"The talk of your life, Standing so near..."

[greygirlbeast]

Summer has finally come to Providence, and with a vengeance. Right now, the temperature inside and Outside are identical, 82F. Well, that's the temperature out in the middle parlour, where Dr. Muñoz is blasting, vainly trying to combat the heat. It's likely warmer here in my office. The lights are off, to make it at least seem cooler. After I finish this, and get dressed, we're fleeing the House for genuine air conditioning.

Nothing was written yesterday. Nothing was written again.

But I was confronted with the curious proposition that the cover of The Red Tree may be off-putting to some men. It's off-putting to me, but for purely artistic reasons, and because it's not appropriate in tone to the novel. But I'm getting off track. The following comments were made on Facebook (I'm withholding the commentators name), and I quote:

The cover for The Red Tree is well done, but it practically commands, “You, male child, don’t buy me.” I’ll bet nearly all of your male readers will buy it online and consider it a “guilty pleasure.”

I was on the plane the other day, reading a book of the same genre. (You could tell from the cover: pretty young woman in black, looking down and away, full moon and glowing gothic hoodoo behind her.) And I could feel how I was making the man to my left (with the competently written spy/cop novel) uncomfortable. The power of marketing...(ellipses divide two comments)...It's well done for what it is, I should say. I've seen much worse. But, yeah, it's a "paranormal romance" cover. Men aren't supposed to read those. If you buy one at Barnes and Noble, you need to have an it's-for-my-girlfriend/wife/niece excuse ready in case you get a male cashier (or a female who gives you a curious look).

Now, first off, this all seems awfully sexist to me. Or maybe not necessarily sexist, but certainly smacking of male insecurities. But secondly and most importantly, I spent a good deal of the day worrying whether or not it might be true. Has Roc, by marketing this novel with the generic "paranormal romance" cover (it is not, of course, a PR novel), alienated potential male readers? It seems absurd, but then much of human behaviour seems absurd to me. Most, in fact. So, here's the question: Do you think this cover is geared towards a female readership and is off-putting to male readers? Sort of a two-part question, I suppose.

I'm going to discuss this matter with my lit agent when she returns from her summer vacation.

Spooky has begun a new round of eBay auctions.

Also, there's a new bit of "evidence" up on the website, the addition of Plate XX.

Officially too hot to continue. Maybe I'll go sit beneath a cold shower. Maybe I will spend the day dreaming of icy moons, their oceans safe below the rime.

Comments

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

My "demographic": Male, early 30s.

I bought the book because I knew it had just come out, and I read your blog, novels, short stories, and Sirenia Digest. I don't think I'd have any trouble with someone on the bus or a plane watching me read it.

I have noticed people on the bus read more, so this might skew the sample.

The cover doesn't strike me as PR: Not nearly enough skin. I'd be more apt to say UF, but it isn't that either. Scarletboi's cover above is a better representation of the novel.

Now I'm tempted to try to do a New York Review of Books Classics treatment. They all have the same typographic and design elements, but different cover images. I suspect macro images of leaves might work. Or of carving-scarred bark.

[greygirlbeast.livejournal.com]

I don't think I'd have any trouble with someone on the bus or a plane watching me read it.

I just can't imagine that mindset. It's like, "Oh, you're reading a sissy book." Playground mentality at work.

Now I'm tempted to try to do a New York Review of Books Classics treatment. They all have the same typographic and design elements, but different cover images. I suspect macro images of leaves might work. Or of carving-scarred bark.

I'd love to see it!

[elmocho.livejournal.com]

When I was in grade school and middle school, the routine was more like something from Bill Hicks: Not that I'd be reading a "sissy book," but that I'd be reading. After five to six years of that, reading anything anywhere isn't that hard.

I'll have to figure the fonts for the NYRB treatment. The bark idea now sounds a lot like their edition of Pinocchio (http://www.nybooks.com/shop/product?usca_p=t&product_id=8391).