“Pretty Much the Best Job Ever”

Christopher King, the new art director at New York-based publisher Melville House, recently gave a thoughtful interview to the Caustic Cover Critic blog. In the course of it he spoke about the value of using original (rather than stock) images, his design inspirations, and the creative value of working for a small publisher.

“I’m never asked to make a book ‘look’ like a certain category or to directly copy another title,” King explained, “which most designers would probably agree is all too common in commercial publishing--one will notice that most American YA books now look like Twilight, and I’d be surprised if thrillers don’t all start to look like imitations of the Millennium series in short order, based on the success of Peter Mendelsund’s covers.”

Click here to find the interview, as well as a selection of King’s exceptional book covers (look especially for the playfully devious front of The Craigslist Murders).