Genre fiction marketing follow-up - Lou Anders and Mark Chadbourn

Sorry folks, another long, train-of-thought essay of exactly the sort I promised myself I wasn't going to get overly involved in any more. But then, there have been a couple of very interesting follow-up posts to my last post on George Mann's original thoughts about the apparently essential dilemma of marketing genre fiction to either the masses or the hardcore fans, which I felt I had to add to.

Firstly, 'The Big Book Cover Post: Wizards and Spaceships' from Lou Anders of Pyr Books; another specialist genre imprint that I have a huge amount of respect for.

Lou makes a number of good points, a couple of which I'd particularly like to comment on:

"Personally, I do not like the move away from illustration to design that I see coming out from a lot of houses (though it has its place for individual books - I'm talking about a general trend). I think to forgo illustration is to sacrifice one of the core strengths of SF&F and one of its unique selling points."

Generally, I prefer well-illustrated genre fiction book covers to ones that are produced with a strictly 'graphic design' aesthetic in mind. But that's just a personal preference, and doesn't hold true 100% of the time; I've seen some striking and well-designed 'graphic' covers as well. And as fantasy author Joe Abercrombie points out in the comments section of Lou's post: "I don't know that the wider audience ... are necessarily put off by genre covers, but they certainly are put off by REALLY BAD covers."

Absolutely right. It applies to hardcore genre fans and probably tenfold to the general reader. Genre fiction book covers ought to be a demonstration of self-confidence and celebration, yes. They should unashamedly wear their genre hearts on their sleeves, absolutely. If you're selling a book about dragons and want to attract the attention dragon-fans, then a dragon on the cover is a good idea? Just make sure it's a stylish, well-illustrated dragon that has a measure of genuine artistic merit in its own right, not some cartoonish, lumpen sketch, or even the dragon-fans might say no.

And what if the book has some genre elements, but has the potential to appeal to a wider audience - through the exceptional quality of the prose, or the range of themes, concepts and sub-texts the author explores, or the incredible catharsis inherent in the principle character's life story or situation, etc. - what if it's a whole lot more than a simple scion quest / space war adventure story? How do you strike the balance; ensure you don't cross that oh, so tricky invisible line? Lou Anders has an answer:

"...you do so neither by hiding / omitting your genre elements nor presenting them in an off-putting, garish manor, but by presenting them in a mature, intriguing, attractive, inclusive, compelling 21st century light."

Which, by the way, I think applies equally to everything from the cover blurb to the author photo on the inside sleeve to the content of the accompanying press release that's sent out with review copies, as much as it does to the cover art itself.

Returning to cover art, specifically, Lou also quotes from an off-thread conversation with illustrator / artist / designer John Picacio who sums up the reason why the genre really does need to give itself a shot in the arm when it comes to self-confidence and belief:

"The field must visually celebrate itself, rather than run away from itself ... When sf/fantasy publishing shows an insecurity about its visual strengths, that insecurity rubs off negatively not only on our audiences, but in the broader media, and we push ourselves backwards every time we do that."

If we, as genre readers and genre fans, stopped worrying so much about what the wider mainstream media thought about our books - taking it to the extreme: ignoring the mainstream media completely and focusing almost entirely on the specialist genre presses, blogs, webzines, print 'zines - then the mainstream media will soon get bored and leave us the hell alone to enjoy ourselves in peace, right?

Well, fantasy / horror author Mark Chadbourn thinks this could be a dangerous road to go down, and says so in 'Selling Fantasy by the Pound' on his JackofRavens.com blog.

Mark was a journalist for many years before he became a full-time fiction writer and also writes for TV here in the UK, so he's seen the impact of the aforementioned Long Tail economics on three media channels: music, print and television.

Mark's main argument against a policy of appealing to the core genre fiction fans centres on his experience of the music industry:

"...if it [the fan-focused approach] was applied to the whole industry I would have real problems. In the music industry, where I worked for a while, the marketeers have struggled. By focusing on the tribalist music fan that has emerged over the last twenty years, they have had trouble gaining breakout hits from genres. Attention shifted to marketing bland fare that would appeal to all tastes to gain those mainstream hits, and sales have fallen dramatically (yes, I know there are many other factors, but this is a core concern)."

Which brings in an earlier discussion on 'quality fantasy', which was actually sparked by another Chadbourn post, 'Are RPGs killing fantasy?', in which he called for fantasy writers to embrace their weird side and distance themselves from the clichés and standardised fantasy tropes made overly familiar by a plethora of fantasy-themed computer games.

