Alison Forner Goes Candy Hunting for Ghost Lover
Alison Forner is the Art Director of Avid Reader Press and co-Art Director of the Simon & Schuster imprint. Here she takes us through her epic journey to secure the cover for Lisa Taddeo’s new story collection, Ghost Lover.
As Senior Art Director for Avid Reader Press, I’ve had the privilege of overseeing and designing all of Lisa Taddeo’s books—from her first book (and Avid Reader’s first publication) Three Women, to her second book Animal, to Ghost Lover, her current collection of short stories. It’s not an exaggeration to say I’m obsessed with her work—she is one of those writers whose voice resonates with me on a very deep level. Although I only read Animal once as an early manuscript two years ago, if you asked me to paint a picture of the setting and characters without ever referring back to the text again, I could. She’s that brilliant.
When my publisher Jofie Ferrari-Adler announced Lisa’s collection of short stories, I was beyond thrilled. Not only was I excited to read more of Lisa’s work, but as a designer, I love working on short story collections. Designing for non-fiction or novels can sometimes be limiting or somewhat prescriptive, but there’s a freedom in designing for stories: each one has its own separate narrative, so the cover can connect more loosely and abstractly to the work as a whole.
As I read the collection, a specific object sparked a cover idea that could work both visually and conceptually. Small, colorful, pearl-like Italian candies play a pivotal role in one of the stories; I knew immediately they were the exact right image for the cover. Not only were they intriguing as objects, but on a conceptual level they could represent the different stories in the book (not to mention the candies’ name translates to “tears of love,” which was perfect as well). And if photographed in the right way—with heavy dark shadows and granular detail—the image would work metaphorically too. Beautiful, sugary, sweet objects strewn about, cast in harsh, almost clinical light, could represent the edge and darkness behind the beauty that is ever-present in Lisa’s writing.
When I presented this single idea to my publisher—I almost never present just one idea—he was intrigued, but did have a valid question: was I sure the concept would work with the title Ghost Lover? I knew instinctually that it would—I could see it fully designed in my head and knew exactly how it should be produced to achieve the right effect—but I needed to explain my reasoning in a way he could understand. I mentioned Demonology (by author Rick Moody; designed by Paul Sahre) as an example of how story collection covers can be successful even if the title and image inspire more questions than answers. (That design burned pathways in my brain years ago that are intractable, so much so that a good portion of my work is probably a subconscious attempt to try and recreate it.) Anyhow, he must have understood because the next email I received was Lisa’s response: “I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!”* (*no liberties were taken with the all caps or number of exclamation points!)
With Lisa’s blessing, I proceeded to hire the masterful Nick Misani to handle the lettering and the incredibly talented Chelsie Craig to shoot the photo. Of course finding the candies became its own full-time project—they weren’t available anywhere in the U.S., and as with many things Italian, could only be found in certain regions of Italy. I just happened to have a college friend (Jessica Dessner, who is an exceptional artist in her own right) who lives close to one of those regions, and she agreed to go on the ultimate treasure hunt for me. I think I’ve blocked out most of the details surrounding the search for the candies (which took place in the days leading up to sales conference, a notoriously stressful time in our industry), but after several failed attempts in her own town and two road trips that yielded nothing, she managed to track them down with one day to spare. She overnighted one bag to me and one to the photographer; they managed to arrive almost fully intact, and in time for our photoshoot. Jessica should really have her own credit on the jacket flap given how pivotal her role was (“Candy Procurement by Jessica Dessner”).
Normally the most difficult part of my job is finding a design that everyone can agree on. In this case, the concept was approved unanimously and immediately; it was the execution of the idea that nearly broke me. But as difficult as that process was, I’m incredibly happy with the end result and would do it all again (minus the obscure candies).
Final cover with deliciously obscure candies
Editor, artworker and lifelong bibliophile.