Book buying biases

[Tony C]

:-(

Well, that’s if I’m browse buying.

If it’s a book I particularly want it’s not an issue.

[Gangster Octopus]

Reverse ferret...

[ursus arctos]

Completely agree, in particular generic praise from a newspaper/periodical i don’t like. “A triumph” - The Daily Mail or “A stunning debut” - The Spectator would turn me off completely.
.

This is why certain cricket writers ask Lawrence Booth to blurb their books as "Editor of Wisden" rather than "Chief Cricjet Writer for the Daily Mail"

Sone also make the opposite request, depending on their target market

[MsD]

I went to Type Tuesday (an event for graphic designers at St Bride's) this week and the subject was designing book covers. It was fascinating to see the first drafts of designs, and those that were rejected, and the horrible ideas that some writers and publishing houses have for the books.
Let me see if I can link to it.

No, I can't.

"NICO TAYLOR AND JACK SMYTH’S COVER DESIGN WHEEL OF FORTUNE: Using real-life case studies across a variety of publishers, designers Nico and Jack will look at various aspects of the book cover design process: from briefing forms to the cover meeting; from the pressures of designing a bestseller to what makes something ‘good’ … and much more.

ANNA MORRISON is an award-winning freelance book cover designer. Her work has been featured in The Guardian, Creative Review, Print, Lit Hub and The Type Directors Club. Before going freelance in 2019, she worked as an in-house designer at Random House and 4th Estate and was formerly the Art Director for Pushkin Press. Anna now works with large and independent publishers both in the UK and internationally. The majority of her design work is for adult trade fiction and non-fiction books."

You kind of had to be there (and see the PowerPoint).

[MsD]

I'm a book junkie, had to force myself not to buy yet another book about fonts at that event. A horrible cover can put me off and a gorgeous cover can draw me in. If it's a must-have book I will look for the edition with the nicest cover*. If it's read-once popular fiction then I'll happily get it on Kindle.
As for the blurbs - I've written some bs in my time so like to think I can see through that, and would look at creds/reviews if in doubt.
* not true of academic books where you need the latest edition, even if fugly.

[MsD]

Review of the Jaws cover, here.
https://bookcoverreview.co.uk/reviews/jaws

[Amor de Cosmos]

I went to Type Tuesday (an event for graphic designers at St Bride's) this week and the subject was designing book covers. It was fascinating to see the first drafts of designs, and those that were rejected, and the horrible ideas that some writers and publishing houses have for the books.

I'd have loved that. It's one of the advantages of living in a city the size of London. There's no chance anyone would organize something on those lines here.

[tee rex]

We had a (more flippant) thread on this a few years ago. I was serious about the "Acknowledgements" though, and it applies more than ever to UK/USA politics. No, I do not think I want to read a "reappraisal" of Trump, Johnson or Brexit, except to say they were even worse than feared. Time, money and blood pressure is saved by checking to see who stumped up the cash, along with the author's previous work.

On a more trivial note, it's time to ban all titles including "80", as in "Around the world in ...". If you want me to buy your book about truck stops in Queensland, don't call it "Around Queensland in 80 truck stops", or around anywhere in 80 pubs, railway stations, music albums, poems, cheeses ...

https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...ange-your-life

[Tony C]

This is why certain cricket writers ask Lawrence Booth to blurb their books as "Editor of Wisden" rather than "Chief Cricjet Writer for the Daily Mail"

Sone also make the opposite request, depending on their target market

Booth is probably the least Daily Mail-ish writer you could imagine.

[imp]

https://www.onetouchfootball.com/for...ange-your-life[/QUOTE]

Man, I killed that thread. It was like everyone apart from me was Irvine Welsh's bestie and they all went silent and turned away while I was standing there going, "Am I right, guys? Guys?"

Also funny that three out of my four books meet the criteria for not buying a book as laid out in tee rex's OP - two puns and a play on words of a literary classic.

[Fussbudget]

I went to Type Tuesday (an event for graphic designers at St Bride's) this week and the subject was designing book covers. It was fascinating to see the first drafts of designs, and those that were rejected, and the horrible ideas that some writers and publishing houses have for the books.

Yeah I've seen similar talks before and the early drafts from designers are often miles better than what ends up on the shelves. Book covers should be one of the most creative areas of graphic design but are instead one of the most micromanaged and focus-grouped, it must be soul-crushing to be a designer in that industry and be constantly overruled by the marketers. You'd probably have more creative freedom doing food packaging these days

[Fussbudget]

Those are so wrong. As is the weird size of American books.

Standard book sizes vary by country, but aren't the UK outliers in having those giant, almost A5-size paperbacks?

I do most of my reading on public transport so I pretty much never buy any new UK paperbacks (except the rare ones printed in A-format) as there's no way I'm lugging those bricks around. I buy a lot of second hand 70s/80s editions instead when they were still sensibly sized

[ursus arctos]

Also popular in the US as an indicia of "quality"

I'm still not sure what Spoony is referring to.

[Levin]

I think it's like cook books. UK size., everyone was happy with a particular size (A format for things like penguin classics and just paperbacks for cook books) and then you get one or two prestige publications that go for B format or massive hardbacks with full colour photography. But then they sell well so everyone drifts to the larger size.

I probably don't have more cookbooks than my parents did. They take up three or four times the shelf space though.

On US sizes, I got The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Long Dark Teatime of the Soul while we were in the US in about 1990. They were both smaller than my other paperbacks and had the page edges dyed a bright yellow.

[ursus arctos]

The crossover from "prestige" cookbooks into coffee table books/impressive gifts has been unfortunate for those of us who actually use them to cook from.

[San Bernardhinault]

It's also unfortunate for those of us who don't want coffee table books and who use the internet for recipes but still get gifts.

[ursus arctos]

But that is a storage/display issue, as opposed to an utility issue.

"Prestige" cookbooks take up a rather significant volume of the surface area I have available to prepare food.

[Huey666]

I try not to get put off by the politics of who's on the blurb (even Tories can appreciate good books, surely), unless it's someone really awful.

For example, I just finished reading Simon Jenkins' Short History of Europe and really enjoyed it, even though he's obviously a big Tory. But he's a good writer who knows his stuff, and there's no particular agenda being pushed. But if it was someone like, I dunno, Tucker Carlson or Nadine Dorries (i.e. someone who obviously doesn't read books except to own the libs, man) then it's a firm no thank you.

In fairness, I'd probably be the same with certain people on the left too (though there are fewer of them). Like, a recommendation from Jolyon Maugham? Hmmm suddenly I'm not too sure........

[Jobi1]

I didn't think I had any such biases, but now I think about it as a general rule (subject of course to whims and moods) I do tend to steer clear of any books where the author's name is in larger type on the cover than the book title.

[Etienne]

I won't buy any children's books where I have heard of the author from something other than writing. I have a similar preference with regards to adult literature, but it's less hard and fast.