Trend #1: Author names being bigger than book title

Okay, I know this one is  little weird and nitpicky, but it's T5W so I get to be a little picky. :) I noticed this trend with a lot of David Baldacci books (no shade at DB, just pointing out the book design)- the first thing you see when looking at the book is the author's name written in a HUGE font at the top of the book, towering over the actual title of the book.

And I do understand this- there are big name authors whose names are so well known that someone looking around a store will see the name and have a tendency to gravitate towards said name. 

But I personally think this makes the books look more like an ad or too "loud". I just don't think it flows as well visually!

Trend #2: "Major Motion Picture" labels

It's generally well known that many book lovers (especially those who collect books) don't like stickers on their book covers. To be honest, removable stickers don't both me too much. But what really gets under my skin is when publishers re-release a book right before/after a book has been

(photo from Penguin Teen)

adapted into a film with a GOSH DANG BUILT IN LABEL THAT CAN'T BE REMOVED. 

For example: I read JoJo Moyes "Me Before You" as a library book, and didn't buy a copy right away. I loved the book but decided I'd wait to buy it until I wanted to do a re-read. 

Aaaaaand then the movie was announced. Which, by the way, I also loved, but every single copy of the book after that had a label across the top that proclaimed the movie's impending release.

Again, like Trend #1, it's just a visual and marketing thing for me. I don't think it looks nice, and it feels like part of what I'm buying is an advertisement. 

Trend #3: YA Retellings

It just seems like every other YA book hitting the shelf nowadays is a retelling. And that's not to say that these retellings are bad; I've read a few and some are great (see: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer). But it's getting to the point where I think the YA section is just oversaturated with another Alice in Wonderland or Beauty & the Beast "revamped" story. If someone new to YA came browsing for a retelling, it's almost a little overwhelming at this point! Part of me feels like writers are jumping onto some sort of bangwagon of cheap writing instead of coming up with fresh ideas. Again, I'm sure a lot of these stories are great, but I'd much rather see some more original content.

Trend #4: "Dystopian Girl Is the CHOSEN ONE and Must Overthrow Evil Government"

@DystopianYA Twitter account is the BEST young adult parody account ever!

I mean, that basically says it all?
Dystopian books can be really fun, and I definitely have some on my favorites list. But time and time again, I'll crack open a new one to see that it follows this same basic formula without much deviation from the norm. Some people have argued that many fantasy books also do this by taking a Tolkien/CS Lewis plot and just moving things around. I won't argue that Tolkien and Lewis really laid some much-followed groundwork in their books. BUT I think overall, YA dystopian works, while they might introduce new dystopian settings and races, rarely offer a plot that doesn't involve a young protagonist ending up on a mission to Destroy Evil Leader.
And yes, I'm saying specifically YA dystopian here, because adult books seem to have a more broad selection (check out "Station Eleven" by Emily St. John Mandel).



Trend #5: Superimposed faces on book covers

"Delirium", ilu but this cover is awful

I thought this trend died with the old covers of Scott Westerfeld's "Uglies" series?? I guess not. This one is pretty self explanatory: it's aesthetically disturbing and usually feels like a lazy design choice to me. I also don't like seeing someone's idea of a character until after I've read about the character myself, because then I have the book model's face in mind the whole time. Some of these covers can be fairly close to how I picture the character- but usually, they're not!

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