call for papers...

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, UK

Book covers have long been the sole 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. Consequently, we are looking for papers which can
explain key concepts in these subject areas in an accessible way as part of
their exploration of publishers' publicity and book covers.

Please send abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short biographical
note to:

Nicole Matthews, Media and Cultural Studies, Dean Walters Building,
Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, U.K. L1 7BY, Ph: + (0) 151 231
5045,
Fax: + (0) 151 231 5049, E-mail: N.D.Matthews_at_livjm.ac.uk

Deadline for abstracts: January 30, 2004

More information soon at the website for the Association for Research in
Popular Fictions: http://www.arpf.org.uk/

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Received on Tue Dec 16 2003 - 22:47:53 EST