Physical books compete with digital versions - that would be a reason for LESS budget for the paper cover. Some has to be devoted to the digital marketing. Som

Physical books compete with digital versions - that would be a reason for LESS budget for the paper cover. Some has to be devoted to the digital marketing. Some authors have the luxury of going all in on the artistic. That does exist. For most though, the book needs to sell or there won't be a next book. Constraints like that are what a marketing or design brief is supposed to explain. It's stuff the publisher understands long before they call in the cover artist or layout designer. I'm with you on the surprising choices we often encounter. But then these problems were common when paper was king. The distractions of the move to digital won't help. For example, far too little margin next to a stiff binding. For example, ebooks with ludicrous epub rendering (on book readers that don't sit on the publisher's desk). Puzzling.