So Many Books, So Few Donuts
And after I made all those little icons, too. I’ve just learned
that my gorgeous
Company cover
has to change.
It all began with Google News. A while ago I discovered that Google lets you customize a News page, so you get headlines on whatever topics interest you. Naturally, I immediately created a “Max Barry” topic and stuck it right at the top. This is how I discovered the evil Todd Bunker article, and about a week ago there was a new one: the shocking revelation that Company has the exact same cover art as another book.
The other book is non-fiction, and British, but still. And what’s worse, his is coming out first. I e-mailed Bill, my editor—who, sadly lacking a “Max Barry” Google News topic, had no idea. He was less than thrilled. A few days went by while Doubleday decided what to do (and, presumably, tightened up their licensing agreement with the stock photography people). Then this morning, Bill e-mailed me:
While we haven’t been able to ascertain whether the American edition of that other book will use the same donut, we’ve decided to play it safe and shoot our own donut. Any preferences? Chocolate frosted? Apple cinnamon?
This is the silliest e-mail I’ve ever sent, but in keeping with the spirit of the book, eh?
It is. It’s spooky. The book opens with a donut-related crisis, and now I have my own.
Comments
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Coolet (#37)
Location: Goshen, Indiana
Quote: "Man who goes to bed with itchy bum, wakes up with smelly finger."
Posted: 7286 days ago
Location: Fremont, California
Quote: "www.caffeinatedmuslim.com"
Posted: 7286 days ago
Jamie (#111)
Location: Auckland
Quote: "Anyone still spelling "internet" with a capital "I" is probably struggling with the complexities of their new-fangled electric typewriter."
Posted: 7286 days ago
angelica (#229)
Location: Melbourne
Quote: "God I'm bored"
Posted: 7286 days ago
there was soemthing on media watch about this recently
http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s1367739.htm
:]
maybe you can have a jam donut instead
javier (#1344)
Location: Long Beach, CA, USA
Posted: 7286 days ago
the-tine (#472)
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Quote: "Coming soon to a planet near you."
Posted: 7286 days ago
Rod McBride (#688)
Location: Gardner, KS
Quote: "www.MidwestRockLobster.blogspot.com"
Posted: 7286 days ago
While he was working on it, it'd also had the title 'For There Needed No Horse' (which is what SGJ thought he'd submitted it as), 'Dog Days,' and just 'Plainsong,' which got taken.
And 'All the Beautiful Sinners' was originally the title for his upcoming 'Demon Theory,' and 'ATBS' had orignally worn the title 'Subterranean Iron Horse Blues,' a title Jones evidently thinks is worse than I do.
As far as stock photos go, as a photos.com subscriber, I can totally see where an artist at a publisher clicked on a photo for a design to run up the flagpole. You can buy the photo outright, but you have to be the first to do so. And usually, if there's one photo, there's a dozen variations (or more) on the same theme. The same model, or subject, from different angles, against different backgrounds, etc. So if your publisher shoots their own doughnut, they're putting money in the pocket of a (probably hungry) photographer, and they'll probably get you a cooler doughnut image. Plus, the British guy will probably find his doughnut at slightly different angles/backgrounds in a dozen places in the next two years. And he'll feel cheap, and used. And like he should subscribe to Google News...
spinne (#427)
Quote: "I'm not here to cock around."
Posted: 7286 days ago
DewKnight (#815)
Location: WP, CO,USA
Quote: "Booyah"
Posted: 7286 days ago
Hahaha, ah that was funny. Come on, don't we all have a "Max Barry" Google News topic?
Melissa (#888)
Location: WI
Quote: "When you can't run anymore, you crawl, and when you can't do that, you find someone to carry you."
Posted: 7286 days ago
Posted: 7286 days ago
Kristen (#1157)
Location: Jersey
Quote: "Insert quotation here."
Posted: 7286 days ago
Yenzo (#829)
Location: Secret underwater pyramid base in the Pacific
Quote: "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe (Carl Sagan)"
Posted: 7286 days ago
So this is how liberty ends... glazed and with a bit bitten off...
shabooty (#637)
Location: D.C./V.A/M.D.
Quote: "I will shake your foundation. I will shake the f**cking rafters. Nobody'll be the same -Danny Bonaduce ....& go visit my blog @: http://www.shabooty.com"
Posted: 7286 days ago
Artist: Wu-Tang Clan
Album: Wu-Tang Forever
Song: Dog S**t
She flew in like calm breeze
Tall brown skin her weave like palm trees
I went coconuts
Dipped my Dunkin' between your Donut
Don't want it if it ain't no s**t, b***h!
Fathership touch ground, like lionel snoop
Don't invite me I tear the **** down
White boys cut my toupee!
Seventh day rester, or scream play
I slump MC slay, it ain't nuttin to bust a*s
Bullet him, get him fast
B***h I don't break out, blast to the next rash
The dog piss on MC's like trees
Got meals but still grill that old good welfare cheese
(Ol Dirty sings again)
Hoeeeeee!
Yeah, hayyyy! Dedicated to all you b***h a** n****z
De, haaaaa And you b****h ass ni***ettes
B****h! Ho*e! M**********s!
Robert (#413)
Location: Los Angeles
Quote: "A positive attitude will not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
Posted: 7286 days ago
Soigacas (#1354)
Location: UK
Quote: "Someday this war's gonna end"
Posted: 7286 days ago
And I agree with Robert. Wtf, mate?
Bony Tony (#1343)
Location: United States
Posted: 7286 days ago
How about a paper clip. a giant paper clip. a giant paperclip that can talk....
wait a minute..damn microsoft word
Luckdragon (#1116)
Location: Connecticut, USA
Quote: "Totally addicted to the online, all the time, never gonna go outside."
