Ha! Actually I recall from my graduate school days references to a study that found paperback books sold best when there was a picture of a distressed young woman running away from something in the darkness (or moonlight.) This was improved if there was a Gothic house in the background, and even moreso if there was one lighted window in the house.The next best selling meme shows a couple, the woman usually wearing some elaborate dress while the man is bare-chested or at least has his shirt unbuttoned and hanging open. You know, the kind of cover photo that Fabio used to pose for (maybe still does.)That data was compiled 30 years ago more or less, so I suppose these days the shirtless man should be a werewolf in his human form (which oddly enough seems to mean he is suddenly hairless except for his head) or else a vampire in dishevelment. ;pAnd what's next? Surely the vampire craze must be near the end of its run. Please?
Perhaps the new trend is for science fiction books to be given an abstract, meaningless color-splotch cover with the title of the book, and the subheader "A Novel". So pretentious!Kidding aside, those are some hilarious observations! I'd love to see a more current compilation of data. Come to think of it, this is exactly what Google is for. I understand they have some data mining services for public use. I shall investigate!
Ha! Actually I recall from my graduate school days references to a study that found paperback books sold best when there was a picture of a distressed young woman running away from something in the darkness (or moonlight.) This was improved if there was a Gothic house in the background, and even moreso if there was one lighted window in the house.The next best selling meme shows a couple, the woman usually wearing some elaborate dress while the man is bare-chested or at least has his shirt unbuttoned and hanging open. You know, the kind of cover photo that Fabio used to pose for (maybe still does.)That data was compiled 30 years ago more or less, so I suppose these days the shirtless man should be a werewolf in his human form (which oddly enough seems to mean he is suddenly hairless except for his head) or else a vampire in dishevelment. ;pAnd what's next? Surely the vampire craze must be near the end of its run. Please?
ReplyDeletePerhaps the new trend is for science fiction books to be given an abstract, meaningless color-splotch cover with the title of the book, and the subheader "A Novel". So pretentious!Kidding aside, those are some hilarious observations! I'd love to see a more current compilation of data. Come to think of it, this is exactly what Google is for. I understand they have some data mining services for public use. I shall investigate!
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