Can you achieve all those aims at once? Can you write high-quality, literary genre fiction that's successfully marketed to a core audience of fans, yet still has enough break-out potential to escape the genre-ghetto and achieve mass-market sales?

Mark thinks you can:

"I love fantasy, science fiction and horror. I believe these three genres are appealing to mainstream tastes, if some way can be found to communicate their values to the casual browser. I'm afraid that an across-the-board retreat to the 'core fan model' will ghettoize them even further and lead to a long-term decline. The best way for the industry, I think is - to use music industry analogy - hardcore labels for the purist, and general labels to attract new users."

Well, surely this model already exists within the publishing industry, and has for years? If you'll excuse the lengthy aside and apologies to anyone not specifically mentioned by name:

At one extreme you have the very definite 'hardcore' independent presses - such as the UK's Tartarus Press, who cater for very specialist niches. Moving up the scale you find successful niche-indies like Pendragon (horror fiction in all its guises), Telos (TV guides and genre novellas) and Elastic (genre short fiction collections and anthologies). Then there are larger indies - PS Publishing in the UK, Subterranean Press, Cemetery Dance et. al. in the US - who produce a wider range of authors and formats across the whole spectrum of genres, and also larger specialists such as Titan (UK graphic novels).

Crossing to the 'corporate' ladder we start with smaller imprints, whose publication range may actually be narrower than the larger indies, but whose financial backing means they can usually spend more on advertising, marketing and online promotion and so reach a wider audience. Solaris are one such: self-declared as a midlist imprint, still relatively small but growing strongly and with the financial muscle of Games Workshop and the Black Library publishing operation behind them, backing up their online know-how.

Around about the same level are the genre titles that are published by major corporates who don't have a specific genre imprint - Penguin, Transworld, Hodder, Headline and co. all put out titles with varying degrees of blatant genre-ness as part of their overall fiction lists.

Finally, we get to the larger, longer-established, specific genre imprints of major corporate publishing houses, including HarperCollins' Voyager, Orion's Gollancz Books and Little Brown's Orbit. The latter, with the recent launch of Orbit US and Orbit Australia, now serves the three major English-speaking markets (four, including Canada via the US), giving it immense reach and influence. And they all bring a highly effective mix of established bestsellers and innovative new talent to the market.

Thanks to Gollancz and Orbit in particular, a number of new genre authors have been published for the first time in the past couple of years, and others who have established themselves in their local markets (Australian author Margo Lanagan) or via the independent presses (Joe Hill with his debut collection 20th Century Ghosts from PS, now a Gollancz author) have subsequently been introduced to a much wider audience; some of those authors even making national bestseller lists in the process (Trudi Canavan, for instance).

So surely, with that sort of established mix of 'hardcore' and 'general' labels, it's just a question of the writer deciding which audience their work is most likely to appeal to and then approaching a publisher who is geared towards publishing for that audience?

Well, of course it's nowhere near as simple as that, and Mark Chadbourn has a few further words of warning for the genre writer:

"But that is a fiendish and crippling trap for the writer. Once you establish yourself in one pool or the other it will be very hard to crossover and gain, on the one hand, the new readers and wider sales that sustain your career, and, on the other, credibility that is just as valuable a commodity in the internet-empowered world."

So it sounds like you can either - as a genre author - choose to write specialised, credibility-rich, literary fiction, knowing full well that you'll probably end up appealing to a much smaller pool of potential readers (writing for the Long Tail audience), or narrow your horizons; dumbing-down in the process, in order to appeal to the RPG-influenced, bland-fare consuming mass market and (hopefully) laugh all the way to the bank (moving your work away from the 'long tail' and into the 'short head', where the bestsellers feed).

Of course, you could try do both at the same time. Many authors do, either openly or - I'm sure - pseudonymously.

Or you could try to find another way: by helping the readership to raise its standards; to expect, to want, to demand much more from their genre fiction, and thereby move the mainstream audience closer to the credible, literary end of the spectrum. In other words, expanding the middle ground between 'long tail' and 'short head' (it would help if I had time to draw the graph, I'll try to add one at a later date) and creating greater potential for higher quality fiction to thrive.

