Judging a Book by Its Cover

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.

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

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.