I’ve been pacing about thinking “what do I do in a book shop?”
And I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that I judge books by their cover – and sometimes even their spine.
In my local bookshop (Owl, Kentish Town), they sell approximately a million billion titles, and on visiting the shop my behaviour is always the same: stare about blankly looking for something to catch my eye. A sick joke book would catch my attention – I love foul humour.
Basically I’ve got one thought: stick the words ’sick jokes’ in the biggest possible letters on the cover – so even a short-sighted mole could read the title from the other side of the shop.
OK – that’s a pretty rough version of the idea, but it gets my point across, but there’s no question the only person for the job is the lovely and talented Denise Wilton.
Some other thoughts on the cover whilst I’m here:
* I’ve picked black on white for high contrast issues (and that I don’t have a colour printer), maybe sparkling pink and gold would be better?
* Sick Jokes. Big letters. BIG LETTERS. Not the B3ta bit – simply as although I like to think of B3ta being more internationally known brand than McDonalds, something is clueing me into the idea that the phrase ‘Sick Jokes’ is more likely to get random people to pick it up in a bookshop.
* When I pick up a book, I look at the cover and then read the blurb on the back. Fuck having blurb. Make it jokes. Why? Well, what’s the point of describing a joke when you can tell it? No ambiguity.