Live webchat: A creative director answers your questions

Continuing the series of webchats with industry insiders suggested by Degrus, UnpublishedWriter and RolandKempston, this week we will be opening up the world of the creative director in the company of HarperCollins's Ben North. Probably less understood than most jobs in publishing, it's nonetheless an extremely influential role.

At HarperCollins, North works on a range of books including literary novels, commercial thrillers, women's fiction, popular non-fiction, and celebrity memoirs. His role involves writing copy, titling books, producing creative strategy, giving cover art direction and making advertising: if that sounds a little confusing, fear not: we thought he was a designer until a few days ago. He has worked on books by Jonathan Franzen, Hilary Mantel, Chris Evans and Lionel Shriver.

Here's North's own explanation of his job: "I began my career in publishing as a back cover copy writer at Penguin, something I still do - outside of cover design the blurb remains one of the most effective ways to convince someone to open up a book and then, hopefully, buy it.

As I trained as an advertising copywriter I was always aware that the design context my copy appeared in made a huge difference to how it worked – or didn't. Consequently, I quickly learnt how annoyed designers get when you offer 'helpful' comments. Despite (or because of) this, over the years I became a self-taught art director, eventually reaching a point where I can now work closely with designers without actually coming to blows.

"For several years now directing cover design has been a sizeable part of my day-to-day work. This can involve everything from briefing and feeding back on designs, right through to making laughably bad sketches and then insisting that someone with some talent makes it a reality. It's usually a lot of fun."

He'll be here to answer your questions from 1pm to 2pm this Friday, 27 May. Feel free to start posting questions now, so he'll have plenty to get to grips with, and come back on Friday to read his replies.

Next week: Joe Pickering, senior press officer for the Penguin imprints Viking, Hamish Hamilton and Fig Tree.

Your asked, Ben answered

Click on the link to go to the full answer. We've shortened some questions, just to make things a bit easier to follow.

@UnpublishedWriter
What is "making advertising"? - and is it a service that is extended to all writers or only Names?
'Making advertising' is what ad agencies do. It's just we do it in-house. Words and pictures stuff, basically. Trying not to be too boring and make you feel well-inclined towards the product it's for... As for 'Names', we try to make sure all our authors have names. It helps with all sorts of
things. For a start, we'd always be calling them 'Oi, you', which is rude.

@jeanhannah
How many times are you happy to go back and forth with an author about his or her cover design before you refuse to discuss it any further?
Truth is, most of the time when an author HATES a cover, we scrap it. It's their book, after all.

@AggieH
What leads to variations in cover design for the same book?
The reasons are usually fairly clear. Different geographical markets say – US design sensibility is very different from UK, for instance. Or different editions – a hardback edition has, potentially, a very different
audience to a paperback because it has a higher price, is physically different (harder to put in a handbag), hasn't had review coverage yet, etc, etc.

@srober2
Which book cover do you wish you had created?
Well, one of my favourites remains the Penguin Modern Classics edition of A Clockwork Orange. A simple glass of milk. Fantastic. The first version of this cover (the Modern Classics look has been revamped) had my cover copy on it too, though I don't know if this is still the case.

@AggieH
How do you decide which authors to approach for blurb endorsements?
The usual way is to select the most successful authors in the area you want to publish into and use any contacts the company or author may have to get the book to them. Then you sit and hope...

@AggieH
'Airport editions'. Why?
What a good question. If you ever get a good answer, let me know.

@MrPinkwhistle
How do you go about avoiding mishaps like the Bloomsbury-Larbalestier fiasco?
Don't do it. Though I'm generally sympathetic to the idea that a figure on a cover doesn't have to be a dead the author seems happy about how it was rectified.

@UnpublishedWriter
Is it a fair observation that cover design appears increasingly generic? And if so do you see things ever changing?
I would point out that it has probably long been the case. There is something about the foreshortening effect of looking back which tends to obscure all the bad stuff and make the good pop out. Also, things which appear charmingly kitsch to us now (pulp fiction for instance) was, in its day, almost certainly considered trashy copycat nonsense.

@AggieH
Do authors giving blurb endorsements get paid for that, always read the whole book first?
No money changes hands, though I believe some demand foot rubs. As for reading the text, I understand most will just place it under their pillow at night, and then write the first thing that comes into their heads come the morning. We actually keep a Black Book of anti-blurbs locked in a lead-
lined vault.