If the readership demands richer, better quality genre fiction, and the readership then votes with its credit cards and buys more of it, then the publishers of the world will respond by publishing more of it. And I know for a fact that this would make a lot of genre fiction publishers immensely happy.

Anyhow, I'm going to go away and ruminate some more, see if I can pull a few thoughts together into something resembling a reasonably coherent framework. Or a polemic. Or another rambling essay (most likely). Won't happen for a while yet though... far too much interesting work happening right now, and an imminent and much-needed holiday to enjoy as well.

Feel free to comment away if the urge takes you. I'll try to keep track, but can't promise anything like a coherent response for a couple of weeks or so...

October 24, 2007 | Filed Under Books, Marketing, Publishing, Work, Writing | 4 Comments

Essential reading: George Mann on packaging the SF & Fantasy genres

George Mann of Solaris Books has posted an insightful piece on the Solaris approach towards the design, packaging and presentation of their genre fiction book covers, in a feature called 'Marrying Authors to their Market: a Genre Perspective', over on the Solaris Books main website.

He opens with a couple of paragraphs that neatly explain the two principle strategies that are open to genre publishers when it comes to choosing a cover design, along with the primary risks associated with each:

1) Attempt to reach as wide an audience as theoretically possible - primarily by 'neutralising' the cover in order to avoid scaring away potential mainstream book-buyers - which runs the risk that the book might get lost in a no-mans'-land somewhere between the two.

2) Target the 'core' genre fiction audience - by making it blatantly obvious through the design of the book cover that this is a genre title with little or no pretensions to mainstream appeal whatsoever - which runs the risk of limiting the sales potential to a relatively small segment of the overall market.

Solaris Books, since their inception and launch earlier this year, have stuck determinedly to option 2) and it's an approach which has paid handsome dividends, as George tells us:

"For Solaris, this approach has so far served us proud. The list is defiantly midlist, aimed at a core readership, and as both individuals and publishers we revel in the genre, in all its aspects and forms – novels, movies, manga, comics. We celebrate our inner geeks. Although we recognise there are other successful ways to package books and appeal to readers, we've chosen to go in this direction. Our books look like science fiction and fantasy novels, with all the stereotypical trappings, and we've received a great deal of praise from both critics and readers for our celebration and support of the genre. Our lists – both Solaris and The Black Library – go from strength-to-strength, and for now, our strategy remains steadfast: we publish books for SF/F fans, for the SF/F section of the bookshop."

Of course, just sticking any old space ship or dragon on a book cover won't guarantee success. You still have to come up with a design that's striking, appeals to the right audience, and yet isn't so crushingly, embarrassingly awful that even the most die-hard genre fiction fan will be too embarrassed to be seen reading the book on public transport. Which is something else that Solaris have managed quite brilliantly to-date, with a selection of (imho) extremely good covers, like these:

Solaris book of New Science Fiction ed. by George Mann

Solaris book of New Fantasy ed. by George Mann

I think this is absolutely the right approach to take, and the roaring success of Solaris is something that every genre publisher should be paying attention to. But the 'packaging and cover design' riff only tells half the story.

We live in an age of increasingly influential Long Tail economics (see Wikipedia for a useful summary: "products that are in low demand or have low sales volume can collectively make up a market share that rivals or exceeds the relatively few current bestsellers and blockbusters, if the store or distribution channel is large enough"), and genre fiction is a product area that's massively impacted by the principles of the theory.

As students of the Long Tail know and as Chris Anderson makes clear in his book of the same title (which, incidentally, every publisher and author working in genre fiction needs to read): in this Internet-enabled information age, data on the variety and wide availability of a range of products in a given product area is - for practical purposes - both limitless and free.

From the point of view of the Long Tail audience for a particular product, the most pressing task is therefore to filter that vast flood of data in order to select the products that offer the best fit for the customer's needs. In short: they need to boost the signal-to-noise ratio to the point where they can reach an informed purchasing decision. Similarly, from the point of view of the producer, the trick is to somehow rise above the vast sea of info-noise; to make their product stand out and be noticed, yet to do so in a manner that emphasises its authentic appeal to the potential customer.

One of the best ways to accomplish both these tasks is via the medium of key, relevant information aggregators; those processes and processors who cut through the noise, pick out the best products on offer and then tell other people about them. Customers need to find trusted aggregators whose taste coincides with their own and who can be relied upon to tell it to them straight. Producers need to develop strong relationships with those same aggregators, in order to keep their products in focus and secure as much quality, targeted coverage as possible.

