Book Cover Crediting Woes
Not as easy or readily available as you may think
How long do you think it takes to hunt down some credits for a pretty book cover? 5 minutes? 1 minute?
I’m lucky if it only takes me that long to find it AND cross-check to see if it’s correct. But more often than never, I take longer just to see if any credits are available online.
It may seem like a small, inconsequential detail, but you never know who is looking for credits and why. Maybe someone out there wants to become a cover designer in the future, or is an artist and happens to love the illustrator that works on some beloved book covers.
In a world where AI “art” slop is flooding the digital world, those of us who respect and appreciate the honest hard work of humans should do what we can to give more visibility to those people. Hence, it’s an emphasis in this newsletter that I try my best to give credit where it’s due.
So, where to begin?
First, a super quick rundown of copyright~
Copyright is essentially about crediting the rightful authors and/or owners of an intellectual property. Anything made by a human can be copyrighted.
If the client bought the rights to an image, they wouldn't need to credit the agency or collaborator that made it (see Transfer of Copyright; same outside the US). Likewise, the company that hired the employee to create book covers would be the intellectual property owner of the book covers, not the employee who created them (see Ownership of Creative Works Made for Hire; same outside the US). Unless, the publisher has stated in contracts with employees that they do give credit.
This will be relevant in a bit.
Where have I searched and found the credits for the covers I’ve covered, thus far?
Now, it’s been a bit.
From most common to rare sources:
Social media posts (Instagram and Twitter)—most commonly for cover reveals from the author’s or publisher’s or imprint's accounts. Sometimes, the designers or artists have posted the covers as well, either in their published form or full splash form. It might also be where I post a comment asking authors about credits, and if the individuals aren’t swamped or know the answer, they’d respond!
Blog posts (either indie bloggers or imprint/publishers’ blogs)—also cover reveals.
Articles—for the rare cover reveals in a magazine, e.g. PEOPLE magazine.
Copyright pages (paperback/hardback)—this is generally more prevalent when the artwork or stock photos are licensed or commissioned by an outsourced illustrator. In some cases, the jacket/cover designer is cited too (although it might be on the throwaway-able back cover or back jacket flap for hardbacks, commonly). Rarely would I find the publisher credit its design team (e.g. Sourcebooks Design Team) or specific members (e.g Sourcebooks has done this). More likely than not, there will be no cover designer or artist/illustrator credits on the copyright page if it’s done in-house. Since I hunt down credits for my monthly roundups ahead of time, these copyright pages wouldn’t be available then, and may not be of much help once I do my eventual updates to see if there are any relevant cover credits in them. Yet, regardless when copyright pages are available, the fact of the matter is if a cover is done in-house, the majority of the time no individual is named and credited because the cover is the property of the imprint/publisher (and most of the cases I’ve seen, not even a “PUBLISHER’S NAME Design Team” is in there!)
“Acknowledgements” section in the book. A shoutout’s a shoutout after all. Although, this section is not usually made available ahead of time…*sigh*
Likely due to contracts, commissioned artists and places that allow customers to preview books (e.g. Google Books, Amazon) may not be allowed to announce their involvement or post previews until a specific date or timeframe has passed. This is just with book cover crediting now! Imagine what happened back in the day…
Fun fact: the cover artist for one of the older covers for A Wrinkle in Time went unknown for decades! Read more below:
So there you have it, a little look at how I hunt down credits.
Do you have any particular feelings about crediting the individuals responsible for designing or illustrating or even providing the art direction for a cover? (You already know how I feel, aha.)
Nevertheless, there’s always something to appreciate about the business of publishing, and this is one area that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Until next time!