University of Nebraska Press

The Director Dish: Judging a Book by Its Cover

You can judge a book by its cover; in fact, I hope you do because we spend a lot of time honing the titles and cover designs for our books. With more and more people purchasing books online, it’s even important than ever to grab them with a good title or compelling cover.

In the online world of search engine optimization (SEO), a title needs to come up if a consumer is looking for a book on a certain subject. That’s why I’m such a stickler for non-fiction book titles (except perhaps, memoir) to say what the book is about.

In a recent meeting about titles for forthcoming books, I raised the point that a particular title didn’t tell you what was the book was about.

“Well, if you read the book,” someone said, “you’ll know why the author wants this title.” I countered, “With that title, I’m definitely not going to read the book.” We settled on keeping the title, but with a very descriptive subtitle that captures what might come up when someone searches that subject online.

Different genres have different conventions for titling. It’s okay to go for a snazzy title paired with a long, long subtitle on a sports or business book. (That seems to be the acceptable approach now, anyway.) Personally, I love it. A recent favorite of mine: Banzai Babe Ruth: Baseball, Espionage, and Assassination during the 1934 Tour of Japan. How could you resist a book like that? Apparently you can’t because it’s been a hot seller for us. Of course, some books don’t need a subtitle; the title says everything. I love 501 Baseball Books Fans Must Read before They Die. End of story.

Religious books are tough to title. You have to convey why the book is unique but remain respectful, while explaining what the book is about. I’m particularly proud of the title we came up with for —well, I don’t have to tell you what the book is about because the title and subtitle say it all: From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends.

Fiction and literary memoir are a bit more challenging. We seldom change the title that the author submits; it would be like changing the title of a painting. Our memoirists, in particular, seem to be quite skilled at titles. For example:

 

The Director Dish: A Word about Words

I love words. Always have. As a kid, I loved to do the Jumble in the newspaper every morning, and my mother, sister, and I would play Scrabble whenever we had a chance. (Those were the days you played on an actual printed game board!) Even today, I have three or four Scrabble or Words with Friends games going at once and I do crossword puzzles incessantly. I just generally love word games. (Word Warp is my latest obsession, but it’s really not that challenging and is aggravating my carpal tunnel syndrome.)

I like words on their own—before they are lined up and carefully crafted into beautiful poetry or captivating fiction or thoughtful memoir. I confess, though:  I play favorites. My favorites these days are "erstwhile," "penultimate," and "extra-canonical." Erstwhile makes the current list because, although it means “of things past” or “former,” I’ve always imagined that it has a bit of earnestness to it—former, yes, but with some eagerness, some desire to please. Ridiculous, I admit, but it gives me a bit of pleasure whenever I have the occasion to use it.

Penultimate is another word I can picture in action. “Next to last.” I see penultimate lined up, second to the end, leaning forward, trying not to be last. Penultimate is a wonderful word to have at my disposal. As a university press publisher, I’ve been able to see many multivolume series come to fruition, and there can be a certain sadness when the penultimate volume is released, for we know the next one will be the last. Or, alternatively, much joy knowing we are that much closer to completion!

Extra-canonical: "not included in the canon of Scripture. " I love this word! And I’ve had many occasions to use it since our announcement of the new JPS three-volume set, Outside the Bible, a collection of the works not included in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), publishing in fall 2013. This set is an incredible, once-in-a-century compilation of translations and commentary about works that did not make the cut: what they are, what they mean, and why they weren’t included in the Bible. As I write this, it is the third day of Hanukkah—and I'm wondering why weren’t the books of the Maccabees included in the Bible? Or Jubilees, or the Psalms of Solomon?  Or Susanna? Alas, this is fodder for a future blog . . .

The Director Dish: From the playbook to print

The Nebraska-Northwestern game on Saturday was a thriller. Except for the Huskers themselves, I don’t think anyone cared more about a Nebraska win than I. After all, I spent nearly ten years at Northwestern University Press and last year, hosted three of my former colleagues at Memorial Stadium, only to see the Wildcats beat us. This year, I opted to stay home rather than fly to Evanston for the game. I was certain we’d beat them—but boy was my resolve tested! Alas, the team came through for me.

Those of you who know our Press know we publish a wide range of sports history, from golf to running to hiking to professional and collegiate sports such as baseball, basketball, and football. In fact, we are becoming so well known for our sports books that we received a surprise visit from Orlando Magic senior VP Pat Williams yesterday. He was in town for a speech but wanted to stop by and meet the folks at UNP because he loves our books. We loved meeting him. Thanks, Pat!

Sadly, though, it doesn’t take someone who follows college or pro sports to know the troubles that have beset individuals and teams in a culture singularly dedicated to winning. In a book we published in 2010, Scoreboard, Baby, Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry go behind the scenes of the University of Washington’s 2000 football season to uncover a tale of corruption, complicity, and crime. Buzz Bissinger said it was “the most harrowing book I have ever read about college sports.” Of course, there are even more harrowing tales about college football these days—we read about them in the paper every day, it seems. But college football doesn’t have a monopoly on these tales.