In the case of genre fiction, the aggregators take the shape of genre news websites, regular bloggers, knowledgeable booksellers, reputable critics and reviewers. Publishers and authors who understand the theories and forces involved are already tapping the ability of these aggregators to filter, disseminate and broadcast their knowledge-backed recommendations to a targeted, relevant, interested audience, and as a result they are driving forward sales of their titles.

George and the Solaris crew understand the Long Tail principle (along with a whole bunch of others to do with permission-based marketing, inherent remarkability and concepts like the ideavirus) which is why you'll always see them at genre conventions and gatherings of fans, why they maintain a regularly-updated and interesting blog (When Gravity Fails) and why if you're a reviewer, or a blogger, or a web 'zine editor, and you drop them a line, there's a good chance - if your site is professionally presented, or well enough regarded in terms of its Technorati authority, or if your enthusiasm is just incredibly obvious and obviously genuine - that they'll get right back to you with whatever information you need, perhaps a review copy of the book you're interested in, maybe even a promise to pass on your questions to one of their authors for an email interview.

All this is because at Solaris they know that by reaching out to those key aggregators they're potentially talking to many more (two, or three, or a dozen, or a few thousand) interested, enthusiastic, switched-on potential book-buyers. As a result, you'll find reviews and general coverage of Solaris titles all over the blogosphere and wider genre-flavoured corners of the Internet: 40,600+ hits on Google for "Solaris Books", and counting...

The Solaris crew aren't alone out there, either: there are publishers and business managers and publicists at many other independent presses - and even some of the larger genre imprints - who have an equal eye for and appreciation of the possibilities on offer. But alas, some of those guys are hamstrung by the corporate rule-book; locked into dictated, old-school ways of doing business which haven't changed much since Amazon appeared on the scene; which is why they might not seem quite so active (although dammit, they're doing their best).

And then there are those guys who, for whatever reason - sheer disinterest, the corporate grind, a genuine lack of time to read and re-train, higher-ups who don't give a shit about genre fiction and don't care who knows it, whatever - just don't seem to get it. If you're a genre author who's stuck with one of those guys as your publisher / editor / publicist, then all is not lost; but you probably are going to have to roll your sleeves up and get stuck in yourself. But then, that's no bad thing either, providing you do it well and do it with enthusiasm and genuine interest.

Anyhow, to return (at last) to the original topic of cover-design and offer a quick summary:

As a matter of policy, Solaris Books have declared that they're very firmly targeted at the 'core' genre market, and the 'core' genre market has responsed well, by buying Solaris titles. But I think the essential 'genre-ness' - and high quality - of their cover design is just one key ingredient of their overall recipe for success; their aesthetic excellence is backed up by the whole gestalt attitude of everyone at Solaris Books, one that says: "We're genre fiction fans, and we're publishing for genre fiction fans, which is why we want to talk to them and find out about the sort of books they want to read; so we can make sure that those are the books we publish..."

I think it's a great policy, indeed quite possibly the only one that really makes any sort of Long Tail sense. After all, why waste money, effort and a book's increasingly limited and precious exposure-time (one senior genre fiction editor revealed at a panel at this year's Fantasycon that most UK bookstores now only give titles a six week lead-time before they insist on returning them to the publisher for full credit) on a scatter-shot approach that you hope will result in increased sales and market-share, when instead you could focus all your energy on a key segment of the overall audience; one that's that's already receptive and ready to hear what you have to say?

In short: until you know you've talked to as many fans and regular readers of a given book's relevant genre(s) as you can possibly reach - as many interested, excited, purchase-pre-disposed, potential book-buyers as you can find - then why on Earth would you want to take the gamble of trying to talk to just anyone? Especially when it ought to be painfully obvious by now that most non genre-fiction readers and fans just aren't listening...

So, yes, I look forward to seeing many more fine and very definite genre fiction titles with well-designed, eye-catching genre-fiction artwork on their covers, from Solaris and all the other publishers with a similarly switched-on outlook. I hope those same books will continue to fly off the bookstore shelves and online catalogues. And, speaking as one of those aforementioned information aggregators, I hope to continue to play my own small part in that process...

