Judging a book by its cover:
fans, publishers, designers and the advertising of books
Edited by Nicole Matthews and Nickianne Moody,
Media and Cultural Studies, Liverpool John Moores University

Book covers have long been the preserve of collectors and art historians. This collection will draw a new range of disciplinary perspectives - cultural studies, business and marketing, the history of the book and literary studies - to make sense of book covers in the wider context of publishers’ publicity and the marketing of books.

Taking its starting point the contemporary marketing of popular fiction, this collection will focus on the publishing industry from the twentieth century and beyond. Our aim is to place the book cover and publishers’ publicity in an international context, highlighting the global circulation of books and ideas about how to market them. We are particularly keen to bring together accounts of the industrial context of the advertising of books and discussions of the way readers make sense of the publicity for books.

Some possible topics include:

• readers’ responses to publishers’ publicity
• libraries and the use of the book cover
• the publishing industry’s marketing mix
• popular genres, fans and negotiations over the book cover
• cover art, self-improvement and the marketing of ‘distinction’
• marketing ‘difference’ through the book cover
• the star author in popular and high brow publishing
• histories of publishers’ publicity: the twentieth century and beyond
• the book cover as an intertextual marketing tool
• international differences in the marketing of books
• convergence in the media industries and the promotion of books

We hope the completed book will be useful, not just for academic readers, but also for undergraduate students of consumer culture, advertising and marketing, global media industries, contemporary literary and popular cultural studies.

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short biographical note to Nicole Matthews.

Deadline for abstracts: January 30, 2004