Podcasts and the Art of Marketing with Sensory Appeal

Within the last two days, I have been asked to find, listen to, and subscribe to some podcasts for a class. I was initially not overly enthusiastic because I have never really enjoyed audiobooks and expected that podcasts would be something like audiobooks. However, my vague ideas about podcasts were overturned when I actually went on iTunes and looked for podcasts about areas I am interested in. In particular, I searched for podcasts about book cover design (which I am passionately interested in), reading programs/teaching reading, Bach, violin, and logic. The two searches that most directly apply to school library media programs are, of course, reading programs/teaching reading and book cover design.

So far, of the 65 podcasts that I have downloaded onto my iPhone, I have listened to only one (I clearly have a ways to go). That one is "The art of the book cover," presented by Design Podcast: ABC Radio National. I have included the link below.

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/booksandarts/the-art-of-the-book-cover/5897482
(the podcast is approximately 15 minutes)

What a wonderful way to wander into the world of podcasts! It is an absolutely delightful and thoroughly thoughtful interview between the presenter, Michael Cathcart, and the guest, Peter Mendelsund, about the importance of book jacket design and some of the things that Mendelsund does to make the books for which he designs stand out.

Now, you may be wondering how this relates to school library media. Well, students choose what they read based on the book's attractiveness. Do you want an example? Here you go:

 

These two books are currently on my to-read pile from the library. Weird, aren't they? But they are really attractive and striking in a kind of psychotic way. I have actually read Splintered before, and it is basically a modern and almost psychedelic Alice in Wonderland. It stuck with me, though--and a lot of that stickiness had to do with the striking book cover. Whoa! The vibrant colors, the girl's almost manic blue eye combined with her fuchsia lipstick, and the way that the wild green is enveloping her are all rather...memorable. Plus, all of those bugs are kind of creepy in a wild, weird way.

Contrast those covers with the covers of The Looking Glass Wars, though. Frankly, I didn't like this book as much. The cover is darker than that of Splintered...and so is the story. Other people might like it better, but I like the Spiderwick feel more than the steampunk feel.

Goodness. I go on all sorts of tangents, don't I? To go back to the podcast again, I learned about the value of getting to the root of what the author wants to say. Cover design is a matter of taking important symbols and ideas from the book and incorporating them into the cover in a way that is both interesting and honest, so that the intended audience finds the book.

By the way, that is exactly what this book doesn't quite manage to do. (It is a great book with a fabulous plot, but the cover is not at all suited to the story.)

As I said, I love the story, but the girl in the book, even though she is an elf, is not all sparkly, and the story isn't, either! The actual story is full of action, violence, and adventure--there is actually a lot of darkness (bloody death, poison, and monsters). Don't get me wrong; I love this book, and it deserves to have a devoted following, but THAT COVER. It's pretty, but it doesn't convey the true nature of the book! You would never guess from this that the story is more like The Lord of the Rings than Sleeping Beauty. The narrator is even a young decorated soldier who has retired from war because he has been gravely injured by magic. Does the cover communicate any of these important things? Does it attract the male audience that would most likely like the story? No. It doesn't. Instead, it has a fanciful, sparkly, gorgeous elf girl wearing a party dress that is not at all suited to adventures and action.

Well, after Mendelsund talks about the importance of designing book covers uniquely for the specific books, he and Cathcart go on a fascinating tangent about how they experience and judge books (and people) by sounds. Mendelsund starts off by saying that, when he reads books, he has an internal narrator that gives voice to the characters. He and Cathcart both agree that most readers probably have this [that lends an interesting perspective to the idea of teaching reading; perhaps poor readers do not have this internal narrating voice?]. They also talk about how someone's voice conveys an impression--an image, if you will. For instance, Cathcart explain how when people see him for the first time after listening to him for a long time, they are disappointed. Why? Because his voice comes with an image. If they have never seen him before, they will come up with an image of what he looks like because we do not interact with dislocated sounds. We engage with real people, and even when voices are projected over the radio, we don't really engage unless we think of those voices as belonging to real people.

Ick. All of my posts are so dreadfully long, so I'm going to wrap up. Basically, I thoroughly enjoyed the podcast that I listened to, and I learned a lot of interesting information. Mostly, I learned that we learn most effectively and interact best when we experience a variety of sensory appeals, such as sound and sight.