When compiling the most recent bestseller lists last week, we noticed two different versions of Fran Littlewood’s AMAZING GRACE ADAMS charting (under two different ISBNs). There is the “original recipe” jacket, displaying a full middle finger — as well as a more TV- and retailer-friendly version, with a quote burst that covers the finger. Holt executive director of publicity Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski writes in answer to our query, “The full finger was the primary edition, but we created the burst cover for any accounts that preferred it as well as the Today Show for the Jenna pick,” which is apparently a […]
Design
Harper Germany to Launch In 2015; Will Publish Silva In 16 Territories
HarperCollins is creating a HarperCollins Germany publishing program, expanding on the operation in Hamburg acquired as part of their purchase of Harlequin and launching in fall 2015 with approximately 50 Harper branded titles. The German initiative is itself just a first step, as Harper plans to take those 50 titles and others to in Japan, Sweden, Holland and Spain “in the coming months,” with more territories also in process. “In the markets where we own 100 percent of the [Harlequin] companies we’ll go very quickly,” says ceo Brian Murray. The Harlequin units operate as joint ventures in France, Italy and Brazil, where “there’s […]
People, Etc.
At Crown Business, Ayelet Gruenspecht has been promoted to marketing manager, while Megan Perritt moves up to publicity manager for the imprint as well as for Crown Forum. In addition, associate publisher for Crown Forum and Three Rivers Press Campbell Wharton will take on an additional role in project directing Crown Business campaigns on a case-by-case basis. At the Random House Publishing Group, Sam Nicholson and Anna Pitoniak have been promoted to editor. Mika Kasuga, Caitlin McKenna, and Molly Turpin have been promoted to assistant editor. Dervla Kelly will join Rodale as senior editor on April 7. Previously she was an […]
Briefs: The Right Cover for ‘Dragon Tattoo’; Amazon Stock Down to ‘Neutral’; Murray Out at S&S;
The WSJ looks at the laborious process Knopf went through to find the right cover for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Senior designer Peter Mandeslund prepared “nearly 50 distinct designs” over a 3-month period, ranging from “a monochromatic white cover dotted with blood…rejected for its lack of color” and “a vivid fuchsia jacket emblazoned with an illuminated typeface, [which left executives looking for something more original.” Even the final product met with some “pushback” among retailers and the Knopf sales team, who were looking for a more conventional depiction in lines with other thrillers. But chairman Sonny Mehta insisted […]
Tune In to Cover Design
Cable channel Bravo’s Work of Art: The Next Great Artist reality series turns to book jacket design on today’s episode, airing at 10 PM. The twelve contests are asked to design the cover for a Penguin book. The winner is selected this evening, and tomorrow Penguin “will publish the title featuring the winning design.”
Designers Craft Digital Print Demo Book
Are you curious about the printing capabilities of digital printing? Prof. Frank Philippin at Hochschule Darmstadt in Germany and British designer James Goggin worked with graphic design students in a two-day workshop to create DEAR LULU, a test book that “acts as a calibration document for testing color, pattern, format, texture and typography. Exercises in color profile (Adobe RGB/sRGB/CMYK/Greyscale), halftoning, point size, line, geometry, skin tone, colour texture, cropping and print finishing provide useful data for other designers and self-publishers to judge the possibilities and quality of online print-on-demand — specifically Lulu.com, with this edition.” The book sells, via Lulu […]