07/01/2026
Mark Melnick offers an insightful essay on book cover design and marketing as the July contributor to Marsh Hawk's "Chapter One" series. You can see his entire article at https://chapter-one.marshhawkpress.org/mark-melnick-how.../ but we present this excerpt because his experienced insight can be helpful to many authors:
"It is also important for authors to understand that 'graphic design' is very different from 'art.' I have worked with many authors — especially poets — who suggest a painting for their book’s cover. Often, that painting is very dense and complex (think Hieronymus Bosch), and the author will send me a lengthy explanation of their reasoning for using it, the meanings and resonances they see embedded in it, and how it reflects the text. Yet this misunderstands the purpose of a cover. A cover is not meant to be an analog to the text. A cover is not art, which is meant to invite introspection and contemplation, slowly over time. A cover is graphic design, which needs to do its job almost instantly — literally in one second. It is emotional, not intellectual."
To illustrate his points, Mark comments on the Marsh Hawk books of Eileen R. Tabios and Daniel Morris.
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About Mark Melnick:
He began his graphic design career at Interview magazine while still in college, and went on to staff positions with Tibor Kalman/M&Co, Viking/Penguin, and Vintage/Knopf, before starting his own design studio in 2002. He has designed multiple career-spanning monographs for artists Chuck Close, Chip Kidd, and Duane Michals; has worked extensively with The Library of America and The Harvard Lampoon; and has designed dozens of covers for prize-winning playwrights through Theatre Communications Group.
Mark Melnick: "How a Book is Made": A Professional Designer Explains the Process in this Chapter One essay from Marsh Hawk Press.
