From PW's piece on the cover design for Kevin Guilfoile's Cast of Shadows, a thriller from -- of all places -- Knopf:

In house, their directive was clear. "Our boss, Sonny Mehta, wanted to be able to compete in the mass market. Other imprints have a standard look that we didn't really want to emulate, but we wanted to appeal to the audience that buys these thrillers," [designer Peter] Mendelsund said.

That "standard look" sells books to customers, of course, but also to booksellers. Knopf staffers contended that books that "got a treatment"—a euphemism for large type and lots of shine [ed's note - we apologize for letting the terms "treatment" and "euphemism" go by without a dirty joke; we tried, but we didn't like where "lots of shine" brought us.] —would do better with a certain major-chain buyer. The chain would take significantly more copies if the buyer liked the cover, they said. How many more? "Thirty percent? Who knows?" guessed [art director Carol] Carson. "It puts the fear of God into you," Mendelsund added.

One sign that Wendy Armstrong, the new special markets manager at Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, is seasoned in special sales: she is quick to judge a book by its cover.

Especially in the gift market, whose "major forces" are Urban Outfitters and Restoration Hardware, "covers are so important," she said. "Many times customers say they need [ed's note - italics ours. We're still trying to be pervy] books with buttery yellow and moss green on the cover." This approach has led Armstrong to look at book publishing in ways that would make many traditionalists shudder. She readily calls books "product" and, at sales conference, while "reps and editors talk about books' contents," she said, "I'm like, 'I need moss green!' "