Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about the future of books and the business of storytelling. This article is more than 6 years old. Hiring a general ...

What makes you pick up a book you’ve never heard of? Is it the title, the author’s name, or the promise of an intriguing story? More often than not, it’s the cover—a single image that has the power to ...

Despite a steady rise in the popularity of e-books and a surge in ownership of electronic readers and tablets, real dead-tree paper books are not about the exit the scene any time soon. And while most ...

Finding the right cover and jacket design for a book can be one of the most exciting parts of the publishing process—and one of the most challenging. Indie authors will want to give some serious ...

It's no surprise that many readers consider a job in book publishing to be one of the most covetable careers. Within publishing, there are widely recognized positions — like that of a book editor or ...

If you find yourself in a bookstore, Peter Mendelsund can be hard to avoid. His dust jackets wrap big-name contemporary releases like The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. He's created ingenious covers for ...

Among the many challenges book cover designers face is trying to represent a book’s premise or main character without getting so specific that readers are left with little to imagine. A few years ago, ...

We’re all told that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but most of us do! In fact, judging a book by its cover might not be such a bad thing. A cover can help readers get a sense of what a book ...