*Note: I actually drafted this ages - yonks - ago, but general ineptitude delayed me from putting it up until now*
Writing this blog has exposed to me how aesthetically inept some people are. I'm not the most visually gifted girl ever, which is why I haven't strayed too much from blogspot's set-piece suggestions. With more time and confidence on my hands, I might do at a later date. But for now, for all its other faults, at least 'generic' can mean 'safe'. Some of the more adventurous desgins suggested have made me vomit. Despite the user functionality of blogspot - somewhere between helpfully patronising and humourously encouraging - the design team clearly think that we're all still in love with tacky '90s design shots. I'd like to show you an example of what I mean, but that would mean I'd have to go so far as to actually use one of the suggested backgrounds.
Anyway, these thoughts lead me to think about book designs. So, what better a post than something about cover designs of books. (Dear marketing or design departments: this is not something I want to go into, though if you ask me questions about it at interview, I will give - only moderately - more sophisticated responses than the above paragraph.) Since working in a well known bookshop, I have sold *I don't know how many bloody copies* of David Nicholls' One Day.
Only when a friend handed her copy to me a while back did I finally twig that the weird, off colour, funny shape was actually the silhouette of the faces of the characters. God, I should never work in cover design! The image isn't a great one, nonetheless. Orange - yes, so it's attention seeking, but we all know that really just means 'headache-inducing', don't we? I find the 'quirky' angle of the title just a little irritating too. I am sick of this cover: clearly very little thought was put into it (relying instead on the strength of the author's name for book sales - of course, I'd like that to be the case for every book ever sold, but that just isn't, nor will it ever be, the case) and someone thought: 'well, I can't remember the last time I saw an orange book!'. Might there be a reason for that?
(Having just typed that, I've just been on to google to check. Typing 'books with orange covers' leads me to this little gem: I don't think any of the covers are especially strong - with the possible exception of the Elmore Leonard title - but I think it's so cute that in a time of recession, wars, and stonking great budget changes, we - us ridiculous bibliophiles - find the time to sit around and write about the colour of books.)
Something else that can put me off - or equally, make me purchase - a book is the choice of media quotations on the front. Said friend is, like every buddy of mine, hyper astute and intelligent, and I hadn't really thought in depth about this issue before we then had a conversation about the choice of quotations on the front. Something that might appeal to readers of both Marian Keyes and The Times? Well, I can only assume that the book must be pretty generic then. And hardly the most insightful commentators. Why not name the particular journo from the paper? Nick Hornby.... excuse me if I don't cover my thoughts on him. Anyway, this publisher's choice of media snippets doesn't exactly scream 'stop what you're doing and buy this now'. More 'Hello? Anyone? Anyone? We're facing really tough times in the finance department so we're sacrificing any integrity we ever had by prostituting ourselves to the whim of a bunch of faceless reviewers. Please buy'. 'A wonderful, wonderful book' is hardly earth-shattering. In its most literal sense, of course it says something about the book: it also reveals something more disconcerting about the priorities and concerns of the publisher. That is, a total unwillingness to not produce crap. (Not that's he's a crap writer, per se. He just needs to stick to films, not novels. And my point throughout has referred to the cover, not the contents.)
You might be able to tell that I'm getting annoyed. Of course, the covers for Chick Lit are just awful. See here, a Catherine Alliot:
If you'd like to go to her website, you'll see there's been no shame on the part of the designers for keeping things formulaic. Now, I'm all for the 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' approach - until it prevents innovation and encourages stagnation. Which I think it does here. I see why the publishers have done this - after all, isn't chick lit aimed at women who can barely read as it is, and need the help of pictures to even pick the book off the shelf - but really....I mean, really?!?!?
Anyway. One mustn't get too angry. So let me leave you with something beautiful:
Apparently, Fitzgerald absolutely fell in love with this on first seeing it, and can't one see why!
