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Does it matter who a book looks like?
Lately I’ve been struggling with an issue that has been on my mind for years now. I don’t put my image as the default photo on any of my social networking sites, instead usually opting to but a book cover in its place. There are a couple of reasons I do this. Of course I am trying to sell a product and I want people to be familiar with what I am offering. I want to get my books out there so that they can at least pique a little interest.
The other reasons are personal. I actually don’t have pictures of myself more than a few years old and although I still look practically the same as I did a few years ago, something about putting an old picture for people to judge seems dishonest. Since I currently don’t own a camera and buying one would be a luxury rather than a necessity, it is not on my list of priorities.
I never have kept many pictures of myself because I prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. I’ve noticed that many (but not all) people who spend a disproportionate amount of time in front of cameras and mirrors tend to lack a certain humility I look for in character. I wonder what kind of a soul they really have.
Then there are the more intellectual reasons I don’t bother with my own pictures. What does what I look like have to do with my talents as a writer? Can one tell that a writer or her book is going to be good or bad because of her looks? In my years of studying media, I have found that there is a such thing as what music looks like, particularly with the now ubiquitous music video. Singers are judged based more on their looks rather than their talent, particularly women of all kinds and most viciously black women.
Could we be doing this to writers as well? If a woman writer does not meet a certain criteria in the image department, do we shun her and her writing no matter her level of talent? I am my books and I put my all into the stories and characters I write. So I ask, does it matter what my books look like?
Recommended Viewing: Dreamgirls, Directed by Bill Condon (2006)
Recommended Reading: Mosquito, Gayl Jones (1999)
Recommended Listening: The Orchard, Lizz Wright (2008)
The other reasons are personal. I actually don’t have pictures of myself more than a few years old and although I still look practically the same as I did a few years ago, something about putting an old picture for people to judge seems dishonest. Since I currently don’t own a camera and buying one would be a luxury rather than a necessity, it is not on my list of priorities.
I never have kept many pictures of myself because I prefer to be behind the camera instead of in front of it. I’ve noticed that many (but not all) people who spend a disproportionate amount of time in front of cameras and mirrors tend to lack a certain humility I look for in character. I wonder what kind of a soul they really have.
Then there are the more intellectual reasons I don’t bother with my own pictures. What does what I look like have to do with my talents as a writer? Can one tell that a writer or her book is going to be good or bad because of her looks? In my years of studying media, I have found that there is a such thing as what music looks like, particularly with the now ubiquitous music video. Singers are judged based more on their looks rather than their talent, particularly women of all kinds and most viciously black women.
Could we be doing this to writers as well? If a woman writer does not meet a certain criteria in the image department, do we shun her and her writing no matter her level of talent? I am my books and I put my all into the stories and characters I write. So I ask, does it matter what my books look like?
Recommended Viewing: Dreamgirls, Directed by Bill Condon (2006)
Recommended Reading: Mosquito, Gayl Jones (1999)
Recommended Listening: The Orchard, Lizz Wright (2008)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Crystal J on -
Great Post Inda!!!
As a writer and participant in the Visual Aid Struggle I have to ask myself the following question:
Are you trying to sell a product and therefore utilize any and all promotional tactics available to you within your own reasoning?
Yes, and often this has included producing a photo of myself for my profile. For whatever the reason people use the photo, it would be out of my control but if my motive is to sell my product and my picture aids this effort, I have achieved my goal.
On the other hand, if my mission is to push solely the content of my book minus my own personal image, so be it. However, with this decision I have accepted the fact that many people who desire a visual connection with me as an author may be less likely to pursue my publication.
In A Perfect World, we would be able to control the way people think and perceive us and with what information they utilize to do so, unfortunately we can’t. This reality puts some of us in an awkward position.
We are forced to make a decision and also answer the question for ourselves from the opposite perspective…
Self: “Does it matter who a book looks like?”
~Crystal J
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Permalink Reply by Kiki Howell on -
I never really thought about the whole photo thing. I had someone ask for an author photo for something and I got one. But, if i think about it for a minute, I guess something that comes to mind is making the author seem more personable, real to a reader. However, as far as selling books, I really think first cover and then a great blurb are what we have to catch a readers interest in a very short amount of time. I have seen this to be true in reviews as well. My books with the most reviews are the one with the best cover and possibly the best blurb. The cover is seen before they read anything, even the blurb, and a good one will have it picked up or further investigated. My two cents, for what it is worth. I agree about the music biz though! Glad I am not there!
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