Thursday, January 21, 2010

UPDATE: Bloomsbury rejackets

"Bloomsbury is ceasing to supply copies of the US edition of Magic Under Glass. The jacket design has caused offense and we apologize for our mistake. Copies of the book with a new jacket design will be available shortly."

32 comments:

Sylvia said...

Hurray!

Carol B. said...

[sigh] How many times does Bloomsbury plan to carry out this re-covering scenario? Why didn't they take care of this before publication? Better for them if they'd just begin with an appropriate cover using a POC, and then they could maybe even brag about how well suited it is and how race conscious they are. Not that we'd believe them.

Kate said...

Oh please may it not happen again!

Thomas Taylor said...

Bloomsbury have got this free advertising thing down to an art.

Emma Michaels said...

Yeay! I was hoping they might make a new cover that could do the novel justice. Thanks for posting the update! Looking forward to seeing the new cover.

Sarah Ahiers said...

Ha! FTW!

Anonymous said...

I am very pleased with the outcome.

Natalie Aguirre said...

I just saw that too. You'd think they would get it right after the controversy. Their authors should definitely look at the covers carefully.

Unknown said...

Amazing what a little pressure will do. The real question is, after doing this twice, have they learned their lesson?

kate.o.d said...

i'm extremely happy the cover is to be changed.

but now i just want to know whether it was all a publicity stunt or if bloomsbury are genuinely daft people making the same racist mistakes twice?

Unknown said...

Yay! I am happy to see this. Hopefully Bloomsbury learns from this what they didn't from the Liar controversy.

Erik said...

Damn right.

JESSJORDAN said...

Hot damn! That's good to hear. Sad that a stink has to be created before they realize it, but still.

TK Roxborogh said...

I think New Zealand is now one the least racist, sexist, homophobic, class driven societies. Yet, one of our most cherished and loved writers has a new book out called Access Road. OMG - it is rich chocolate to read. But, check out the cover here: http://www.penguin.co.nz/afa.asp?idWebPage=30233&ID=1979670&SID=808364985

Ask yourself, what is the colour of the main character's hair? Looking at the cover, it's black. yet, part of the makeup of the character/narrator is that she is a vibrant read head.

Here in NZ, it's not about race but still this fab publishing house (and I am in their stable) still provide very good covers where the cover doesn't match the content.

But yay for EA and others who put damn fine pressure on publishers to lift their game.

Anonymous said...

It was an expensive lesson to learn *once*. Twice, more so. The poor dears. (At least they responded!)

Maybe it was all a marketing ploy.

Also, maybe they can recycle the image for some princessy book about a white girl (if they can find one to publish).

Amy said...

I am so happy we have been heard. This is the first time I've written to a publisher, and it's gratifying to see things change.

Peni R. Griffin said...

So how many times do you reckon they'll have to do this before they realize it's cheaper to do it right the first time?

Christine Tripp said...

Wow:)

Chris Eldin said...

Awesome. Let's see what happens in the future..

Doret said...

I am happy the cover is being changed but Bloomsbury needs to do more.

Bloomsbury is not going to trick me twice into believing they've changed or learned their lesson because of a new cover.

I still refuse to sell or promote their titles.

Something is very wrong at Bloomsbury. They need to figure out what it is and fix it.

As far as I know Bloomsbury Kids doesn't have any authors of color. Please, someone correct me if I am wrong.

Anonymous said...

Natalie - one of the biggest things to come of this is hopefully the realization that authors have NO control over what is on the cover. None. Doesn't matter how many times we look at something, most often we only see it when it's done.

Anonymous said...

Doret -- by saying you "refuse to sell or promote their titles," you realize you are hurting the innocent AUTHORS, don't you?

Sorry, but that is not right. How is that approach any better than what Bloomsbury did?

---
I was in a bookstore this afternoon and the book (with the questionable cover) was already stocked and faced out. Since the book is already out and is associated with this cover, it seems as if a new cover after the release might hurt sales.


If the author is happy then I'm happy for her, but it does create apprehension, too, mostly because the driving force behind the change was not author/editor/agent (who is should have been, if they had issues) but from bloggers, who, by all intents and purposes, don't pay for their books anyway, but get them for free.

I'm interested in the larger question here -- What happens when an author LOVES her cover but the bloggers rise again and demand changes? Are pubs now supposed to bend to those that raise a racket, though they never purchase books????

Joelle said...

Does this make my ARC a collector's edition? Actually, I had it in my TBR pile and had missed the kerfuffle until now, but I hadn't cracked it, so I didn't know what it was about yet. Glad others of you are paying attention though!

Anonymous said...

Anonymous wrote: the driving force behind the change was not author/editor/agent (who is should have been, if they had issues) but from bloggers,

While I think this is a valid point, unless you are the author/editor/agent (and you might be), you don't really know what they tried or didn't try to change. I happen to LOVE my cover, but I can tell you right now that even if I'd HATED it, the only people who would've known that would be my husband, agent and editor. I would never publicly debate a cover for my book, and I don't think most authors would either. If I remember correctly, Justine never said a word about her cover until after it all blew up across the internet, and even then, she was quite cautious. Just because an author doesn't complain publicly doesn't mean they did not voice their opinions. So hopefully, she did if it bothered her, but I don't think you can say for sure that it was ONLY bloggers who brought about the change.

Anonymous said...

I'm interested in the larger question here -- What happens when an author LOVES her cover but the bloggers rise again and demand changes? Are pubs now supposed to bend to those that raise a racket, though they never purchase books????

Exactly what I was wondering.

Ebony McKenna. said...

I think this is a good result and I hope the book does well.

Anonymous said...

It's interesting that it took this long for the author to complain about the cover. When the art was first done, and it was being Tweeted, the only complaint was that the model's costume looked like undergarments. Other than that, everyone involved seemed to love and approve of the cover. There was no mention of the model - or character's - race. I wonder if she decided it was a problem after the Liar backlash.

Anonymous said...

This is likely obsolete in view of the latest EA blog, but the author did say a little something about the issue in December:
http://xicanti.livejournal.com/173376.html

It's easy for us to be armchair generals about the whole thing, but the latest EA blog clears up why even the author's small commentary above may have been professionally risky in lieu of her publisher.

Her comments supporting the cover seemed more about the mood, clothing, and setting of the cover, while never actually praising the choice of model. A lot can be seen in what she *doesn't* say-- discrete, subtle, and professional.

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