Xander: I do have Spaghetti-os. Set 'em on top of the dryer and you're a fluff cycle away from lukewarm goodness. Riley: I, uh, had dryer-food for lunch.

'Same Time, Same Place'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


Connie Neil - Sep 14, 2009 10:25:04 am PDT #10011 of 28384
brillig

I don't remember any of the titles, but they're the kind of "divorced woman finds her mojo/single woman discovers happiness in being herself and then the perfect guy comes along/hanging out with your girl friends and gossiping over lattes and shoes is the best thing ever" type of books.

The backs thing annoys me too.

I going to guess this is photo cropping style decapitation rather than a bloody demise

Yes, the cartoon of the woman has the neck at the top of the cover or there's a realistic painting and they crop the top at the chin or something.


Barb - Sep 14, 2009 10:28:48 am PDT #10012 of 28384
“Not dead yet!”

I going to guess this is photo cropping style decapitation rather than a bloody demise style decapitation since the latter would be weird.

Heh. Yes. Photocropping. I guess the idea is for the reader to identify. It's creepy.


Barb - Sep 14, 2009 10:30:51 am PDT #10013 of 28384
“Not dead yet!”

I don't remember any of the titles, but they're the kind of "divorced woman finds her mojo/single woman discovers happiness in being herself and then the perfect guy comes along/hanging out with your girl friends and gossiping over lattes and shoes is the best thing ever" type of books.

I wonder if they were older titles, because really, that sort of book has been somewhat out of vogue for quite a while. They are annoying, but frankly, I'm finding the glitz lit book covers more annoying-- the Candace Bushnell and Gigi Levangie Grazer and Lauren Weisberger titles.


erikaj - Sep 14, 2009 10:36:51 am PDT #10014 of 28384
Always Anti-fascist!

I've got a secret weakness for that stuff. It actually embarrasses me more than reading about stash houses and shooting galleries, and etc. But I don't pay full price for it. And Entourage is really chick lit with a dick, anyways. Except that at least canonically, it doesn't seem to bother E. that Vince is totally prettier than him.


Aims - Sep 14, 2009 10:50:03 am PDT #10015 of 28384
Shit's all sorts of different now.

Covers like this, Connie? [link]


Connie Neil - Sep 14, 2009 11:00:56 am PDT #10016 of 28384
brillig

Covers like this, Connie?

Exactly.


Aims - Sep 14, 2009 11:10:36 am PDT #10017 of 28384
Shit's all sorts of different now.

It was the first author I thought of when I read your post - almost all of the covers of her books look like that. Although, recently, her books have switched to no person covers like this: [link]


Barb - Sep 14, 2009 11:15:18 am PDT #10018 of 28384
“Not dead yet!”

It was the first author I thought of when I read your post - almost all of the covers of her books look like that. Although, recently, her books have switched to no person covers like this

They've also started branding her covers (much in the way that Diana Gabaldon covers are branded) with her move more into Women's Fic:

[link]

[link]

[link]


Steph L. - Sep 14, 2009 11:17:46 am PDT #10019 of 28384
this mess was yours / now your mess is mine

Although, recently, her books have switched to no person covers like this: [link]

Interesting that her name is so much bigger than the title. Is that common? I guess maybe bestsellers, but even then, the Dan Browns of the world seem to have their name the same size as the title, not massively bigger.

That seems really ego-trippy for such a hack. (Sorry; I really dislike Jane Green.)


Amy - Sep 14, 2009 11:19:26 am PDT #10020 of 28384
Because books.

That seems really ego-trippy for such a hack.

It's not up to her, though. It's all based on sales -- if you're selling enough books, and especially enough backlist, the publisher wants readers to know you wrote this more than what the title is.

It's common to start with a bigger title, smaller name until you gain a readership.