Author's names on book covers

I've always thought it a bit strange that on some book covers the name of the author is larger than the name of the book. It seems a bit arrogant, and isn't useful at all to me when looking at books. I've been noticing it for many years, and can never come up with a proper reason or purpose for this. Any thoughts on it?

I usually shy away from books that have the author's name in larger letters than the title. I do find it to be a bit arrogant and (this may be stereotypical on my part) I find that those books are a bit more insipid and superficial than other books. Of course there are the exceptions, but it still makes me hesitant to pick one up.

> 1

It's because some authors have become industries, churning out book after book, and people will buy anything with that author's name on it, regardless of quality.

Funny, i was just thinking about this the other day. Or maybe not so funny, when you look at books often.

It's simple marketing. What is more likely to sell the book? If it's a popular or well-known author, the author's name is usually a greater attention-grabber than the book title, especially for a new book. If the author is less well-known, the title is a better selling tool - since the title was primarily selected in order to pique interest.

I hate it, by the way. I wish there was an international law that the title had to be more prominent than the author's name. But then, i'm not making a living by selling books.

>#2: I just read Dubliners by James Joyce. The author's name was significantly larger on the cover. But yes, i agree that an exception. Exceptions to the reverse situation might include books like Lolita, War and Peace, and Moby Dick, where the book title has (nominally, generally) more impact than the author's name.

It doesn't bother me. I tend to think of my books more in terms of authors than titles. Also, I don't suppose the authors themselves have much to do with designing the book cover.

I just did a quick survey of my bookcases, and the size of the author's name in proportion to the title very clearly correlates to the popularity of that author. When I look at my Anne McCaffrey books, which I acquired more or less in order of publication, her name gets progressively bigger, and the titles get smaller.

until eventually... all name, no title.

>6 MrAndrew:, that'll certainly make cataloging books fun, won't it?

6: Probably wouldn't matter to some people anyway. Fans of authors like James Patterson or Danielle Steel often seem to forget which of the books they've already read. It might be easier if they scrapped the title and just made every cover a different colour or pattern. Then they could say "I've read the green one" or "I still have to read the one with the polka dots".

I've always mentally labelled the large-type-author-name covers as 'airport bookstore novels'.
Almost all books carried by most airport bookstores I've seen have those type of covers.

Cue quote from Long dark tea-time of the soul Dirk's interviewing someone who works in the publishing industry. They know a famous author who has the ideal name: Surname shorter than the forname, so the Surname can be printed in large bold type with the forename in smaller letters above it. Turns out nobody ever finishes such books, so to save costs the publishers started leaving the last two-thirds of the book blank. Nobody complained. Don't ask about the feathers.

#10 - so that's where I got the idea of an ideal bestsellername from:-) I forgot about the blank pages.

I like "Don't Ask About the Feathers"

Gotta ask.

#5: "Also, I don't suppose the authors themselves have much to do with designing the book cover."

This is actually very true, and I've heard from authors who get very upset about the cover design, but can do nothing about it. That's why I never blame authors for this phenomenon, but the publishers.

#10: I've had both Dirk Gently books for a while, but never read them. That's a great quote, though. Maybe I'll get around to reading those one of these days. :)

And here I was thinking that I wished author names were more prominent! We have a local used book store that is, err, chaotically organized (and that's using the word organized VERY loosely) and I went there with a list of my wishlist books. I had to crawl around on the floor to read the authors names because some older books are very ragged spined, etc. Big bold letters for a name would draw me right to the author I was looking for!

And, to top it off, they have different sections for sci-fi-fantasy, classical writings, translated materials, general fiction, and yet another little area for "old fiction books". I found We in this last area, after looking for an hour!

Going through my library, I find many insipid, superficial airport-bookstore novels on which the author's name is larger than the title, such as:
Close Range by ANNIE PROULX
Cockroach by RAWI HAGE
The Collected Poems of WILFRED OWEN
The Deportees by RODDY DOYLE
Dubliners by JAMES JOYCE
Everyman by PHILIP ROTH
In Our Time by ERNEST HEMINGWAY
Independence Day by RICHARD FORD
The Interpretation of Dreams by SIGMUND FREUD
Journal of a Novel by JOHN STEINBECK
Light in August by WILLIAM FAULKNER
The Love of a Good Woman by ALICE MUNRO
Nothing but Blue Skies by THOMAS MCGUANE
The White Deer by JAMES THURBER

And so on ... I sure wish I'd had the good sense to avoid these writers based on my superficial prejudices surrounding cover design, but alas, I lacked foresight and read them anyway.

I don't really pay any attention to the size of the name. What I get annoyed with is blurbs on the cover. Nothing spoils a good book cover more than a big flat blurb being plastered across it.

I won't shy away from books that do it, I just wish fewer people did it.

A friend of mine with a long history in publishing once said that the difference between "popular" and "literary" fiction was the size of the author's name on the cover, and whether it was above the title or below. He was only partially kidding.

And he wasn't even partially right, as a quick survey of real book covers quickly proves.

#16 The authors' names may be big, but are they in BIG SHINY GOLD LETTERS? That's the other qualifying factor for 'airport bookstore' novels.

I'm grateful to the big author name many times since it's easier to pick out the ones I particularly like. And the author is, after all, the brand name the people go for. Does everyone who doesn't like this practice choose their books based on the title? Doubtful.

Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. If a title intrigues, then I'll look at the blurb, the back cover, maybe the first couple pages.

I've often been disappointed choosing a book because I enjoyed another title by the same author. And the really popular authors are either so consistent they're boring, or else they become complacent and stale.

I guess you're in a league of your own if that's the only criteria you use. If it works for you, cool.

I do find the equation of high sales with low quality amusing. It happens with everything from rock bands to camera manufacturers to cookware. Funny.

Never judge a book by it's cover...unless your judging it by it's name, then it's ok. :P

I can think of lots of times when i have chosen a book by the name, or at least that's why i gave it a second glance. The Brief History of the Dead, The Right Attitude To Rain, Involution Ocean, PP&Z, The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time, The Wasp Factory, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close...

heh. I appear to be in league with Mary. Sounds like being in league with the devil...

Heh, heh, heh. I'll have you in my power yet, my sweet.

I always wanted a minion.

eh, it's an equally flawed system. I've read many a title that looked interesting only to be severely underwhelmed.

Having bought a lot of novels that I never read because they looked good in the bookstore, I decided that I'd better rein myself in. I decided thenceforth to buy novels on spec only if the author's last name began with Z (say Moon Unit Zappa). So the author name on a novel in a bookstore is more important to me than the title.

Robert

>#26: and my little dog too?

Minions are delicious. Especially carmelised.

>#27: True. I couldn't believe it when i reached the end of The Neverending Story. I mean, WTF? How about some truth in labelling?

I am looking forward to reading A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, though.

Does anyone think that the name of author tells less about the book than the title does? If I know of the author that surely tells me more about the book than the title.

I had a friend in college who would rant on this subject at the drop of a paperback. When talking to him, I was often almost persuaded, but then later would change my mind.

I finally figured out it all depends on what I want to read at the moment of purchase. If I'm looking for a particular reading experience (mind-candy, comfort, puzzle, popular science on a topic I don't know much about, etc.) I care more about the author than the title because I know I can count on certain authors to give me a certain type of reading experience. On the other hand, if I'm just looking for something interesting, then titles catch my eye, followed by book jackets and a glance at a few pages in the middle of the book.

Unfortunately, I graduated from college before I figured this out and never got a chance to see if my friend would acknowledge the logic of my position or consign me to large-author-name hell with all the other heathens.