Well, each has its own story, and each is grounded in a conversation with the author of the book—though sometimes what we end up with runs far afield from that original exchange of ideas.
As an example, here are Malia Marquez’s thoughts on the cover of our Fall 2021 release THIS FIERCE BLOOD:
“I’ve always had in my head a silhouette of mountains and a mountain lion at sunset. I’m not super attached to that, but it’s important to me that land/nature is a component of the artwork. As for style, I tend to like either minimalist or highly embellished, and illustration is preferred to photographic. For example, I love vintage scientific flora and fauna illustrations.”
We took a deep dive and conferred over dozens of images, and one that everyone (author and staff) loved was a collage by O Vilaspasa (left). Yet there were still several steps to go before this provocative piece could become a cover. Enter Acre designer extraordinaire Barbara Neely Bourgoyne, and voila!