Dear readers, The business of publishing can be dizzying, but at least one calculation these days is pretty straightforward: Take a work of art, add some bold type and voilà — you have an eye-catching book cover. I don’t say this to diminish the art direction of such books. There have been trends in cover design since books got jackets. (I still laugh about the spate of book covers featuring the back of women’s heads — quel intrigue! — or the years when, inexplicably, pieces of fruit adorned vaguely exoticized books aimed at women.) My colleague Liz Egan spoke with professional designers, who explained what makes this formula work so well. For my part, I’ve long been fascinated by the number of books featuring disappointed-looking women, some of whom appear to have spines made of jelly, seated or reclining on ornate furniture. Flop on! In other news
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