The evocativeness of dust-jacket photos is why publishers put them on the cover. They’re selling tools, part of the book’s packaging, like the packaging on a bar of soap. Yet in the work of some photographers, the author’s photo can aspire to the level of high art.
A curious little article on the pros & cons of dust-jacket author photographs.
![dj_dondelillo.jpg](https://i0.wp.com/www.swordbilled.com/content/dj_dondelillo.jpg?w=600)
It’s a selling point, something to get the customer to pick up the book. Something to give a curious reader insight into the mind of the author, via the face?
![dj_kathryndavis.gif](https://i0.wp.com/www.swordbilled.com/content/dj_kathryndavis.gif?w=600)
Some publishers apparently bank on the photo; others could care less—Chronicle Books, for instance—and tend to use, e.g., passport photos and such. Or no photos at all. That’s cool.
![dj_markleyner.jpg](https://i0.wp.com/www.swordbilled.com/content/dj_markleyner.jpg?w=600)
Sometimes you just don’t want the photo, the author’s actual appearance conflicting too much with expectation. Or something.
![dj_stacyhorn.jpg](https://i0.wp.com/www.swordbilled.com/content/dj_stacyhorn.jpg?w=600)
Good fun, all around.
(Article originally spotted in the Chicago Tribune, but up & vanished, rediscovered over at the Southern Illinoisan)