Gender, genre, and the art of covering up
Kes: jesse_the_k sent me the link
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/technology/circuits/09basics.html
to a New York Times article on eBooks and eBook reading devices, along with her own note ":Crappy gender politics towards the end (color me shocked)."
I could tell precisely which sentence that provoked this comment because my snark meter kicked into gear also:
block quote start
As the readers and the devices become more common, e-book publishers
are noticing a shift in tastes. The early best-seller lists were
dominated by science fiction novels and other titles favored by men,
who, not coincidentally, also tend to buy gadgets.
But lately, the lists are led by romance and women’s fiction. The top
seller at Fictionwise yesterday was “Lady Beware” by Jo Beverley. The
top seller at both Mobipocket and eReader recently was “The Secret
Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever” by Julia Quinn.
“The public’s attitude is that electronic media is disposable,” said
Nick Bogaty, the executive director of the International Digital
Publishing Forum. “Mystery and romance are priced lower, and there’s
an argument to be made about trade e-books that the consumers want a
lot of product, and they want it relatively inexpensively.”
Another advantage of the format, he said, is that “on the subway, you
don’t need to be embarrassed by the cover.”
block quote end
Aside from the fact that I have been known to gloat that no one knows how much porn I have on my Book Port (=an accessible mp3 player for blind readers), this gave me the idea of demonstrating some romance reader pride by creating something from book covers. A laptop bag, perhaps? Maybe a laptop cover that velcros closed? Hm, I know someone made a bodiceripper bodice at Arisia a number of years back: are there any sites for how to create things from book covers?
If I figure out how to do this, I may be asking people for scandalous book covers...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/09/technology/circuits/09basics.html
to a New York Times article on eBooks and eBook reading devices, along with her own note ":Crappy gender politics towards the end (color me shocked)."
I could tell precisely which sentence that provoked this comment because my snark meter kicked into gear also:
block quote start
As the readers and the devices become more common, e-book publishers
are noticing a shift in tastes. The early best-seller lists were
dominated by science fiction novels and other titles favored by men,
who, not coincidentally, also tend to buy gadgets.
But lately, the lists are led by romance and women’s fiction. The top
seller at Fictionwise yesterday was “Lady Beware” by Jo Beverley. The
top seller at both Mobipocket and eReader recently was “The Secret
Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever” by Julia Quinn.
“The public’s attitude is that electronic media is disposable,” said
Nick Bogaty, the executive director of the International Digital
Publishing Forum. “Mystery and romance are priced lower, and there’s
an argument to be made about trade e-books that the consumers want a
lot of product, and they want it relatively inexpensively.”
Another advantage of the format, he said, is that “on the subway, you
don’t need to be embarrassed by the cover.”
block quote end
Aside from the fact that I have been known to gloat that no one knows how much porn I have on my Book Port (=an accessible mp3 player for blind readers), this gave me the idea of demonstrating some romance reader pride by creating something from book covers. A laptop bag, perhaps? Maybe a laptop cover that velcros closed? Hm, I know someone made a bodiceripper bodice at Arisia a number of years back: are there any sites for how to create things from book covers?
If I figure out how to do this, I may be asking people for scandalous book covers...