October 18, 2007 | Filed Under Marketing, Publishing, Work, Writing | 2 Comments

More follow-ups and reaction to the current 'quality fantasy' debate

UK fantasy author Joe Abercrombie has added his own thoughts on the topic, highlighting George R.R. Martin's ongoing Song of Ice and Fire series as a good example of how a concentrated, focused dose of innovation within a narrative that's structured on familiar fantasy themes and tropes can produce impressive results. As Joe says: "Epic fantasy is, in book terms, extremely successful and so it tends also to be conservative. But that doesn't mean you can't offer something new while still working within the form," and adds a few pithy thoughts on the non-desirability of too much innovation, which will do nothing to diminish his burgeoning reputation as a notorious potty-mouth...

Meanwhile, in the comments on my previous post, Mark Newton - of the UK's Solaris Books - points out the hard commercial realities afflicting the publishing industry at the moment, due to the mergers of various conglomerates into even larger super-conglomerates and the internal pressures that this generates, which he hopes will allow mid-list publishers - like, say, the UK's Solaris Books - to step in and offer a wider range of material to exactly those readers who are crying out for more than just the same-old, same-old.

And in the same thread, David Hebblethwaite wonders: "...how many writers of unchallenging fantasy actually do make a comfortable living from their writing? Are there any writers of good quality material who make a living; and, if so, what differentiates them from writers of similar stuff who do not?" Good questions. Any writers out there care to comment?

Also, SF Diplomat, pondering the issue further, asks whether the problem only applies to fantasy and why, indeed, that should be the case: "...why is it fantasy's job to be weird and different? Isn't the problem, from Harrison's perspective, that there aren't enough genre publications in general that are all that interested in The Other?" And he's rewarded in the comments on that piece with a visit from the man himself, who elucidates further on his original polemic: "To me, the very word 'fantasy' is what's at issue here, & my rant really asks the question, 'How do we bring the fantastic back to fantasy?' ... It's my contention that, by normalising and rationalising 'myth' and 'magic' the sub-genre you call 'non-weird populist' fantasy has become actually anti-fantastic. As a result, the appetite for the genuinely fantastic is less well served."

And finally, a certain Mr GBH Hornswoggler, Gent. is terribly, terribly bored by yet another debate on the death of quality genre fiction. Well dammit Mr Hornswoggler, but if we all spent as much time reading and writing blogs as you do then we'd all be just as well-informed and just as adroitly cynical about the whole jejune mess, I'm sure. But until that happy day, you'll just have to excuse some of us for being shallow... ;)

Mind you, our Mr H also makes a rather important point, opening with: "Insert my standard rant about the world primarily needing books that real readers will want to spend their own money on." Yes, this is exactly what we do need. As I posted in the comments thread back on Mr Chadbourn's original piece this morning: 'Without a receptive audience, any brave pioneers leaving the beaten track will run the risk of ending up in the literary wilderness - legends in their own literary lifetime, perhaps, but more than likely unable to sustain a decent income.'

So what we need to do is prime the readers to be more receptive to the sort of quality work that we're all pretty much in agreement here about wanting to see.

Again, more on that later in the week. Hopefully.

October 9, 2007 | Filed Under Publishing, Writing | 5 Comments

Paul Raven on the Genre Ghetto

If you've been following the conversational thread that was kicked off by the On Fantasy... entry I posted the other day, you might also be interested to read Paul Raven's take on the 'Genre Ghetto' meme over at his Velcro-City Tourist Board blog.

Paul makes the very valid point that folks like us - genre fiction bloggers and blog-readers - probably have an overly-optimistic view of the health of the genre, as we're likely to be far more aware of the wealth of new talent on offer than the average genre book-buyer in the high-street might be.

And as it's the average etc. who gets to determine - through those all-conquering forces of supply and demand - just what gets published and therefore determines the availability and depth of the genre fiction field at high-street level, the question then becomes: how to avoid a situation whereby the interesting stuff published at the margins becomes marginalised even more, to the point of non-viability.

Paul argues for a more effective adoption of the technology available; which I totally agree with, hence all my recent talk of the need for increasingly sophisticated and trusted information filtering mechanisms (blogs, review websites, author recommendations of other author's work) to help the more discerning reader find the good stuff in the first place and then make an informed purchasing decision.

Paul also argues that:

"...mainstream publishing is a monoculture. Genre has always been somewhat of an independent annexe to it, and I think that in the long run its future survival is dependent on that becoming more the case than less...

He's saying that we dwellers-within should pick up the ghetto, carry it out of the city, then circle the wagons and start our own township out on the plains. Again, I'm all for that, although to be honest I was under the impression that this was pretty much happening already.

