Welcome to the Pub Dates newsletter! We’re so glad you’re here.
This newsletter is released as a companion to each podcast episode, and we use it to share the visual elements of our discussion — from mood boards to design sketches, from photos to secret giveaways just for subscribers.
In episode twelve, Kate interviewed her cover designer, Jessica Jenkins, about how the cover for Nightbirds came to be, from conception to execution.
We’ll be back in a future episode to talk about Amie’s cover — it’s still a work in progress, but that progress is looking gorgeous. In the meantime, if you’d like an extra dose of Amie, you can check out the first issue of her personal newsletter right here, and subscribe if you like!
In the meantime, Kate and Jess talked about how to find the right vibe for a particular book, choosing an artist, text placement and more. They also talked through how and when different groups within the publisher weigh in, and how Jess got into this line of work in the first place.
As always, we promised you some behind the scenes glimpses, and these will not disappoint! First up, here’s the moodboard Jess created, capturing the mysterious, magical and hedonistic vibe of Nightbirds…
And those who have caught up on the episode will have heard about the small changes the artist made to the original image — here they are side by side, so you can see the differences for yourself.
And finally, you’ll have heard Kate and Jess talk about the background — the way they looked at a golden ‘20s vibe, and a magical blue vibe. Here are a few of the options the design team visited along the way to the final version.
And here, of course, is the final version in all its glory…
That’s it for this episode — we’ll see you next time! We’d love to know if anything in the cover design process surprised you, and we’d love you to tell us your favourite recent covers. Which books have you judging them in allllll the right ways?
It's such a gorgeous cover, and so interesting to hear all about how it 'arrived'. I'm also not a huge fan of 'face' covers - I generally prefer to imagine how characters look from the description in the story itself - but this one is definitely an exception. Oddly enough, one of my favorite recent covers is the UK cover of Lyndall Clipstone's 'Lakesedge', which has a face on it too, though it's mostly swallowed by shadow and flowers. It's really gorgeous and atmospheric and the colors are beautiful.
That's so crazy the difference with the eyes! I love that! I also used to think I didn't like face covers, but there have been sooo many good ones of late!