why is every adult sff cover black? (a rant)

In honor of spooky season, I'm kicking things off with a particular bone I've had to pick with publishing for a while.

Like many readers, I take great joy in rearranging my bookshelves. Some folks like to arrange by genre, some by author last name, some like to create a rainbow. No way's wrong (but the only truly right way, obviously, is to arrange by height) (sorry, I don't make the rules).

When I walk around the bookstore my eyes are treated to a veritable cornucopia of colors! The Romance section loves a pastel or a bold pop, the Contemporary novels like to play with the unexpected, and of course the Children's books are overflowing with every eye-catching color and glitter and sparkle they can get away with. But the Adult Fantasy and Sci-Fi section? Ya know, the genre everyone knows for its imaginative worlds and dragons? She's so drab. 😭

Please Note: I didn't even dip into Horror for these images. All of these books are Fantasy and Scifi that I've read.

Don't get me wrong, there's a gloomy little goth chick who still lives deep inside my soul (I wouldn't have enjoyed In the Ravenous Dark nearly as much if she didn't). But is it so much to ask for some variety? A cheeky bright green every once in awhile? A daring aqua? An unapologetic orange? Some purples or -heck- even some browns!

I suppose it'd be remiss to not also point out that when it comes to secondary colors, Fantasy publishers have a very co-dependent relationship on Red, Blue, Yellow. If it's a trilogy, 9 out of 10 times it's gonna be RBY. A duology? Okay, then it's just RB. And I get it! I really do! There's a reason so many movie posters use Blue and Orange. It's attention-catching with the bright colors and the contrast.

But I'm willing to bet a million billion dollars (I'm so totally good for it, no need to check my finances) that I'm not the only one who doesn't want their bookshelves to look like a series of slightly altered movie posters pasted onto a black void.

And yes, you caught me-- I'm sure there's something very millennial about the arranging by colors trend. But I cannot deny that I, too, am incredibly basic and love to shelf (shelve?) the rainbow. And Fantasy publishers are making my shelving (shelfing?) difficult!

I have a sneaking suspicion that Black feels more serious and respectable, and that's something that the Adult Fantasy genre has struggled with for many years (it's only in a post Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings and HBO's Game of Thrones world that we're starting to erase that childish and silly stigma). Because when you look at many of the Fantasy covers of decades past, they're often bright and colorful scenes with a character in the foreground and less need to lean into a grimdark or serious aesthetic.

Or maybe it has nothing to do with being taken seriously. Maybe the OG Twilight covers of the 2000s simply had too strong a foothold and publishers learned the wrong lessons (object on black background = $$$).

Luckily the book-box-ification of Fantasy in particular means that many of these titles come with alternate colors (so long as you're willing to pay a premium). And I think with Cozy Fantasy on the rise we're starting to see some new colors enter into these covers and shake up the game!

I'd like to say Romantasy could draw from its Romance roots and do the same, but... well... let's just say Romantasy covers are another rant for a future day.

Here's hoping that 2025 will finally introduce colorful spines and the daring & bold covers I crave. The colors we need. The colors we deserve.