Playing it straight: Cover conventions in 'grip lit'

Genre is a funny thing in the book trade: almost essential as a marketing tool, yet used too strictly, or taken as a metonym for too wide a range of titles, it inevitably attracts ire. The nom de guerre currently in vogue is “grip lit”. Whether one objects to the term and its use or not, it has, like every other fiction trend to have snowballed in recent memory, accrued an aesthetic all of its own. Continue reading at 'The Bookseller'

[ The Bookseller | 2016-09-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #grip lit #funny thing #book trade #recent memory

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Latest James Bond scribe says Idris Elba 'too street' to play 007 - and later apologizes

First of all, Anthony Horowitz may be a bestselling author in England, but he's not Ian Fleming. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-09-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #idris elba #anthony horowitz #bestselling author #ian fleming


Antonio Malpica, 1st Mexican SM Ibero-American Children’s Lit Prizewinner

Author Antonio Malpica Maury has become the first Mexican to win the SM Iberoamerican Children’s and YA Literature Award, which carries a $30,000 purse. The post Antonio Malpica, 1st Mexican SM Ibero-American Children’s Lit Prizewinner appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yo La Tengo runs for covers in 'Stuff Like That There'

Yo La Tengo, "Stuff Like That There" (Matador). In 1990, the Hoboken, N.J., rock band Yo La Tengo issued "Fakebook," an album of cover songs of artists including the Flamin' Groovies, the Kinks, Daniel Johnston, John Cale and others. It's a beautiful record, and its sort-of sequel is too. Like... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-08-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Tightens Its Grip on Digital Comics Distribution

The digital comics market crossed the $100 million sales threshold in 2014, and purchases from Amazon, following its acquisition of Comixology last year, could account for as much as 90% of it. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lethem's 'Best American Comics' Reveals Pettibon Cover

Best American Comics Series Editor Bill Kartalopoulos talks about this years volume guest edited by novelist Jonathan Lethem and gives us the first look at the cover by Raymond Pettibon. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #american comics


Edward Gorey: cover star of book design

The author and illustrator is much revered for his own weird and wonderful books, yet his 200-plus jacket designs are virtually ignored. Steven Heller celebrates his contribution to a unique era of publishingDeliciously and subversively cryptic, Edward St John Gorey’s books, plays, postcards,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #art director #large portion #art department


Discovering the screenplay of Joan Didion's 'Play It As It Lays'

Recently, I bought a copy of a 1972 anthology called "Works in Progress" that includes what appears to be the only published screenwriting by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne. The sample in question features the first 44 pages of "Play It As It Lays," the 1972 film based on Didion's novel of... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-07-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #joan didion


Revisit Fables’ Beautiful, Groundbreaking Comic Book Covers

Let's celebrate some of the best cover artwork comics fans have ever seen. The post Revisit Fables’ Beautiful, Groundbreaking Comic Book Covers appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2015-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jaipur Lit Festival Expands to Colorado, Marginalized Americans

The ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival comes to Boulder, Colorado this September and will focus on on Native American, Latino literature and more. The post Jaipur Lit Festival Expands to Colorado, Marginalized Americans appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Book Designers Judge Go Set a Watchman by Its Cover

Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee’s retro-facing sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird, hit bookshelves this week. The story of its discovery—it was actually Lee’s first draft of Mockingbird—and publication reads like a novel of its own, and the whole affair has been mired in controversy. But now it’s... Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2015-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harper lee #cover appeared


Microsoft is giving away over 200 eBooks covering Windows 10, Office 365 and more for free

Eric Ligman, Microsoft Director of Worldwide Partner Experience is once again giving away a large collection of useful eBooks covering widely used products including Windows 8 and 8.1, Windows 7, OneNote, Skype, Office 2013, Office 365, Azure, and Lync 2013. Since his last mega giveaway, Eric... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2015-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #eric ligman #large collection #tech enthusiasts #business people


Rowling pens Harry Potter play

Author J K Rowling has confirmed that a Harry Potter play, entitled "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child", will open in the West End next year. Rowling broke the news today (26th June) on Twitter, saying the play “will tell a new story, which is the result of a collaboration between writer Jack... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harry potter #cursed child #west end


Cross-dressing covers: how paperbacks are being sexed up for the summer

The jackets of last year’s big literary novels by male authors are undergoing a surprising seasonal transformationVisit your local bookshop as summer begins and you’ll invariably find last year’s big literary novels have undergone a transformation. Formerly dressed up in hardback to look like... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #male authors #local bookshop


Paul Bacon dies at 91; he revolutionized the design of book covers

Paul Bacon's name may be unfamiliar, but anyone who has browsed the bestseller racks over the last 60 years knows his work. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book covers #paul bacon


Poor Shakespeare: PRH Publishes Bard’s Plays in Emojis

Penguin Random House's new OMG Shakespeare series “takes the Bard’s original prose and replaces it with slang, text speak, and emoticons.” OMG, indeed. The post Poor Shakespeare: PRH Publishes Bard’s Plays in Emojis appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Classic book covers by Paul Bacon – in pictures

The designer who pioneered the ‘big book look’ - creating covers for more than 6,500 books, ranging from Catch-22 to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest - has died aged 91 in New York. Here are some of his best Continue reading... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #paul bacon #big book


Miley Cyrus and her pig: how to pose on a magazine cover with animals

Non-human cover stars are two-a-penny in the publishing industry. Just check out Miley with Bubba Sue on the new issue of Paper magazine. But, as many celebrities past and present show, you have to pick your companion with care…In the competitive world of magazine covers, you’re nobody unless... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishing industry #competitive world #fun twist


Wandering Hand on Bum Book Cover Causes Controversy

A new edition of Jilly Cooper's sexy novel, Riders, has moved a hand, previously on the bum, to a higher position — eliciting surprisingly strong reactions. The post Wandering Hand on Bum Book Cover Causes Controversy appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #controversy appeared #jilly cooper


Booksellers join debate on 'Riders' cover

Booksellers have expressed mixed views over the new cover look for Jilly Cooper’s Riders (Corgi), which Transworld has reissued to celebrate the book’s 30th birthday. Like the previous cover, the new one shows a woman from the waist down wearing a pair of white jodhpurs. The cover still... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #previous cover #jilly cooper #30th birthday


Jilly Cooper's Riders: why the toned-down cover?

Small but ‘unsexy’ adjustment to the jacket art for a new edition of horsey bonkbuster has provoked a startlingly big fussThere is a scandal going on in the world of books this week. And it’s not Philip Larkin’s distaste for literary parties, nor the depressing research showing that books about... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jilly cooper #daily mail