Spicy Chat: Why I'm Tired of the Illustrated Cover Trend & What I'd Like to See Next

How are you feeling about illustrated covers these days? Let's chat! This video talks about some of my current issues with the illustrated trend in romance novel covers, and then what I would want to see more of instead.
Intro 00:35
Disclaimers 1:34
My Problem With Illustrated 2:05
Past Trend Examples 3:08
What I Still Like 4:31
Mass Appeal vs. Variety 8:30
What's Next? 9:25
Industry 17:45
Lingering Questions 19:32
First of all, thank you so much for getting this far down in the description box! I appreciate you being here and being part of my bookish life. If you like what I’m about and would like to show some support here are a couple of things you can do.
~Like the video! It helps me so much to know what’s working and what I should keep pursuing.
~Leave me a comment! Even if I don’t respond right away, I read all my comments and they mean a lot to me. They also help me get a sense of what this lil community cares about.
💫I also have a Bookshop.org and an Amazon wishlist. 💫There’s no pressure to spend money-either of the above options are amazing! But it’s here if you’d like to poke around. www.amazon.com...
bookshop.org/w...
📸Instagram: www.instagram....
📚Goodreads: / caitlin
📊Storygraph: app.thestorygr...
💻Business Inquiries: [e-mail]
Book Club Social Media Spaces
Storygraph Challenge: app.thestorygr...
Discord: / discord
Camera: Canon Rebel t3i
Editing: Davinci Resolve 18.6
Music: Intro & Outro~ KZbin Audio Library “Don’t Hate Me” by Jingle Punks (free to use)

[@KLC228]

This video was so well done! I really loved illustrated covers when they first came out because they were cute and kind of different but throughout the years I started feeling bored with them because you're right, you go to a bookstore or a book section in a store and they all look the same. I know this is because of the publishing industry when new trends come up, which I'm totally not blaming artists/writers for, it's just the industry you know. You know I'm not into romance but I think we could all do with some variety within all the different genres, especially obviously romance since this is what this is mainly about. I think we should have all those options to choose from in romance so it doesn't look mundane. I hate that I started getting bored with the new illustrated covers but I loved them so much at first, I think I'll like them a lot more again when I see more variety.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Thank you so much! I have so many of the same feelings here. I loved this style when it initially came out, but you can overdo just about anything and I think that's what's happening here. I would appreciate the style more if there were more of a healthy balance, I think.

[@Rosemoon78]

You are definitely not alone. I personally don’t like them. Some of them are well done but most of them don’t get me to pick up or buy them. I buy physical books way less often because the covers are so devoid of feeling, passion, heart, or feeling. I feel like that desire to appeal to a wider appeal has made the covers way less appealing to long time romance readers.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Trends and covers come and go, but this is the first time I can remember being frustrated by a trend being overdone to this extent. I still buy plenty with the illustrated style but they do tend to blur together--at least the covers do, the books themselves often stand on their own. While there are elements that draw me in to illustrated covers, I'm not excited by them any more and that makes me kind of sad.

[@bekybell5224]

boy howdy this conversation. I've never wanted to make a video essay myself, but this feels like a topic that I would get kind of in deep with and want to. It's weird because I think I also personally fall into the category of people who this trend weirdly benefits. A lot of the cartoon covers (calling them this because of the illustrated style a lot of them are in and the use of handwritten fonts or text, harkening back to old comics and cartoons.) on romance books are on contemporary romances or real-world romance, which I'm not really into. I'm likely a romantasy till I die kinda gorl, which typically instead don't feature humans on the covers and have really swirly or gothic fonts. (which I also have a problem with, in a way.) BUT this brings me to a point you bring up that I think is a problem in a lot of books right now, where the cover just doesn't really tell you anything, and I mean TELL you anything. The covers don't have story or narrative that you follow. From a publishing perspective, they're most likely anticipating that if people want that they will READ the book, but when the first thing you see is a cover, sometimes you need the first image people see as the representation of your book to tell a bit of the story. I HAVE SO MANY MORE THOUGHTS that are not made any easier to make concise especially from a professional standpoint as I have a degree in illustration and have worked in art direction, but this is just such a fascinating trend and bleed into other sub-genres of romance.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

I was thinking of you when I made this video! So please, gimmie all your takes! I think you're right about the cartoon style being primarily a contemporary romance style, though I am starting to see it creep into historicals and paranormal/fantasy romances in a way that I'm not thrilled by. And I also think that's why I was turning to some of the other sub-genres of romance that are more niche, because they seem more willing to take some of these risks. But that's often the big difference between an indie scene and the more mainstream too. But also YES about covers needing to tell you something. I wanna get excited about a book from the front cover to the back!

[@traceyanderson7489]

When you showed the new cover of Still Beating I had no idea what it was, and then you showed the original and I realised I’d read it. The new cover is very much at odds with the subject matter.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Ah thank you! I keep thinking this recover is so scary because it courts a wildly different audience and kind of hides the subject matter.

[@MargaretPinard]

Glad to see Sherrilyn Kenyon flash up on screen! Always a cult favorite 😊

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

She was one of my first big authors when I started reading romance!

[@MargaretPinard]

Ooh, loved Mortal Folloes, AND its cover! Nod to its source material was great.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

I haven't read it yet, but I'm so excited to get into it. I've been a big fan of every Alexis Hall book I've read so far.

[@MargaretPinard]

If you want motion and bold colors, check out Magic Steeped in POison--that's the type that's been catching my eye lately!

[@MargaretPinard]

Also The Name Bearer by Natalia Hernandez--she makes the light dance in an illustrated cover--unique take. Just going through my latest wishlist adds...;D

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Magic Steeped in Poison is one of my favorite covers that I've seen in the last year or so. But I hadn't heard of The Name Bearer! Thanks for the recs! 😍

[@highcontrasthughes1923]

For me, the real point of interest in regards to this topic is the fact that a book cover is one of the most important means of marketing a book. I wonder if the more plain, boring illustrated covers have something to do with a publisher a.) not wanting to pay for a more complex and unique artwork and b.) Thinking that social media and discourse will do more to sell the book and they don't need to spend as much on the physical product

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

First, SO sorry for the delayed response. I thought I had gotten back to you on this. But I totally agree with you. Covers matter more than we often give them credit for! I tend to agree with you too about illustrated covers being a cheaper option. Social media probably plays a huge role too. But I know I'm struggling to tell some of these books apart even with people hyping them up!

[@traceyanderson7489]

I like illustrated covers but I do hate those flat featureless ones without faces and proper outlines, if that makes sense.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Oh it totally does! Within illustrated covers, I prefer the ones where people have faces over the featureless ones.

[@liminal.season]

I’m the same! I loved them when they first came out but now… it’s so boring!! I want to see something different

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Just more options on the shelves would be nice!

[@nonfictionfeminist]

YES. YES YES YES. That's all I have to say.

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

Ah! Sorry I thought I had responded to this! But THANK YOU. So glad it's not just me.

[@vendela6015]

As an artist I definitely would like to see more diversity in styles because there are so many different styles and of course some artists and writers will prefer the more simplistic styles and that’s alright but more different styles would be good

[@TheLitReviewForBooks]

I think the variety part is key. It's not that I think these styles of covers shouldn't exist, it's that I wish they were less pervasive.

[@MargaretPinard]

Agree!!