Don't judge a book by its cover 'til you see how long it takes to design

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.

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"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 Read more...

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