Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A Ghost Face?

Keith here.

We all know the expression “You can’t tell a book by its cover.” The joy of the Susan Boyle phenomenon is finding something magnificent inside a body that looks undistinguished and frumpy.

Does it work that way in the book world itself? If we write great prose, does it matter what we look like? If only.

Book buyers do seem to think you can tell a book by its cover. In a recent story on NPR, Martha Woodroof reports “the use of novelist photos steadily increased as the text-driven magazines of the first half of the 20th century gave way to the picture-driven ones of the second half.” Nicholas Latimer of Knopf relates a conversation with a People’s Magazine editor who told him that “if you have an attractive looking author, there’s a better chance that your book will get reviewed.” Latimer bemoaned this state of affairs: “That is just shocking to think that you have to have an attractive author first, and then if they’ve written something interesting they might review it.” (Click here if you want to listen to the whole NPR story.)

I’m screwed. Damn! Is a plastic surgeon as necessary as a good editor then?

Jessa Crispin, the BookSlut, tells NPR listeners, “You know, I have met too many writers who look absolutely nothing like their author photo. So you meet them at a party, you're like, who are you? Like, did you hire somebody for your author photos? Should I get someone to stand in for me?”

Good idea! I have a book coming out in October. Maybe getting the right stand-in for my author photo is the answer. Others employ ghost writers. I'll use a ghost face.


Below are four potential author pix. Which one will send Smasher to the top of the bestseller lists?
Please let me know your choice via commenting.










13 comments:

Sue Ann Jaffarian said...

My fav is the bottom right - the "Steven Spielberg" look. That guy looks like he'd write a smashing good read! Top right isn't bad either. The ones on the left - eh!

G.M. Malliet said...

Bottom right. Definitely has that man-of-mystery look.

Tim Maleeny said...

Upper left, definitely. That's your high school yearbook photo, right?

Keith Raffel said...

Tim, high school memories are a little hazy. Were we in high school together?

Jessica Lourey said...

Ah, Keith, you're just another pretty face. Upper right, for sure.

Keith Raffel said...

BTW, Sue Ann. Once in Frankfurt Airport a guy came up and asked me if I was Steven Spielberg. I wasn't.

Lisa Bork said...

LOL. I see the resemblance to Steven Spielberg. Can't get much more successful than him.

Alan Orloff said...

I'd go with bottom right.

It's a little more "tough guy."

Julia Buckley said...

Keith, of course you underestimage your own handsomeness, but that's because we writers are so humble. :)

I do think that physical appearance has become weirdly important, more so than ever before--consider the number of celebrities who are famous pretty much JUST because they are attractive.


Still, I know that if and when I have to take another author photo I'll probably be asking that photographer to work some photoshop magic. At least to whiten the teeth and possibly take out a chin. :)

Keith Raffel said...

OMG, Julia. If you need to be Photoshopped, where does that leave the rest of us poor slobs? (I might go for the photo on the top left.)

Alan Orloff said...

You are so right, Keith. From one poor slob to another, maybe we should use stick-figure self-portraits.

At least that would be original.

Deborah Sharp said...

Yep, most of us are older and heavier than our author fotos, right? At least we're not children's book authors. A friend who is tells me they stopped asking for fotos once she turned 40.

G.M. Malliet said...

Deborah - Now that seems strange to me. Do kids really care about the author's age?