Posted: 7285 days ago
Although glazed does reflect the emptiness of corporate existance, yet chocolate embodies the evil...
Dunno, quid pro quo.
Dinko Hristov (#1065)
Location: Darwin, Australia
Quote: """No one is fool enough to choose War over Peace. In Peace sons bury fathers, but in War fathers bury sons."- Herodotus"
Posted: 7285 days ago
Mr Nick (#1166)
Location: Wayne, MI
Posted: 7285 days ago
Mmm... powdered-sugar donuts.
Mark (#1227)
Quote: "I've only met about three people who said anything really worth quoting. And they were dead."
Posted: 7285 days ago
(second one from the top)
How cool would that be?
Scott (#354)
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Quote: "Max Barry tastes like awesome"
Posted: 7285 days ago
Queen Eve (#460)
Location: Dimensions at SanguinemDraconis.net
Quote: "Sanity is a gift; given at birth, lessened by maturity, and gone from us by the age of reason. --Kestral Lei"
Posted: 7285 days ago
For me, a better striking image that relates to 'company', corporate idealism, or day-to-day office functionings would be a water cooler, a cubicle, or even a cup of coffee.
If there is a donut on the cover, I would expect to see some sort of running theme in the book about donuts. Things such as conversations held in the breakroom, while eating their daily donut... or donuts in the breakroom being a sign that bad news is about to hit the department or something.
If no such running theme is present in the story, I would be baffled by the cover choice.
Ari (#1107)
Location: somewhere around California
Quote: "Can I be a random member of the moment?"
Posted: 7285 days ago
Austin (#814)
Quote: "You might be stretching."
Posted: 7285 days ago
In the context of the situation, I would go so far as to say the predicament is...delicious.
Peter N.Bernath (#1041)
Location: Stockholm - Sweden
Quote: "Errr... Is that a tree growing out of your head? - Fallout 2"
Posted: 7285 days ago
And by the way... It'd be totally cool to know what your bite mark looks like, and I promise you, I won't use the photo of your bitemark to iether incriminate you or suing you for biting me (althought I just had an idea... hehehe...).
;) Have fun!
Queen Eve (#460)
Location: Dimensions at SanguinemDraconis.net
Quote: "Sanity is a gift; given at birth, lessened by maturity, and gone from us by the age of reason. --Kestral Lei"
Posted: 7285 days ago
xk3zofrenik (#1160)
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Quote: "These human ruins."
Posted: 7284 days ago
Stock Photography? Pffff...
Next thing will be that the face in Jennifer Goverment is somewhere else as well, minus the barcode (hopefully).
This sounds like chapter one of your upcoming book "Publisher":
"There I was rejoicing about my little work of making fun of a greedy company, when I find that my book cover is made with cheap stock photography that someone else had it first. I guess it never ends."
shabooty (#637)
Location: D.C./V.A/M.D.
Quote: "I will shake your foundation. I will shake the f**cking rafters. Nobody'll be the same -Danny Bonaduce ....& go visit my blog @: http://www.shabooty.com"
Posted: 7284 days ago
hey guys:
tomorrow is "National Doughnut Day." Krispy Kreme's giving away free doughnuts!!
Hobbie (#1359)
Location: Cornwall, England
Quote: "There was a little man in his hair!"
Posted: 7284 days ago
Ari (#1107)
Location: somewhere around California
Quote: "Can I be a random member of the moment?"
Posted: 7283 days ago
Amy (#1360)
Location: Texas
Quote: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: It might of been. -John Greenleaf Whittier"
Posted: 7283 days ago
Location: Morristown, Indiana
Quote: "Why do I blog? Simple, because Max Barry blogs."
Posted: 7282 days ago
I have just arrived at my house on a long bus ride back from Washington, D.C. The bus driver got lost on the way home. They got Cleveland, Ohio and Columbus, Ohio mixed up and we went the wrong way. I almost cried, but I didn't because real men never cry.
In other news, Max Barry should write a terrible review about the other book that stole Company's cover just out of spite. Even if they had the cover first, the book that Max Barry wrote is obviously better than another diet book that probably doesn't even help you lose weight. It probably just tells you that you are fat which leads to depression which leads to more eating which leads to another diet book. As that guy in the Austin Powers movie says, "It's a vicious cycle."
Also, I agree with Amy, you should get T-shirts for your novels and nationstates because merchindising is the only way to get rich.
Once again,
Adam
Grace (#1225)
Location: Melbourne aka The Cliffs of Insanity
Quote: "I refuse to have a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed."
Posted: 7281 days ago
Failing that I think the extreme close up of the paperclip is a good idea... without the annoying, animated face.
Maybe a pie, cut to look like a pie chart?
Gotta go, I'm getting hungry... heheheh.
Grace (#1225)
Location: Melbourne aka The Cliffs of Insanity
Quote: "I refuse to have a battle of wits with someone who is unarmed."
Posted: 7281 days ago
Hobbie (#1359)
Location: Cornwall, England
Quote: "There was a little man in his hair!"
Posted: 7281 days ago
Zach (#897)
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Posted: 7280 days ago
kap (#1374)
Location: DC
Posted: 7278 days ago
Tony Quin (#1310)
Location: Plymouth -urgh
Quote: "Yoga is NAILS"
Posted: 7277 days ago
Cupie (#1396)
Location: Seattle-ish
Quote: ""You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think." -Dorothy Parker"
Posted: 7276 days ago
syrup6 (#1224)
Location: Arkansas
Quote: ""Truth always rests with the minority, and the minority is always stronger than the majority, because the minority is generally formed by those who really have an opinion" - Kierkegaard"
Posted: 7264 days ago
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