And I have always thought that there's far more mileage for genre publishers in concentrating on talking to genre readers and genre fans, than there is ever likely to be in any attempt to persuade some minute fraction of the mainstream readership to come on down to the ghetto they're so scared of and take a look around (we promise not to mug you while you're here - honest...) More on that in later posts, workload allowing.

Anyway, Paul's is a damn good contribution to the ongoing debate. Well worth a read.

May 23, 2007 | Filed Under Publishing | 1 Comment

Last call for BFS 2007 nominations

The British Fantasy Society If you're a British Fantasy Society member, you have until the end of the day to send in your nominations for this year's British Fantasy Awards for work published or produced during 2006. The voting will then open sometime in the next couple of months and the winners will be announced at this year's Fantasycon in September.

There are two new categories this year: 'Best non-fiction' (I'll go out on a limb and predict that Cinema Macabre is a good prospect for that one) and the rather nebulous-sounding 'Best Newcomer' (for a specific title first published in 2006? A specific project or venture first launched in 2006? A writer first published, anywhere, in 2006?); for which recommendations are sought, but which will be decided by a panel of judges.

Slightly annoyingly, the BFS still haven't addressed the issue of the 'Best Small Press' category, which I've been muttering about for years. In recent years the shortlist has included a number of small presses (as you'd most likely understand the term to apply: independent amateur and / or semi-pro publishers, in other words) as well as small press publications (one year both PS Publishing and its magazine publication Postscripts were both short-listed, which most probably split the vote) and even websites; our own UKSFBN-precursor site, The Alien Online, was short-listed a couple of times in recent years. Which was very gratifying, of course, but also extremely wrong, as none of us (myself, Sandy Auden and our fellow contributors) would ever have considered ourselves to be a 'small press' per se.

Hence my minor agitation towards re-naming the category something like 'Best Independent Press or Publication', which I think could conceivably cover a multitude of sins and also be a lot more comprehensible to the BFS voters. I suggested it when I was on the committee a few years back, then brought it up at a couple of AGMs, but was told I had to send some sort of official letter of request to the committee. Never quite got round to doing that (so I suppose I can't have been that bothered, really...) but partly also because I didn't want it to sound like sour grapes on my part.

The committee has, however, finally combined the 'Best Anthology' and 'Best Collection' awards (presumably to free up enough in the kitty for the new, 'Best non-fiction' statuette) so fair play to them. Hey, I wonder if websites could be nominated for that new 'Best non-fiction' category? Hmmm. It doesn't specifically say so on the voting info page. Too late, anyhow. I sent in my recommendations a week ago.

And now, all you BFS members should do the same.

May 7, 2007 | Filed Under Books, Publishing | 3 Comments

Genre Cover of the Month - Hmmm…

Sorry folks, but I haven't quite managed to get my act together and post the second GCOTM poll just yet. As a result, I think I might need to have a bit of a re-think about the general concept...

Trophy image by 'fishing' via sxc.hu The first poll went well, with 97 votes registered before I closed it (which, I believe, means it was actually statistically relevant) and I got some very good email feedback in terms of how useful this sort of thing could be for publishers and booksellers alike. The trouble is, it obviously requires a timely commitment from me, in terms of performing the necessary post-writing and image-manipulation admin, in order to get the new item out for the beginning of a given month. And I obviously missed the boat for March (apologies to everyone who sent in suggestions, but please see yesterday's post on work scheduling for possible reasons why...)

So, what do you folks think? I could make it a quarterly thing rather than monthly to begin with, and then if interest really does take off I could increase the frequency. Or I could just post individual examples of what I - or anyone else who cares to nominate a cover - thinks is a great bit of effective cover design, and we could then discuss individual cases on their relative merits. Or should I focus on comparing and contrasting - editions prepared for different markets, similarly themed / targeted titles, that sort of thing - instead? Or do a bit of all of the above?

Lots of possibilities, and it is a subject area I'm definitely interested in exploring further. I'm just wondering what the most effective way forward might be and what you folks might be interested in reading about. Answers on a comment-shaped postcard would be most welcome...

April 18, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | 5 Comments

Genre Cover of the Month for February '07

We have a winner! With a very respectable 42% of the 98 votes cast in last month's poll, the GCotM accolade for Feb '07 goes to éditions Bragelonne's cover for their French-language translation of The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: Les Mensonges de Locke Lamora.