@anytimefrances
I was reading recently somewhere on the net that it's a breach of copyright to scan or copy book covers onto a page of your personal space on networking sites. Do you think this harrowing of harmless non-commercial usage is really a sort of browbeating book lovers can do without?
Wow, that seems rather draconian. And also self-defeating – we want our covers to be out there as widely as possible. I think that unless it is in a commercial context where it is not to our benefit then I can't see why we would ever do that. Then again I may get an email from our lawyers in a
minute telling me just how wrong I am...

@UnpublishedWriter
To what extent is a book judged by its (or its author's) potential for "making advertising" or attracting endorsements?
A book is nearly always going to judged first on its quality (appropriate to the market it would most likely be published for). But yes, as in all areas of life, a good backstory or a pretty face can help.

@UnpublishedWriter
Is "creative strategy" just another word(s) for networking?
No, it's another word(s) for repeatedly listening to MGMT's 'Time to Pretend' while staring at a blank Word document. I'm not one for networking, I prefer the pub.

@RolandKempston
Can you please share your thoughts on the recent rebranding of the discworld series?
The Discworld stuff is interesting. I would guess it had its genesis in the sort of split cover approaches that were used for both the Harry Potter books and Phillip Pullman's novels, where an adult version and a kids version were put out in the hope of drawing in some undecideds, as well as getting collectors to buy more than once...

@LCLondon
How careful are you that you don't ruin the story through the blurb on the back by giving too much away?
I am incredibly careful. Though there can be tension when you desperately want to hint at the incredibly cool plot twist which might be the central appeal of the story. It's a tough one...

@salskins
Do authors get any input into the jacket copy? I've read that it can sometimes come from their original synopsis or cover letter. Or is it true they're notoriously bad at it, being too close to their canvas to see the larger design?
Yes, authors definitely get input into cover copy, and so they should. But they really shouldn't write it – they're just too close to the story, as you say.

@Oldsoup
When Waterstones has gone and people stop buying books in shops, will cover design become obsolete?
Ah, good question mate. Well, I reckon we'll see covers change into something … else. The need to have a graphical representation of your book online will, I think, remain. But we're already trying hard to produce covers which 'work' online, with varying degrees of success. But broadly, no, I don't foresee the death of cover design for books...

@SerendipitousIhope
How much is cover design of books impacted on by the rise and rise of e-books? Does the potential popularity of a book read on an e-reader inform the design choices? Do the same design elements work for both?
Well I touched on this above, but there's no doubt that there are some substantial differences. Remember that our primary concern with the cover is that it acts to move someone who hasn't yet bought the book to look further into it and then maybe buy...

@herrdobler
How do you decide whether to show an author photo on the back cover (or at all) and who directs/decides the type of photo they have?
Author photos! Love 'em. This is often a surprisingly haphazard process, as we pay rather less attention to what our authors look like than you'd think. Basically if we've got a great photo of a good-looking author, or an author with a public profile for some reason, we'll use it more often than not...

@DanHolloway
Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto have exquisite minimialist covers in the UK but overseas they have (equally exquisite) kitsch/pulp covers. Do you think this reflects the UK's attitude (or perceived attitude) to literary fiction?
I suspect that the UK's attitude to literary fiction is as curious as any other culture's. The UK Murakami's seem to me to be successful designs – they have produced a recognizable look for his books, something we strive hard for...

@SerendipitousIhope
As someone who can write a great blurb what would be your hottest tip for writing a synopsis that's going to leave a publisher dying to read your manuscript?
Write it like it's a news story, not an essay. By which I mean make sure that the most important thing about the story (not the quality or 'significance' of the writing) is communicated in the first sentence...

@Publishedauthor
I am astonished at how little input authors are allowed to have in their covers. Mine bear little or no relation to the content which has actually worked against me because it has pigeon holed me into a genre that I am not writing in.
Well it sounds like you've had a rough time. I suppose I would ask if you and your publisher are agreed on what genre you are writing in. If not, that would seem to be the root of the problem.

@srober2
Are there any cover cliches you try to avoid?
Ah, the LRF. Lone Running Figure. If only I could do away with that. But they seem to work!