I’ve been to enough bookstores to know exactly where I want to look for my new favorite book. Always at the front they have the new releases, the best sellers, and the on sale books all in fancy displays. Usually, I walk right through and off to the left as I head for the juicy, stereotypical, teenage heart throbs: fiction. Yet today, as I painfully kept walking past my go-to safe haven, I noticed that the different types of advertising that big companies go through for their products is incredible. Pretty displays, similar color themes, popular authors, bestsellers, all of theses techniques are used to catch the eye of the innocent passerby.
While perusing through these many books, I happened to stumble across Bossypants, by Tina Fey. The first thing that always makes me laugh when I come across this amazing woman’s book, is the image of her freakishly hairy man hands. Women’s images are so important to society nowadays, that when we see photos that don’t depict the “perfect body”, it’s, sadly, almost shocking. However, if you know anything about Tina, you would know that those are a perfect representation of her strong, comedic self. With gel letters and a bright background, this book is an attention grabber. In case you can’t recognize this famous icon’s face, which is dead center of the cover, her name is plastered directly over head, making it impossible to miss. As one may have assumed, many different editions have been printed of this fabulously entertaining autobiography, all of which have very positive blurbs from well known News Papers and Editors, with “International Bestseller” or “#1 National Bestseller” posted across the top.
It’s the publisher’s job to make the book sell. The author writes it, the publisher makes it look fancy, and the companies sell it. Teen fiction books have the love struck kids with their faces tantalizingly close. Horror has the dead girl with some blood on her white dress. Depending on which life narrative you pick up, you might see a familiar face, or a safe, light colored background advertising just how great this book really is. Bookstores are like a tree, and each leaf is different.