Bragelonne cover for 'Les Mensonges de Locke Lamora'

I really liked this cover myself, for two reasons: firstly because I thought it might have been a Les Edwards / Edward Miller creation (although after a quick email to Les I discovered that this wasn't the case), and secondly because I'm a sucker for the architecture of imaginary places. I tend not to be all that good at visualising locations when I'm reading a book, so it's always fascinating to see how someone with some genuine artistic talent can interpret a scene or setting for a book I've enjoyed.

So yes, this cover would definitely have made me - personally - pick the book out from a table display. But then judging by the pattern of voting - an early lead for Ink, followed by a determined surge for both Les Menonges and Already Dead - perhaps the classic fantasy look doesn't have quite the same pull for everyone.

I'll see if I can get in touch with the editor, artist and author to get their individual take on the cover sometime this week. And I'll be posting the nominated covers for March later in the week as well; I want to look into a way of linking the poll to the original post with the cover images a bit better this month. I rather suspect that some folks might have been put off clicking on the poll because they didn't know what, exactly, they were voting for. And I likewise suspect that some folks ended up voting for the book, rather than what they considered, objectively and personally, to be the strongest cover.

Early days though, plenty of time to fine-tune as we go along, eh?

April 1, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | Leave a Comment

Quick reminder: March GCOTM noms still open

Nominations for the March '07 Genre Cover of the Month accolade are still open, folks.

It's the end of the month now, so we've probably seen most of this month's covers (and I'm gradually putting together the next Books Received post over on UKSFBN, so there might be a few there you haven't seen). But if you've seen anything new that you particularly like this month, then please do feel free to nominate it. Details of how to do so over on the main GCOTM page. If you could get your noms in by the weekend, that would be great.

And voting is still open for the February '07 inaugural GCOTM accolade, for the next couple of days at least. I'm actually going to close the poll on Friday 30th to allow me to prep a post declaring the winner over the weekend.

A quick glance at the current position suggests that Les Mensonges de Locke Lamora may well walk off with it, but that could still change...

March 27, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | Leave a Comment

Genre Cover of the Month - Vote Feb '07, Noms open Mar '07

Okay then, here we go with the first selection of nominated covers for the inaugural Genre Files Genre Cover of the Month accolade...

A quick note before we start: Nominations are now open for the March '07 Genre Cover of the Month, so please do head on over to the GCoTM page of the site for details of how to nominate your favourite covers during the coming month.

The Nominees

This month I've selected six book covers for the shortlist, based on the nominations sent in by various people (many thanks to everyone who participated) plus one that I've included myself.

[Clicking on a cover will take you to the relevant Amazon info page, where you'll be able to see a slightly larger cover image...]

The Voting

Please remember, I'm asking you to vote for the strongest book cover, not the best book itself.

It doesn't matter whether you've read the book or not, or whether you liked it or not if you have. What I'm interested in is, in your opinion, which of the six covers is the most effective. Not necessarily the most eye-catching or the most aesthetically pleasing, although both of these factors are important.

In essence though, I'd like to know which of the six covers above would be most likely to persuade you to pick up the book in a bookstore, or to click on a link online, and either buy the book there and then, or at least want to find out more.

In short: which book cover does the job of selling that book the best?

Please use the Feb '07 Poll to register your vote, or send me an email instead and I'll register the vote on your behalf.

If you'd like to discuss the covers, or add a comment as to why you registered your vote for a particular title, then please do feel free to use the comments for this post.

The Winner...

Will be announced when voting closes on March 31st. I'll email the author, publisher, artist / designer to let them know, and ask for any comment they might have on the design of the cover, then post whatever responses I'm able to elicit.

Unnecessary Footnote

Please, don't bother voting dozens of times for your favourite cover. Ballot-stuffing isn't big, or clever, and it's not like we're deciding the fate of the world here or anything, y'know..?

March 1, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | 12 Comments

Poll Results: Feb '07 Genre Cover of the Month

March 1, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | Leave a Comment

Quick reminder: Cover of the Month, Feb '07

Today's the last day for nominating the best book covers you've seen this month for the Genre Files Feb '07 Cover of the Month accolade. Full blurb, guidelines etc. here.

And many thanks to everyone who's sent in their suggestions already. I'll look those over and try to get the first voting form sorted out tomorrow, but it might have to happen after the weekend, schedule allowing etc.

