I have no idea why these questions seem so urgent to me today, but they are. In an attempt to clear my head, I thought I’d air them out.
- Why do some novels get “a novel” appended to their title while others don’t?
- How is it determined whether a book is first published in hardcover of trade paperback? Is it a genre issue? The strength of the author?
- Why don’t all publishers use the same paper that HarperCollins used for the below pictured edition of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked? It smells so good! All books should smell that good.
Trust me. This book smells wicked good.
Now that I’ve asked my questions with no real hope of a response (but if you know, please do share!), I’d like to announce the winners of two of my recent giveaways:
Winner of O, Juliet:
All knowing Random.org selected #5. #5 just happens to be Kathy from Bermudaonion’s Weblog! Congratulations, Kathy! I’ll get your book out to you this weekend.
Winners of The Kitchen House
I still haven’t lost the glow after meeting Kathleen Grissom. I am really excited to be able to send the following two winnners signed copies of her wonderful novel, The Kitchen House!
It’s lucky #10 and #6. Congratulations to Ti from Book Chatter and Jeanne Duperrault. Please send me your mailing addresses and I’ll get your books in the mail to you!
Have a great weekend, everyone! I’m off work until Tuesday, so I’m looking forward to reading, blogging, and more reading.
Great questions! I hope someone knows the answers. Your question about the paper in Wicked reminds me of sniffing ditto paper when I was in elementary school. I was quite the “addict”!!!
I love this post! I’ve never gotten the A Novel appendage and have often wondered about it myself. I’m so excited to have won O, Juliet! Congratulations Ti!
Congrats to Kathy and Ti! I have often wondered about why A Novel is sometimes added to titles also…good pondering questions for a Friday!
The “a novel” subtitle has long been a pet peeve of mine:
http://fyreflybooks.wordpress.com/2009/02/07/subtitled-a-novel-a-blog-postrant/
As for the second, I imagine an issue of predicted sales – trade paperbacks are cheaper and thus will sell more, so for a relatively unknown author, it may be more economical to go straight to TPB, since more people will be willing to shell out $15 than $25 for an unknown quantity, whereas established fans will happily pay the extra money to read something *right away*.
Jennifer, It was just as much of a treat for me to meet you. You were the first ‘blogger’ that I met and it couldn’t have been a nicer experience. I am well aware of the effect of the reviews that bloggers have today, so after meeting you I was doubly pleased. Not only were you someone I would want as a friend, you also ‘got’ the essence of the The Kitchen House. I know we will meet again!
Kathleen
That is so true about the book smell!!! I just got Arcadia Falls in the mail from Amazon. I took it out of the box and the FIRST thing I did was smell it. Nothing, no smell. Thank goodness that doesn’t have anything to do with how good a book is. I am glad I am not the only one.
Kathy
In grad school (where I got my MA in book publishing), I probably knew the full answer to your question about trade vs. hardback publishing, but alas, I can’t remember. I know that genre has a large part to play (genre fiction – romance, mystery, crime, etc. – is generally mass-market paperback), as well as the strength of the author. I know that sometimes authors (especially new authors) will go straight to trade paperback, if it makes better financial sense.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day smelled AMAZING.
That first question bugs me, too. It just sounds so pretentious.
Good questions! I’m with “Rhapsody”–I loved those mimeograph machines. Wonder why none of the adults ever thought to question why I volunteered in the office so much?!
Okay now I need to go to the nearest bookstore to smell a copy of Wicked. Why is it that I don’t think this is odd?
I am so glad I’m not the only person who smells books!! I actually sniffed a new book in front of my preschoolers and said something about how wonderful it smelled. (Add that to the reason their parents are secretly counting down the days until their child starts Kindergarten . . . crazy book lady . . .) And I agree, Wicked is one of those that smells REALLY good!
harcover vs. trade paperback has a lot to do with whether or not they think they’ll be able to see hardcovers of the book!
No idea. so bizarre!
So funny about the novel thing…Deborah was just asking about the other day as well.
And by see of course I mean sell!
O, Juliet came today. Thanks so much, Jennifer! The bookmark is just gorgeous – you really have a talent!
I’ve always wondered about the novel part too. I would love to hear the answer. Guess I should ask on twitter.