Everyone, in every publisher, all over the world, knows that the cover design question is the knottiest in the business. Should you go typographic? Literal? Photographic? Graphic? Lots of words? Few words? Author name in 176pt gold embossed type? Matt finish or gloss? These are questions we have to think about every day, and as a cause of disagreement in the office, front covers have no peers.

And with the advent of the consumer-oriented ebook, it has got that little bit more complicated. Book covers never get shown at full-size on screen, whether you’re buying the e-edition or physical book, and a lot of the cover’s art – quotes, subtitles, fine design work, gold blocking, detailed typography, the very size of the book – gets lost in translation. And that’s a pity, because a lot of love goes into most book covers, and because it will make readers less likely to buy them.

How to resolve this problem?

Here are the covers from these two titles from The Domino Project (an e-publisher specialising in business books).

The alert amongst you will have noted that there are no words on either of them. A counter-intuitive move, as there is no way of knowing who wrote the book, whether they are fiction or non-fiction, what they might be like – in fact, no way of discerning all that crucial information which publishers fondly believe to be necessary if the sale is to be clinched.

In fact, apart from the shape, there’s nothing to suggest that they are book covers at all. But the publishers would contend that that doesn’t matter: whenever you see an e-book “cover”, the title appears right next to it anyway – nice and legibly, too. The cover isn’t a cover anymore – it’s an icon. For the record, the titles are, at left: Do The Work by Steven Pressfield, and at right, Poke the Box by Seth Godin.

So that’s one solution to the “ebook cover conundrum”.

Scott Pack articulates another over on the bookseller blog:

Seriously, when 20%–50% of sales are going to come from a digital format, the only sensible way to ensure we have the best cover design is to have two of the buggers. One beautiful work of art replete with quotes, design features and fancy finishes. The other simple, bold and with bloody big writing on it.

Less elegant than the Domino Project’s solution, perhaps, but probably the way things will actually go given time. (And let’s face, it, if you want elegance, you don’t go to Scott Pack).

And, finally, yes, there is nothing new in the world. Some of you may remember this arresting stare from 1998 – the same year that amazon started operating in the UK (barely any of the books it sold at that point actually had cover images on display) and when e-commerce of any kind was an edgy novelty (“will this excitingly-economical new online store go bust before it ships my parcel?”).

This was the front cover of Bruce Robinson’s novel The Peculiar Memories of Thomas Penman and as I recall (correct me if I’m wrong…) those orbicular eyes and the absence of explanation did create something of an impression in the trade, helping the book do pretty well – it’s still in print 13 years later with, I think, the same cover. (I don’t know who designed it. No doubt I will soon be told).

To be honest, I’d be surprised if Ilex books go down this route any time soon, but the big words / no words question is certainly one that I’m going to bear in mind going forward. And, no doubt, start the odd argument with…