Judging a Book by Its Cover: Fans, Publishers, Designers, and the Marketing of Fiction - Hardcover

Moody, Nickianne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0754657310 ISBN 13: 9780754657316

Publisher: Routledge, 2007

Synopsis

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 discussions historically and methodologically, the contributors address key themes in contemporary media, literary, publishing, and business studies related to globalisation, the correlation between text and image, identity politics, and reader reception. Topics include book covers and the internet bookstore; the links between books, the music industry, and film; literary prizes and the selling of books; subcultures and sales of young adult fiction; the cover as a signifier of literary value; and the marketing of ethnicity and lesbian pulp fiction. This exciting collection opens a new field of enquiry for scholars of book history, literature, media and communication studies, marketing, and cultural studies.

About this title

About the Author

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

Review

'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

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0754657310
• ISBN 13: 9780754657316
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 216
• Editor: Matthews Nicole