Wednesday 16 July 2008

Further to the Previous Post

As long as we're on the topic of the back flap, has anyone noticed that MNW has stopped putting author photos with the bio? The Personal History of Rachel DuPree, The Sleepwalker's Introduction to Flight, and The Dog of the North are all sans pictures.

Brian's Gallows Lane seems to be the last published with an author photo, but I don't think we can attribute this policy change to Brian's mug shot--it's the same one they used for Borderlands.

Now, writers aren't generally a photogenic lot, and I can well imagine that keeping our images off the product might improve sales. But if this is the case, why wasn't it thought of earlier, so we could all have benefitted from those expanded sales?

In any case, this opens up the possibilities in the bionotes. We can now claim different racial backgrounds, or can add lines such as, "He lives above the fire station in Tooting Bec, and makes his living as a male fashion model," or "She came to writing after a successful career in women's boxing, with 15 TKOs on her record."

11 comments:

Doug Worgul said...

This is welcome news. I tried for weeks to lose weight prior to being photographed for my book flap picture. I only succeeded in losing a couple of pounds. Not enough to improve the picture.

Frances Garrood said...

My (awful) photo is on the back flap of The Birds, The Bees and Other Secrets (out on August 1st), so MNW are still using photos.

Anonymous said...

Brian's photo is just so not like his books, or his strange imagination.

Faye L. Booth said...

I almost hope they aren't using photos any more. I hate being photographed.

mattfwcurran.com Web Admin said...

Ah, that explains it... I asked if I could change the publicity photo for Horde of Mhorrer and got no reply on the matter.

Can't say I blame MNW for dropping the photos though - mine looked like a dodgy car salesmen out to chin anyone who bought The Secret War!

However, if Frances' mug-shot is still on there, then they might be picking and choosing. Bugger. I might have to get a new head-shot after-all (and like Doug, try losing some weight - all-together now: "breath in...").

Tim Stretton said...

I thought mine didn't have a pic because the one shot I'd sent them was probably too low-res to use in cover art. My partner Sue was delighted because I hadn't shaved in the shot, but I doubt this was a factor in MNW's decision.

Brian McGilloway said...

Strange imagination?I'm not sure whether that's a compliment or an insult...

David Isaak said...

"My (awful) photo is on the back flap of The Birds, The Bees and Other Secrets (out on August 1st), so MNW are still using photos."

Oh. Sorry. I guess they just don't like the looks of Sion, Ann, and Tim.

I think I look a bit untrustworthy in my photo. But maybe that doesn't matter in a thriller writer?

Ann Weisgarber said...

I asked Will if we could somehow avoid the whole author picture thing on the back flap. I didn't want to cringe every time I looked at the book. Without hesitation, Will agreed.

Thank heaven for small mercies.

David Isaak said...

Okay...now I think that Ann needs to post a picture here!

C'mon, we showed you ours...

Ann Weisgarber said...

Okay, David. You have a good point. I'll post a picture (but not today!).