Nguyen’s article, designer Neil Swaab says, “Book covers are primarily a marketing tool as much as they’re an art,” and the statement couldn’t be more true. This month’s issue of IAM focuses on cover design because, as important as the craft of your story is, your cover will convince readers to pick it up off physical shelves or click to read more. Within our pages this month, cover designer Alice Briggs explores how trends differ between traditional publishing and indie publishing, IAM’s Kevin McLaughlin answers your questions about covers and copyright, and an author asks for advice on how much their cover design should adhere to the smaller details of their story.
Your cover is your biggest advertisement to potential new fans. But it’s also a love letter to the story you took so much care in telling. The perfect cover balances both—and that’s an art form in and of itself.
Nicole Schroeder
Editor in Chief
