Wolfe Goes Title-Free
20 Sep 2005, 5:02:30 pm
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If you'd like to know what the title of Tom Wolfe's new novel is, the paperback's cover won't tell you. Neither will the review on the back cover -- the book is completely devoid of title. Reuters doesn't say if the spine has a title (I'd hope it would), but the marketing theory behind this is rather odd: the marketeer quoted in the article struggles to connect the college-student market to the desire for atitled book covers. How is this, might you ask? "We are using Tom Wolfe's name as a brand, rather than the title of the book. He is an icon himself," says the Picador representative. Because, you know, opening a market that wasn't attracted to the brand name when the product was first released means that those customers are so familiar with your product's brand name that they'll buy it regardless of content....ummmm......
The cover is stylish, but it probably wouldn't attract me on sight. When I was a college student who counted my pennies and didn't take too many purchasing risks? The cover would probably have been overlooked, in favor of one more familiar, more descriptive of the content. Even if the title was added and nothing else changed, it'd be at least something more for a buyer to go on.
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