Comments on: Hey, let’s write a book http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book Writing about writing Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:52:54 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Il blog del Mestiere di Scrivere http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book/comment-page-1#comment-310404 Il blog del Mestiere di Scrivere Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:18:50 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book#comment-310404 <strong>http://mesti...</strong> Va' dove ti porta il titolo. Solo qualche giorno fa, quando ho visto una pila di libri che faceva concorrenza alla mia modesta altezza, ho saputo che uno dei libri più venduti in Italia in questo periodo si intitola Sfogliandolo mi è ve... http://mesti...

Va’ dove ti porta il titolo. Solo qualche giorno fa, quando ho visto una pila di libri che faceva concorrenza alla mia modesta altezza, ho saputo che uno dei libri più venduti in Italia in questo periodo si intitola Sfogliandolo mi è ve…

]]> By: Peter http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book/comment-page-1#comment-309135 Peter Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:16:05 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book#comment-309135 Title: The Selfish Meme Subtitle: Why the Worst Ideas can get the Best Results Premise: Organisations can turn Groupthink on its head, and put it to work for them. Hey! This is fun. Of course, the hard part is holding one's nose for long enough to churn out 250 pages of this stuff. Title: Irrelevant Design Subtitle: Why our brains are fooled by detail. Premise: Stop seeing the wood, and notice the forest! Of course, then there's the book promotion tour. How do you keep a straight face when you're pimping this kind of crap? It's a tough job, but I guess somebody's got to do it. (In fairness, every now and then a Big Idea book comes along that really *is* worth reading, but they're rarely the biggest hits. I wonder why?) Title: The Selfish Meme

Subtitle: Why the Worst Ideas can get the Best Results

Premise: Organisations can turn Groupthink on its head, and put it to work for them.

Hey! This is fun. Of course, the hard part is holding one’s nose for long enough to churn out 250 pages of this stuff.

Title: Irrelevant Design

Subtitle: Why our brains are fooled by detail.

Premise: Stop seeing the wood, and notice the forest!

Of course, then there’s the book promotion tour. How do you keep a straight face when you’re pimping this kind of crap? It’s a tough job, but I guess somebody’s got to do it.

(In fairness, every now and then a Big Idea book comes along that really *is* worth reading, but they’re rarely the biggest hits. I wonder why?)

]]> By: Mark Larson http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book/comment-page-1#comment-309104 Mark Larson Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:45:38 +0000 http://www.badlanguage.net/hey-lets-write-a-book#comment-309104 Interesting how the business demands guide the language of the cover. Ugh. You see the same titling crutches in lots of academic material as well, using the same form: Catchy Title [colon] Explanatory Sub-Title. It's great to have the explanation, but in another way, it kills the suspense. I'm thinking of a book like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ten-Faces-Innovation-Strategies-Organization/dp/0385512074" rel="nofollow">The Ten Faces of Innovation</a>. It not only has a long sub-title, but also has each of the ten faces depicted on the cover. For me, with all that info upfront, I'm less likely to actually open the book if copy doesn't really hit home. (And I'm one of those who really likes reading the jacket copy). So there's more pressure to make the title catchy or outlandish or zany or what-have-you. I suspect I browse and skim the fiction books more closely because the covers hold information back. Is it just me? Seems like part of a bigger cultural thing going on here that I can't quite put my finger on. There's more and more non-fiction not just for reference or edification or technical guidance, but mass entertainment (much of it quite good). Surely it's tied in with our newly webbed world. Interesting how the business demands guide the language of the cover. Ugh. You see the same titling crutches in lots of academic material as well, using the same form: Catchy Title [colon] Explanatory Sub-Title. It’s great to have the explanation, but in another way, it kills the suspense. I’m thinking of a book like The Ten Faces of Innovation. It not only has a long sub-title, but also has each of the ten faces depicted on the cover. For me, with all that info upfront, I’m less likely to actually open the book if copy doesn’t really hit home. (And I’m one of those who really likes reading the jacket copy). So there’s more pressure to make the title catchy or outlandish or zany or what-have-you. I suspect I browse and skim the fiction books more closely because the covers hold information back. Is it just me?

Seems like part of a bigger cultural thing going on here that I can’t quite put my finger on. There’s more and more non-fiction not just for reference or edification or technical guidance, but mass entertainment (much of it quite good). Surely it’s tied in with our newly webbed world.

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