Writing isn't the only difficult part when creating a book.
In a video for Hausfrau: A Novel by Jill Alexander Essbaum (out March 17), Random House offers a rare peek into the book design process. Cycling through the many drafts of the book's jacket -- illustrated, abstract, minimal, flowery, glossy -- readers get a glimpse of what designers need to consider when creating a striking cover.
"I worked with five designers, one illustrator and two letterers on more than a hundred versions of the jacket," Robbin Schiff,
executive art director at Random House Publishing Group, told Mashable.
The design, as Schiff sees it, should give readers a clue about the experience, or how they will feel while reading the book, "rather than giving away the plot or the the details of the story."
"The final design, with its stark Swiss typography against the moody and lush floral grouping, conveys a sensual but claustrophobic atmosphere," Schiff said.
That mood is especially fitting for a book like Hausfrau, which tells the tragic story of adultery and a breakdown of a woman and her marriage.
So what about that old adage, "Don't judge a book by its cover"? Maybe that's not such a bad thing after all.