February 28, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | Leave a Comment

Horror fiction: the next big thing?

A recent article by Danuta Kean in the Independent Online's Enjoyment section forecasts healthy growth for the horror genre in 2007, following a good decade or so in the publishing doldrums.

The piece is very well researched and includes quotes from some of the biggest names from the publishing end of the UK horror field: Gollancz editor Jo Fletcher, Orbit editor Darren Nash, Waterstone's head buyer Michael Rowley and legendary horror afficionado Stephen Jones.

The article also thoroughly outs Joe Hill as the son of Stephen King (if you hadn't heard that one already) and highlights a number of forthcoming titles to watch out for.

It's a very good piece, well worth reading if you're at all interested in the future of the genre in the UK. Heads-up via Mark Chadbourn's Jack of Ravens blog.

February 8, 2007 | Filed Under Books, Publishing | Leave a Comment

Cover of the Month - Feb '07 open for nominations

Right then, I've posted a general page of rules & regs etc. over at the appropriately-named Genre Cover of the Month page.

Please feel free to nominate-away, as you see fit; the more participants the merrier, etc. Nominations will close at the end of the month and I'll set up a poll so you can vote for a winner.

February 7, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | Leave a Comment

'Genre Cover of the Month'… what do you think?

I'm thinking of experimenting with a 'Genre Cover of the Month' feature / accolade, to run alongside the series of pieces I'm going to be writing soon on the art, craft and science of genre book covers. It'll be for a number of reasons: to generate research material for the articles, out of interest to see what sort of response this sort of thing might be able to generate, and as a bit of fun as well.

Decisions - Yes, by 'Woodsy' via www.sxc.hu Here's the general idea:

1) Any reader of The Genre Files will be welcome to submit up to three covers for a given month's accolade. Ideally, they should be covers of new books first published in that particular month, but we'll see how that goes.

2) At the end of that month I'll select a shortlist (length dependent on number of entries) of either the most-nominated, or just the best-looking (in my humble opinion) of all the covers that have been submitted that month.

3) I'll set up a poll so folks can vote for the cover that they feel should win the accolade. Voting will stay open for the following month (or two) to allow as many TGF readers as possible to participate.

4) I'll then declare a winner (bearing in mind that February's winner might not be unveiled until April or May), and attempt to get in touch with the author, publisher, publicist and cover artist (if applicable) in question, for any comment they might like to make as to why they chose that particular cover design, what techniques they used to achieve the effect etc.

5) There might also be a 'wooden spoon' category, depending on how mean I'm feeling, to give folks a chance to name and shame the worst covers they see (although we might have to find a way of omitting self-published authors, it'd be like shooting fish in the proverbial hogshead).

6) I might (depending on how generous and/or flush I'm feeling) send some sort of Amazon voucher themed prize to the person who nominated the winning cover in the first place, as a thank you.

7) We'll see how it goes. Like I said, it's an experiment at this stage and if it doesn't take off, then no harm, no foul.

Do let me know what you think, folks. Would you be interested in joining in? Or is it a dumb waste of time? Or is it already being done on hundreds of other blogs, and I've just been too damn lazy to check? Comment away, and in the meantime, I'll get some rules & regs drawn up and posted to a permanent page.

February 2, 2007 | Filed Under Art, Books, Marketing, Publishing | 6 Comments

Debut authors: has your novel got what it takes?

Ye Olde Typewriter by 'Robmania' via www.sxc.hu John Jarrold - editor, script doctor, literary agent and raconteur extraordinaire - has posted a fascinating insight into the approximate number of hoops that an editor working for a mainstream, commercial publisher sometimes has to jump through in order to get a new author into print, over on his TTA forum. (Worth noting: John does stress that this isn't the business model for every big publisher out there, just some of the majors.)

It makes for particularly fascinating reading, whether you're just generally interested in the machinations of the publishing industry, or a debut author who's wondering why that manuscript you submitted to 'ExWiZee Publishing Co. Inc.' didn't get picked up and published straight away and isn't flying off the shelves and into the bestseller lists already...

And the piece also highlights a significant area in which small and independent presses have an advantage over the majors: if the publisher likes a book and their gut instinct tells them it will sell, they can publish and be proverbially damned... just so as long as they have the resources to put it into print, of course; the obvious flip-side of the coin there.

February 1, 2007 | Filed Under Publishing, Writing | Leave a Comment