Read this last night from Bob Eckstein: The Nine Lives of a Cat (Book Cover).
A few interesting quotes and some insight into the creative process of a book cover:
My last book was published by Countryman Press of W. W. Norton & Company and I believe everyone involved followed my own first rule of thumb when we met. My one demand was, “Let’s have fun.” Below are the rejects and some inside baseball commentary, for the cover geeks (and anyone else curious about how the sausage gets made).
Eckstein shows some of the iterations they went through for the cover. In my experience too, it takes many different versions before I settle on something.
And:
Covers do not have to be good, they need to be memorable.
The last statement stuck with me.
Is it enough to just be memorable or do you want to strive for good as well? I didn’t have a ready answer. I’m still thinking about that question. It seems to me I’d want to do both. I can think of memorable things I remember for the wrong reasons.