[Blog] Resist the Book Cover Cliché

By: Melissa Parks

I call it the Target Indicator: when something unique becomes commonplace, and, thus, a cliché.

It happens with shoes, for instance. About a decade ago the suburban mom’s Pinterest-approved look was riding boots pulled over skinny jeans. (She topped the look with a chunky infinity scarf, of course).

Back then, in my true-to-Enneagram-4-fashion, I didn’t want to look like the Other Moms. So, I sought the shoe that would set me apart: the wedge. Mostly the elite—celebrities, models, NYC fashionistas—wore them. Not my mini-van driving neighbor.

Fast forward a year. Celebrities were on to another look, and the common woman woke up to the wedge. Between picking up after-school snacks and a new throw for the sofa, she could pick up a vinyl pair at Target. And look like all the other mom’s on the school playground. Pinterest approved.

My personal mission is this: whenever a look makes its way to Target, I give up the look. (Right now, I’m thinking of tucking away my cliché wide-legged jeans for a season or two, until skinny jeans are once again stacked at Target).

If you don’t care about fashion, then you’ll think I’m snooty. (Even if you care about fashion, maybe you’ll think I’m snooty, too.)

But I risk my reputation to point to a deeper principle—and it actually applies to your book cover design.

Don’t create a cliché cover. Do something different.

The Target Book Cover Test

Recently, I passed along an IG to Reel to Dave that made me chuckle.  You can watch it here.

Comedian Christian Escoto walks through the book aisle at Target. In quick succession, he points to 30 fiction book covers that are a variation of a “woman with her back turned”.

A few of the covers are of a “woman with her back turned” and “looking at France”.

A few more are of a “woman and her family with their back turned”.

A handful are of a “woman looking to the side”.

The point is: they all looked the same.

This is what we mean when we coach writers on creating a cover that isn’t a cliché.  Yes, you want to communicate the genre of your book. But you want it to stand out.

Walk the Target book aisle, take a look at where your book would reside, and you’ll see what the clichés are in your genre.

A cliché in Spiritual/inspirational nonfiction, for instance, would be a man on top of a mountain peak. In the same category, but focused on a female audience, cliché covers look like sophisticated doodling journals, strewn with florals, squiggles and calligraphy font.

Most leadership book covers are primarily text treatments of the title. That’s not a bad direction to head with your cover. But what can you do to communicate your book’s unique promise with the text treatment?

Maybe you’re like one of the commenters to this Reel, who asks, “Why is everyone judging a book by its cover?”

Because that’s what humans do. Unless a book is referred to us, people won’t pick up the book unless it stands out. (And looks good, but that’s a Tipster for another day.)

The Science behind Unique

There’s science that supports my advice to ditch the book cover cliché.

Scientists showed participants a screen with a group of objects (apples), all the same except one in a varying color (green). Each participant was asked to tap on the object where their eye went first.

Of course, the participant’s eye went to the sole green apple first.

The scientists dug deeper and found that even when differences were more subtle (a crimson Red Delicious vs. a blush Braeburn, for instance), the participant was still drawn to the one that was different. 

Looking different matters. Resisting the cliché matters. It’s not shallow—like the pursuit of a wedge instead of a riding boot. It’s elemental to the success of your book.