The BEA is over (and I have just so recovered). It is pretty clear that the future of the book is digital and cross-platform; meaning, combinations of books, movies, websites, and the like. Everything is extremely loud, more colorful, faster, inter-active, and loaded with bits and pixels.
And, of course, what really sells books is still celebrities.
This applies also to political books, not only to fiction. Basically, there were two types of political non-fiction books at the BEA that made a splash: the drama-queen conspiracy book, like, how that black-muslim-arab-kenyan-indonesian-Hitler/Stalin-type foreigner is wrecking our country, or, likewise, how Aliens operating from Area 51 are doing the same thing. And the second category are celebrities known from newspapers or, even better, from TV.
If you want to double up on that one, be Bill O‘Reilly. After "Killing Lincoln," he has written "Killing Kennedy". The Google can't miss that one. What's next, "Killing MLK"? "Killing Garfield"? "Killing Hitler"? I‘m not taking any bets, but I am probably incredibly close.
On a lighter note, I listened to a comedy riff by Dan Wilbur about "Better Book Titles," he also talked about blurbs. Here is my favorite: "Is that a tape recorder? Get the fuck away from me" — Jonathan Safran Foer
And, of course, what really sells books is still celebrities.
This applies also to political books, not only to fiction. Basically, there were two types of political non-fiction books at the BEA that made a splash: the drama-queen conspiracy book, like, how that black-muslim-arab-kenyan-indonesian-Hitler/Stalin-type foreigner is wrecking our country, or, likewise, how Aliens operating from Area 51 are doing the same thing. And the second category are celebrities known from newspapers or, even better, from TV.
If you want to double up on that one, be Bill O‘Reilly. After "Killing Lincoln," he has written "Killing Kennedy". The Google can't miss that one. What's next, "Killing MLK"? "Killing Garfield"? "Killing Hitler"? I‘m not taking any bets, but I am probably incredibly close.
On a lighter note, I listened to a comedy riff by Dan Wilbur about "Better Book Titles," he also talked about blurbs. Here is my favorite: "Is that a tape recorder? Get the fuck away from me" — Jonathan Safran Foer
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