1st Edition
Judging a Book by Its Cover Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction
216 Pages
by
Routledge
216 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
How do books attract their readers? This collection takes a closer look at book covers and their role in promoting sales and shaping readers' responses. Judging a Book by Its Cover brings together leading scholars, many with experience in the publishing industry, who examine the marketing of popular fiction across the twentieth century and beyond. Using case studies, and grounding their... Read more
Contents: Introduction, Nicole Matthews; Part 1 Approaches to the Book Cover: The paperback evolution: Tauchnitz, Albatross and Penguin, Alistair McCleery; How books are positioned in the market: reading the cover, Angus Phillips; Relocating Liverpool in the 1990s: through the covers of regional saga fiction, Val Williamson; Empirical studies of the bookshop: context and participant observation in the study of the selling of science fiction and fantasy, Nickianne Moody. Part 2 What makes a Book Popular?: Literary prizes, production values and cover images, Elizabeth Webby; Book marketing and the Booker Prize, Claire Squires; Jerome K. Jerome and the paratextual staging of anti-elitism, Susan Pickford. Part 3 'The Record of the Film of the Book': Cultural Industries and Intertextuality: Pop goes the paperback, Gerry Carlin and Mark Jones; 'Now a major motion picture': the delicate business of selling literature through contemporary cinema, Rebecca N. Mitchell; In real life: book covers in the internet bookstore, Alexis Weedon. Part 4 Translating Covers: Moving Audiences and the Marketing of Books: Cover charge: selling sex and survival in lesbian pulp fiction, Melissa Sky; Addressing 'young adults'? The case of Francesa Lia Block, Chris Richards; Images, messages, and the paratext in Algerian women's writing, Pamela Pears; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Dr Nicole Matthews is lecturer, Media/Critical and Cultural Studies, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Nickianne Moody is Head of Media and Cultural Studies, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
’There lies the critical interest of Judging a Book by its Cover: that it can blend varying disciplines, genres, authors, critical approaches, and yet remain an accessible, coherent engagement with an unfairly isolated aspect of book production...this collection offers engaged and engaging critical perspectives that broaden and enrich our understanding of an aspect of the book that those of us who do most of our reading in university libraries rarely, if ever, see any more.’ M/C Review ’... a valuable collection of thirteen original articles relating to the marketing of books as material objects... Each chapter of this book is rich enough to deserve its own review.’The Internet Review of Books ’The strength of this rare collection resides in its empirical case studies, broad topical scope on the issues of book packaging and the collective insights from editors, authors, marketers, bookstore staff, and designer.’ Publishing Research Quarterly ’A flat-out good read... this work is highly recommended for academic libraries at institutions that have media and communication, publishing, literature or cultural studies programmes.’ Australian Library Journal
