Cover Design-Inspector Maigret and Georges Simenon

What do you have to do to pick photos for a book series?

I’ve been thinking about series art direction lately because I’ve been steadily reading Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret reissues from Penguin. In 2013 Penguin undertook the task of reissuing 75 Maigret titles. That amazing amount of work correlates to how prolific Simenon was. More on that in a minute.

I love art directing book covers. I used to manage 30 or so titles a quarter. Maybe one day I will do so again but maybe not that volume! 

Doing one cover at a time is fun but doing a series, having to establish a look that you know you will be able to expand on and that’s a challenge. You have to select a set of fonts, icons, and other particulars that can handle the long haul of multiple titles and you need a theme that will bear out as well. In this case, photography. 

(I’m not totally sure Pietr and the Tramp covers are from the same photographer)

I’m trying to make the Why and How Book Project a bit about the fun of reading, the pleasures of life in books as an added bonus so let’s give you some of that side dish first before we dive into the manufacturing and design concerns. 

The covers for these reissues are so evocative. This article from the Guardian details the enduring appeal of Maigret and the work that went into reissuing the massive title list. The entire reissue project took 6 years from 2013 to 2019 I’m surprised it took me so long to discover them. This in itself is a lesson in how long it takes a product to reach an audience. I’m an avid mystery reader and discovered these in 2023. They’d been making the rounds of publishing news for a decade at that point!

I first encountered Maigret watching Rowan Atkinson's portrayal and wasn’t engaged. It felt overly moody, typical of a lot of Crime TV. Perhaps I should give it another chance.  Last year one of my favorite authors, Lawrence Osborne mentioned Maigret and Highsmith in an interview which led me to buy The Tremor of Forgery and Pietr Latvian, written respectively.  Tremor was great, though I feel like I would not like Highsmith if I had to take a road trip with her but Pietr was special. 

Simenon is a larger commodity in Europe than the US. Simenon, like Christie’s Poirot, was born in Belgium. From 1921 to 1972 he penned 193 novels! 75 of these were the character Jules Maigret. In Europe he is up there with Shakespeare and Christie as far as books in print and sales (800 million units). Somewhere I read, and lost the thread, that copies in English were not always in print thus in the US the books are not always available. This website collects the series over time and it looks to be pretty solid but if there were holes in availability that definitely limits his reach to the American market.

That lack of presence on shelves is now over. 

Lawrence Osborne’s suggestion was followed.The covers called me over to their table for a drink when I went to Amazon and fortunately the art team did their job. I began to imagine and daydream a bit about these stories. The images produce wonder, mystery, and a little scuzziness. All hallmarks of noir, with varying degrees of scuzziness. 

When that dust settled and I’d read a few, the book nerd in me began to wonder how they approached the covers? 

The images come from the photographs of  Harry Gruyaert. When I found This article, I had hopes for a really deep dive into the process and while it’s good I would have liked to hear more. It will tell you that Picture Editor Samantha Johnson developed a relationship with the photographer and while the images are not necessarily period specific to Maigret, they were deemed as  perfect in tone. Indeed. One curious bit is that the tip off for this approach came from the Brazil editions. On the editorial side, Josephine Greywoode, the editor for the project, had to juggle translators, schedules, and getting the interiors ready to go over a period of six years. I love that she was unsure if she would live to see it all done.  

Let’s get back to the How of making books. Keep in mind none of this pertains to using stock photography like Getty, Shutterstock etc. Most, if not all of the concerns below are covered in the structure of those providers

When using a photographer, get a good look at their offerings before you commit. Do they have a lot to choose from? Are there sticky licensing issues or is the photographer in control of their images? Is there a royalty on the images that makes your P&L beg for mercy? Are there items in the photos that will bring up issues. I don’t mean nudes. I mean cans of Coke or pictures of a Volkswagen Bug. I ran into a sticky problem once with a cover that was finally a winner after multiple rounds of comps. But there was one issue. The cover had a Volkswagen car on it and we found out that the folks at VW are merciless when it comes to using their cars likeness. We didn’t go back to the drawing board but we had to hire a photoshop ninja and consult legal for weeks. 

