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Jumpin' On The Old Bandwagon: When Publishers Get Lazy.

Started by Serge, November 24, 2017, 09:50:46 PM

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Brundle-Fly

Quote from: Spoon of Ploff on November 29, 2017, 11:09:45 AM
going off on a tangent here, but comments on similar book covers got me thinking. does anyone else get miffed when they've a series of books by the same author which have matching cover styles, and then find their next book has a completely different style?


Ah, the Super Furry Animals Effect.

holyzombiejesus

Quote from: Spoon of Ploff on November 29, 2017, 11:09:45 AM
going off on a tangent here, but comments on similar book covers got me thinking. does anyone else get miffed when they've a series of books by the same author which have matching cover styles, and then find their next book has a completely different style?

By christ, yes I do!

poloniusmonk

The [x number] of [deaths/lives] of [character first name + character surname]

Icehaven

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on November 25, 2017, 08:05:43 PM
There was another one about an alcoholic that was proven to be lies as well, wasn't there?

And don't forget Constance Briscoe's Ugly, in which she claimed her Mother and Sister had abused her as a child, which her Mother sued her over and lost, but tried again to bring to court after Briscoe was jailed for lying to the police about the Vicky Pryce/Chris Huhne case.

Pepotamo1985

Quote from: holyzombiejesus on November 27, 2017, 08:45:24 PM
I never visit the Erotic Fiction section of my local Waterstones but I bet there are so many 50 shades rip offs, all published about 5 years ago. Grey covers, lips/ shoes coloured red, with titles like 'I Have Sinned' and 'Put Your Finger in my Bottom'.

I never do either but you're not wrong. I remember about five years ago book sections of Tesco, Sainsbury's etc. were RAMMED with this shit, with virtually indistinguishable covers and virtually identical titles, with "If you liked 50 shades of grey, you'll love..." stickers to really drive the point home (giggidy).

kngen

Not quite the same thing, but I don't think I've seen quite as many books about Nazis as I have in Oslo Airport's bookshop. It was a display the size of a snooker table in the middle of the shop with easily at least 50 different titles. You'd be hard pressed to have found more swastikas and lightning bolts at the Nuremberg rallies. It seemed a bit of a bold move given their somewhat questionable history in WWII, and - unless this was aimed at British tourists - the notion that we're the ones that are still obsessed with the war, and everyone else has moved on, doesn't really fly (heh!) at Oslo Airport.

purlieu

Quote from: Pepotamo1985 on December 20, 2017, 07:36:06 PM
I never do either but you're not wrong. I remember about five years ago book sections of Tesco, Sainsbury's etc. were RAMMED with this shit, with virtually indistinguishable covers and virtually identical titles, with "If you liked 50 shades of grey, you'll love..." stickers to really drive the point home (giggidy).
God, I worked in Smiths right at the peak of 50 Shades mania, and we got in five or six new erotica books every week. Loads of them would be old books of straight up porn just re-released with 50 Shades-esque covers, and then there would be new ones like the 'Eighty Days' series. We had a whole 'if you liked 50 Shades of Grey' wall in the chart section for the best part of a year. I've noticed a lot of book shops still have them.


bgmnts

Is the dark garden in the heaven of obedience?

Can someone mock up a theme park map with a 'You Are Here' arrow pointing in the Dark Garden?


Quote from: Pepotamo1985 on December 20, 2017, 07:36:06 PM
I never do either but you're not wrong. I remember about five years ago book sections of Tesco, Sainsbury's etc. were RAMMED with this shit, with virtually indistinguishable covers and virtually identical titles, with "If you liked 50 shades of grey, you'll love..." stickers to really drive the point home (giggidy).

I hate it when a lazy publisher can't be bothered to describe a book, so they just reference an (imagined or otherwise) similarity to other books, highlighting their own wacky twists:

"It's like Harry Potter on ketamine!"  "Imagine Bridget Jones, but dead!"

bgmnts

Quote from: rectorofstiffkey on February 22, 2018, 09:27:48 PM
I hate it when a lazy publisher can't be bothered to describe a book, so they just reference an (imagined or otherwise) similarity to other books, highlighting their own wacky twists:

"It's like Harry Potter on ketamine!"  "Imagine Bridget Jones, but dead!"

They should do this for film adaptations.

"Imagine the Wizard of Oz, but on screen!"

purlieu

Quote from: purlieu on February 22, 2018, 09:15:55 PM
As an aside, this and Gemmell's related With My Body, are very strange books, each written in the form of around 200 'lessons' in the second person. They definitely didn't belong in the same category as the rest of it.

Kishi the Bad Lampshade

Quote from: Serge on November 25, 2017, 10:06:58 PM
Serious answer: Yes, it was this one. Which I haven't read either. The idea of wading through a misery memoir just doesn't appeal to me, which is why I was fucked off when I read J.D. Vance's 'Hillbilly Elegy' earlier this year, which presented itself as a polemic, but was just a misery memoir in disguise. And his life wasn't even particularly miserable!

I haven't read it, but AFAIK quite a few people got fucked off with J.D. Vance, saying he basically told middle-class Americans what they wanted to hear for the sake of a quick buck.

QDRPHNC


Jockice

Quote from: rectorofstiffkey on February 22, 2018, 09:27:48 PM
I hate it when a lazy publisher can't be bothered to describe a book, so they just reference an (imagined or otherwise) similarity to other books, highlighting their own wacky twists:

"It's like Harry Potter on ketamine!"  "Imagine Bridget Jones, but dead!"

They do that with music too. I once wrote an article on a female singer and a blurb appeared on the front of the paper describing her as 'Sheffield's answer to Miss Dynamite.' I was incensed. Apart from her skin colour she had absolutely nothing in common with Miss Dynamite. Or even Ms Dynamite. Totally different forms of music, totally different singing styles etc. Honestly, they might as well have called her: "Sheffield's answer to The Velvet Underground/The Osmonds/Vince Quince And The Rialto Ballroom Detectives.'

Quote from: Jockice on February 27, 2018, 04:33:20 PM
They do that with music too. I once wrote an article on a female singer and a blurb appeared on the front of the paper describing her as 'Sheffield's answer to Miss Dynamite.' I was incensed. Apart from her skin colour she had absolutely nothing in common with Miss Dynamite. Or even Ms Dynamite. Totally different forms of music, totally different singing styles etc. Honestly, they might as well have called her: "Sheffield's answer to The Velvet Underground/The Osmonds/Vince Quince And The Rialto Ballroom Detectives.'

And if all else fails, just slap "If you liked 'One Day', you'll love this!" on the front.  No need to bother with that whole boring explaining thing; just pop an unjustifiable, nebulous sentence on a cover, and go for an early lunch.  Job done.

holyzombiejesus

Or even just a quote from an author whose success the new book is trying to ape, with a big "Author of [popular book]" underneath.