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The fine art of cover copy code
Poking fun at the conventions of jacket copy is one of publishing’s favourite behind-the-scenes pastimes. It’s practically a given now that cover descriptions will be so vague as to say nothing about the actual story, or full of tired superlatives (“a tour de force,” “poignant”) and shopworn phrases (“the secrets of the human heart”). To a certain extent, this is how the game is played. But is it time to change the rules?
In general, the responsibility for writing jacket copy falls to the acquiring editor, although each house has its own rules. Compared with cover design, which generally involves a wide variety of voices and a considerable amount of office debate, the writing of flap copy is usually a fairly straightforward matter. At HarperCollins Canada, editorial director Jennifer Lambert says that the acquiring editor writes the text in consultation with the author and the agent, and another editor at the house does the copy editing. At Penguin Canada, executive editor Nicole Winstanley tries to channel the shared vision of the marketing, sales, and editorial departments when composing jacket copy, and then invites input from the author and the agent. And at House of Anansi Press, publisher Lynn Henry says she takes input from sales and marketing and consults with authors, but agents are generally not involved in the back and forth.
When asked why jacket copy isn’t approached in a more broadly collaborative manner, like cover design, Henry observes that the visual nature of cover design invites many more voices. Besides, she adds, cover copy is a delicate art. “It is a very charged kind of writing, where words are like signifiers to the reader that this is a book that’s going to appeal to a grandmother, say, or to a twentysomething man,” says Henry. “It’s very nuanced, almost a code.”
Lambert admits that it can be very hard not to get carried away and cross into cliché territory. “There are so many overused catch words – ‘compelling,’ ‘riveting,’ ‘a brand new voice in Canadian literature,’” she explains. “In every cliché there’s a grain of truth, but you have to catch yourself and make sure you’re not using these tired ways of describing a book.” Henry, too, finds that she has to be vigilant. “I tend to pay attention to the copy that other people put on their books: what makes me cringe and what’s fresh and new,” she says.
Ultimately, of course, the goal is to sell books, and editors note that the clichés are not always there by accident – they’re there because they work. Bookseller Ben McNally says he can see the truth in this claim. “If you’ve got a pretty clichéd book, then you’re going to have some pretty clichéd jacket copy,” he says. “The people who read that kind of stuff ... lap it up.” At the same time, he adds, clichés probably work only for certain kinds of genre literature, not for more serious work.
Other booksellers, however, say they don’t see the need for stock phrases at all. “Sorry, publishers,” says David Worsley, assistant manager of Words Worth Books in Waterloo, “I just don’t buy it.”
McNally observes that the importance of jacket copy can’t be underestimated. “As a promotional tool, it’s not to be taken lightly,” he says. The best kind of cover copy, he adds, is succinct. “I think it’s really good value if it says, for example, ‘hot and steamy,’ because then people who are looking for a hot and steamy book are going to say, ‘This is my kind of book.’”
Frequently, however, this kind of precise information is lacking, with copy dwelling instead on broad, general themes and meaningless over-the-top superlatives. “If it’s just designed to excite [an] imaginary reader, it’s useless,” insists agent Carolyn Swayze. “It’s like being told, ‘You’re going to love this joke, it’s so funny.’ It just sets you against it. It’s even hard to laugh.” Swayze feels that jacket copy should simply use plain language to convey practical, tangible information – “if it’s contemporary, historical, literary, or a thriller. And [readers] want to know if the characters are seniors or immigrants or children, or if the narrator’s a teenager. They want a quick idea of what they’re getting into.”
Agent Beverley Slopen argues that jacket copy would improve greatly if more people got to see it in advance. Authors should always see it, she says, and agents should at least get to see drafts. She points out that agents know their books very well and have already written promotional copy for their pitches to publishers. (She has, in fact, seen her own phrases show up in flap copy.) And Swayze adds that including agents in cover copy discussions makes more sense than the common practice of asking them to consult on cover design, which most agents have no expertise in.
Ultimately, however, all the consulting and fine-tuning in the world can only do so much. As McNally notes, no matter how wonderful the flap copy, you still need to have a good book inside. “Some books, all the jacket copy in the world isn’t going to save them.”
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