Ok, let’s say you do all that and you get a contract signed. (Yes, get a contract signed.) I spent 36 hours in Austin once trying to get a contract signed while at the photoshoot. If you think your leverage is gone before the shooting starts, wait till during. Yes, I had to spend weeks with legal. 

There are still a few things to consider.

The image has to frame the title or author name  and have a background that doesn’t clash with the title. The perfect title will fit in the right photo. You are looking for space and contrast. Sometimes you break these rules to great effect but until you are on that road keep it clean. 

One other thing is if photos have text, that can be distracting to your title and author name. However, with Maigret covers you will see words like, Hotel, Vacancy, Bar which seem to contradict this warning. I think these words and their context become like an image, the icon element of words that communicate as a picture and not letters.

Still I daydream. I bet the art director for these books changed out photos with titles.

Moved around titles. They sat clicking their mouse, “This title this image or this image.” It was probably like going to the eye doctor. “This one? Or..this one?”

Sometimes, some lucky pulse quickening times,  they knew the pic and the title were perfect from the get go-married up as it were. 

What else can we learn here? Our basic cover rule questions apply. Who is the star? The author? The title? The character? These books present a good exercise for those concerns. 

The star on all of these covers is of course the author’s name, Georges Simenon. But Maigret, while not Holmes or Poirot, also carries a lot of weight. I think they did a great job in balancing these elements. They even have a little Inspector Maigret icon to contend with. Each time, tucked neatly. 

When I saw the plan for 75 titles in 6 years, I thought they Probably whittled them off in sets of 3-4 every quarter. 75 over 6 years - 12 a year, 3 a quarter? Roughly, give or take a book. However  it plays out to 1 a month if you look here.

Honestly, that makes no sense to me.  Why wouldn’t the Publisher want bookstores to take 2-3 at a time? Shelf space is limited? Ok, I agree and really 80% of sales happen on Amazon and you have the algorithm  “If you buy X you might also like Y and Z.” It’s easier to get press for something once a quarter than every month. I don’t know. Maybe it was to be impressive with the onslaught but I feel like no one is aware of those things other than the Product Manager. Perhaps they made 4-5 at a time but doled them out in this manner? I’d imagine from a Production standpoint you’d rather have them in groups. But then you have a product made, cash tied up for a few weeks waiting to release? If I had to guess with what I know, I’d say the small size, low page count, and modest print runs mean the money here isn’t that significant, so none of this really matters. Well, in the comments let me know your thoughts. 

(They even boast in this advert, A New Translation Every Month. I would of asked the editor if they wanted to rephrase that but perhaps that’s picky)

I’ve read all of Wallender, Spade, Marlow, Archer, Poirot, and a healthy bit of the unhealthy Nero Wolf. Then, as I said, Lawrence Osboure mentioned Maigret. Then I saw that Faulker and Hemmingway both liked Maigret and read him for pleasure. My diet was solely American noir for much of my life but In recent years I  gravitated toward Poirot and Holmes but I have to say Maigret is my new favorite. I like him as much as Marlowe or Lew Archer.

Maigret stops for an espresso while on stake out. He stops for a beer at the pub and chats with the waitress to solve the case but it never feels twee. It feels like the pursuit of simple joys in a bleak world. Sitting and waiting, in a cafe, waiting for life. I find myself there more and more. When a case is at a dead end, he goes home and his wife has prepared a dish and is ready to drink wine and discuss matters of the garden and the office. 

He talks to everyone. I myself talk to the cash register person everywhere I go. I want to know what’s going on, what their day is like. What they see. What they are doing. When I went to China I talked to the valet guys. When I worked in furniture in New York I talked to truck drivers. These are the people that know what’s up. Maigret knows that too. 

The books are so short, so immensely readable, so prompt.  They are often compared to sketches. He wrote these books in about 9 days each. You can feel that, in the best way, when you sit with one. Well, I have many more to go, about 60 I believe but only have one question. When can I read another one? 

PS

Here’s an article I found. What a great title! Maigret and the Crime of Being Alive.

If you are still intrigued here is one more article. 

Please read Maigret. Please rave about these books. Bravo to the Penguin team for these titles. Lovely work.