We Actually DO Judge a Book by Its Cover!

The BBC ran an interesting article today: "Book design has become more important than ever – but what makes an iconic jacket, asks Clare Thorp." The piece discusses the importance of a cover that catches the reader's eye. Two thoughts come to mind, both relevant to the industry today:

(1) << The emergence of ebooks posed a threat to physical books a decade or so ago. But publishers fought back, making books that were more beautiful to look at and to hold than ever before. Fonts got bolder, colours brighter, paper more tactile. There was embossing, foil, cloth bindings and elaborate end papers. Bookshops also became spaces to spend time in, not just to shop, with books presented as objects of desire on curated table and window displays. >>

Of course, one must ask how much the perceived "threat" of digital publishing actually influenced the developments discussed below. That point aside, we must also concede that while ebooks can similarly utilize striking covers, only hard copy can address the other concerns. 

(2) The apparent need for a "great" cover also emerges as yet another obstacle for the self-publisher. There was certainly a time when people might procure something "decent" at a reasonable cost through sites like https://www.fiverr.com/. However, it seems as though writers may need to budget considerably more money for artwork in the years ahead. 

It has become increasingly difficult for new authors to break through to the "Big Five," and many now self-publish via Amazon, Ingram, Lulu, or other such services. Moreover, the more successful writers must reportedly spend up to half their working time on "marketing and promotion," often paying hefty fees along the way. Overall prospects for many have become more and more bleak, and an article like this, stressing the apparent importance of a powerful, eye-catching cover, offers no hope for relief in near future. 

Complete article: https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200604-the-best-book-covers-in-history?ocid=global_culture_rss&xtor=ES-213-%5BBBC News Newsletter%5D-2020June4-%5Bculture%5D

A Legal Battle of the Sort Was Almost Inevitable; "Fan Fiction" Faces Legal Hurdles

Those of us who write justifiably take umbrage when someone plagiarizes our work. On the other hand, sometimes a resultant lawsuit may raise issues far larger than those initially presented by the litigants.

The article below arose in the "wolf/kink" genre, hardly as widely read as, let us say, Alex Haley's Roots, which itself resulted in a celebrated plagiarism trial, substantial settlement, and Haley's "acknowledge[ment] and regrets that various materials from The African, by Harold Courlander, found their way into his book, Roots."

Nevertheless, the issue of plagiarism -- or perhaps partial plagiarism -- is at least somewhat similar. 

I think one paragraph summarizes the problem: << “In fan fiction, the sharing of tropes and story parts and plot lines is free flowing,” said Anne Jamison, a fanfic expert and associate professor of English at the University of Utah, who was skeptical of the notion that Omegaverse tropes could be copyrighted. “There’s a blurry line between what is specifically yours and what is somebody else’s.” >>

This notion has prompted reflections on my novel, Trojan Dialogues: The Memoirs of Diomedes. The work is set during the Trojan War. The Mycenean Greeks use Helen's "theft" by Paris as a pretext for initiating hostilities. Hector slays Patroklus; Akhilles slays Hector; a horse somehow contributes to the destruction of Troy. Those element are familiar, though certainly not "tropes." Moreover, my narrative is absolutely unique in the way so many plot lines are developed. Nevertheless, one might ask whether some contemporary author who had treated the same material a few years earlier -- e.g., Marion Zimmer Bradley (cf., The Firebrand) -- could have accused me of stealing her ideas. With the Trojan War, the answer is easy: of course not! With wolf-kink? We shall await the outcome.

The article is in many ways more legal than literary in nature, and the genre is one with which I am altogether unfamiliar. I must append that in classical music one finds a staggering number of variations written by one composer on the theme(s) of another. However, it remains to be seen how freely writers of fan fiction can continue to use the material of others. 

https://dnyuz.com/2020/05/23/a-feud-in-wolf-kink-erotica-raises-a-deep-legal-question/

A Quick Overview of the "Big Five" Publishers

As most people are by now aware, we are down to a "big five," along with a number of smaller presses. The latter, of course, get far less attention from booksellers, reviewers, and traditional marketing/promotion outlets (e.g., radio talk shows), but they remain part of the "traditional publishing" route, as opposed to the self-publishing options (digital and hard copy via Amazon, Ingram/LightningSource, Lulu, et al.). 

The "big five" are the following: Penguin Random House (Penguin, Dutton, Putnam, Random House, Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday, Crown, etc.), Simon & Schuster ( S&S itself, plus Poseidon, Pocket, et al.), HarperCollins (which includes also Harlequin and others), Macmillan (along with St. Martin's Press and more familiar houses), and Hachette (Little, Brown & Company and other imprints). Details about these are explained in this marvelous graphic: http://almossawi.com/big-five-publishers/.

Another interview published: Anais Chen (baroque violin)

This "news" is actually rather dated by now, but Stay Thirsty Magazine published "A Conversation With Violinist Anais Chen" several months ago. She is a remarkable talent, and I very much enjoyed chatting with her! Here's the link: https://staythirstymagazine.blogspot.com/p/chen-conversation.html

Is This the Last Word on Literary Fraud?

The following article ran in the BBC News on 26 April 2019. Of course, some of the gender-fluid pronouns render the text somewhat problematic. For example: << Knoop says not: they claim to be naive about what they were doing. “At the time I don’t know if I understood it as being performance art,” they say, though they admits that “performance is very adrenalising and it becomes a thing where you go out and look for that feeling." >>

Yes, you read that correctly. It's political correctness vis-a-vis gender identification, although only selectively, even within the same sentence[!]; "they admits," since "they" is [presumably??] singular, but the preceding verb is conjugated as plural within the same sentence: "they say"!

Notwithstanding my editorial reservations, I think the last paragraph offers a great summary of the "literary" world today. Here's the link: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190424-revisiting-jt-leroy-americas-greatest-literary-scam?ocid=global_culture_rss&ocid=global_bbccom_email_26042019_culture.

Fiction, Alternate Personalities, and Related Topics

I have recently stumbled across some interesting entries on the blog of Kenneth A. Nakdimen, M.D. The first (19 February 2019) asks, "Do Fiction Writers Have Alternate Personalities," and cites a study by Marjorie Taylor: http://multiplewriters.blogspot.com/. The same site also has a five-part series (through 20 February 2019) on Aldous Huxley's "Personality and the Discontinuity of the Mind." 

*****

On a related and not altogether dissimilar note, I have had dreams in iambic pentameter. Indeed, the entire story-line of my one-act version of Hamlet came to me in that manner, along with some of the verse. Perhaps more intriguing is the vast amount of musical material that his been similarly "dictated" to me during dreams. Of course, I do not believe this is a manifestation of multiple personality disorder. . . .

Another Interview With Joshua Bell

Earlier this month, Stay Thirsty Magazine released "A Conversation with Joshua Bell about the Virtual Violin." Here is the url:
https://staythirstymagazine.blogspot.com/p/joshua-bell-virtual-violin.html