Representatives from the big four publishers declined to explain their process for writing jacket copy. However, representatives from New Directions and McSweeney’s—two smaller publishers thatwrite engaging and clear jacket copy—offered clarification for how they arrive at their book descriptions.
Mieke Chew, a publicist at New Directions, which seeks to publish important books by international writers to introduce them back into the critical conversation, spoke to the same sense of collaboration at the house, but also spoke to the benefit of having existing material to go off of in regard to promoting a title.
excitement and buzz from scratch, we have a place to work from already. We really try to position the writer.”This can be seen in the exacting language of jacket copy. For instance, Dasa Drndic’sTwo elderly people, Artur and Isabella, meet and have a passionate sexual encounter on New Year’s Eve. Details of the lives of Artur, a retired Yugoslav army captain, and Isabella, a Holocaust survivor, are listed in police dossiers.
Even though McSweeney’s and New Directions publish fewer than 20 books a year—or maybe because of it—they offer some key strategies larger publishers can use to improve jacket copy for their readers: collaborate across departments, put authors first, and clarify what a text is about to please both readers and writers.
🎯🎯🎯🤬
Any time I pick up a book with a blurb saying it’s “laugh out loud funny” I put it back down because it is 100% guaranteed not to be the least bit funny.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »
Source: billboard - 🏆 112. / 63 Read more »
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »
Source: Jezebel - 🏆 153. / 63 Read more »
Source: EW - 🏆 713. / 51 Read more »
Source: DEADLINE - 🏆 109. / 63 Read more »