this season's book cover trends - cover art for the book fashionista

Elizabeth Bluemle takes a humorous look at this year's book covers, with an emphasis on the YA market, in her online blog post "The Season of Windblown Hair - Or, the Zeitgeist of Book Covers."

For my part, I happen to be reading Kimberly Derting's The Body Finder, which appears in Bluemle's first line-up of floral covers. I have to admit, it is a fashionable cover.



And on that note, I'm looking forward to the premiere of Project Runway Season 8. Episode one is entitled "And Sew It Begins."

Children's Books: An Angelic Autumn

Children's Books: An Angelic Autumn
Karen Springen, Publisher's Weekly

Are angels the new vampires? Does the new bad-boy hottie come with a pair of wings? According to Karen Springen, they are and, yes, he does.

Apparently, angels are in and vamps are on their way out. Of course, last month I heard that mermaids were the new thing in the YA market.

For me, naming any trend the newest, bestest plot/character gimmick means a wave of quickly-written, poorly-edited books flooding the market. Not that the urge to chase the elusive market is not tempting. I don't think, however, the publishing industry can accurately predict where the market will go or what will take off and be the next blockbuster hit. Markets are led by early "alpha readers" who latch onto a book, talk it up, and spread the word, and knowing what they will like is anyone's guess.

You can know this simple truth: They'll love a good story. For my part, I'll aim to write a good story. The market can work itself out.

Steinbeck had it right when he said, "The profession of book-writing makes horse racing seem like a solid, stable business."