/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.12184224]

Literature is a dying medium because of outdated, poor marketing. This is literally the entire fucking issue. In the movie industry you have an appealing movie that is then bolstered by some big name director or actor. In literature the entire fucking marketing angle is "made by X" which is completely irrelevant unless you already care.

Why is this even a thing? Yeah, no shit you should put weight on the creator as a selling point. That doesnt mean that you are now absolved of making the individual piece seem appealing. How many fucking teenagers/ young adults would be reading Houellebecq if his works were marketed properly and looked like fucking art on the shelf?

Yes, Im saying put more effort on the superficial elements of a book- this literally doesnt compromise the text in any way. Make better covers. Make better blurbs. Make better and more convenient platforms for e-books. Just look at how youtube and netflix dominate their media and why they do it

[Anonymous No.12184317]

>>12184224
>looked like fucking art

Literally the last thing you should do. Take pic related. Books with artistic content which have succeeded by being presented as bottom-feeding sitcom trash.

I swear most people are more afraid of reading something that's too hard for them. They'll buy shit thrillers because they know they'll understand it. They'll buy Ferrante because it looks like a soap opera.

[Anonymous No.12184339]

>>12184224
give us some examples of what you consider good marketing.

[Anonymous No.12184342]

>>12184224
>This is literally the entire fucking issue.
something about people being exposed to
instant gratification everywhere, all the time, probably has something to do with it, also

[Anonymous No.12184356]

>>12184339
How am I supposed to give examples of good marketing in a field that entirely neglects to use marketing to its advantage effectively? The best fucking piece of marketing I ever witnessed was a documentary styled comedy webseries where the main character claimed to be writing a diary. Once it came out it was an instant bestseller due to the series.

[Anonymous No.12184361]

>>12184224
>Yes, Im saying put more effort on the superficial elements of a book- this literally doesnt compromise the text in any way.
I hope you don't actually believe this. The more that is spent of marketing, the more a book must me marketable. It may not apply retroactively (though, it may cause abridgements), but it sure as hell would compromise the publishing industry in the future.

[Anonymous No.12184366]

>>12184317
Kek, that's not far from the meme Karamzov covers.

[Anonymous No.12184378]

>>12184356
What do you even make of your original pic then?

According to Wikipedia over 450,000 copies were printed in 2016. Hard to know the sales from that, but it had already been in print before that and had sold 20K in Worst Korea before even being translated. If we say that it eventually reaches a half million is that good marketing? Half a million seems good to me for something that asks for more time from the audience than a youtube video does.

[Anonymous No.12184384]

>Literature is a dying medium
It's not, it has never been better in fact. Your entire position is based on extremely romanticized ideas about historical role and position of literature in the world.

[Anonymous No.12184394]

>>12184224
Literature is pretty much the basis where movies are built upon, these days.

It is where they test drive scripts to make adaptations.

[Anonymous No.12184417]

You mean like this? Seems kinda whorish m8

[Anonymous No.12184432]

>>12184417
There is a difference in trying to chase something else that succeeded and putting effort into the cover art instead of shit like >>12184317

[Anonymous No.12184464]

>>12184432
That ‘American Psycho’ still has to be one of the best covers I’ve ever seen. What’s the point of getting any mother besides that?

[Anonymous No.12184483]

>>12184464
It's frustrating. The copy I have and every one I've seen in town is that fucking weird one with a zoom on Bateman's face, looking chubby. Always irritated me how the cover I have does not resemble Ellis' descriptions of Pat Bateman nor Christian Bale.

[Anonymous No.12184490]

>>12184224
If every book has a great cover then no cover is great.

[Anonymous No.12184523]

>>12184490

[Anonymous No.12184541]

What if all bad books had a bad cover and good books had great covers so that you could literally judge it by it's cover?

[Anonymous No.12184551]

>>12184541
Free market is a thing

[Anonymous No.12184565]

>>12184224
I want to read The Vegetarian but in my country the cover looks like a typical housewife novel, so I'm reluctant to do it.

[Anonymous No.12184573]

>>12184541
What if all good books were bad and all bad books were good so you never had to books?

[Anonymous No.12184593]

>>12184384
People like to fantasize about the influence of philosophers, yet even at the height of their popularity during the 18th century they couldn't attract a following anything even remotely considered sizeable among the general public.

[Anonymous No.12184861]

>>12184565
Fucking state of Germany here. Agency supplied picture plus WordArted fonts for the title. Horrible bestseller sticker actually incorporated into the physical design and not even in your own damn language. Idiotproof note on the front that it's fiction in case anyone was going to buy it without even looking at the blurb and then top it off with the publisher's garish trademark actually creeping off the spine to deface the front.

[Anonymous No.12184894]

>>12184593
>among the general public
Their works affected intelligentsia, whose works in turn affected the larger masses. Your thinking is on the level of "Einstein wasn't influential because average layman can't grasp general relativity".

[Anonymous No.12186244]

>>12184224
I honestly think that the old penguin paperback book covers make me enjoy reading them more, they're so perfectly simple and beautiful

[Anonymous No.12186259]

>>12186244
Then again, those are all really good books so it might just be that.

[Anonymous No.12186473]

>>12184384
It literally is though

[Anonymous No.12186936]

>>12184224
I disagree, but I'll conceed that a great cover goes a long ways to making people interested, pic related

[Anonymous No.12187020]

>>12184224
Are you that anon who had a spergout about advertising books months ago? Have you written your bestseller yet (with filmed scenes from the story used as advertisements)?

>>12184565
That sucks. The book's context makes it look really shitty, I swear I wouldn't have read it if I wasn't grabbed by its first few sentences.
Maybe you can get the english version? They say that the translation is top notch.

>>12184894
>Their works affected intelligentsia, whose works in turn affected the larger masses
And that is still happening today. So what are you complaining about?

[Anonymous No.12187045]

>>12184224
If publishers weren't retarded and actually reduced the prices of ebooks to something like 50% of the physical version, the digital market would skyrocket. Books cost too much unless you pirate them