‘It needs to kind of grab you from the shelf’
Barry Crump’s caricature leans against his full-capped name with his typical hat, baggy Swanndri tightened with a belt and his casual gumboots. The book’s title – Barry Crump
Collected Stories – stands solid on its front cover. It’s very straightforward, very Barry Crump-ish.
And in fact, it’s darn well near the same cover as Hang on a
Minute Mate – same red background, same caricature (he’s a bit younger), a book first released in 1961.
But that’s what Nelson book publishers Potton and Burton were after – a cover that made a clear reference to the old times.
‘‘He’s such an iconic New Zealand author,’’ executive director and publisher Robbie Burton said.
‘‘We thought it might be really nice to reference that cover. It’s a very deliberate attempt to get a retro feel to it.’’
The independent Nelson-based company publishes a range of New Zealand non-fiction books, having originally focused on photographic and outdoor books.
Over the last decade, that has broadened to a diverse list of New Zealand non-fiction publications including quality children’s books.
Burton says a good cover will make you curious about what’s inside – it’s one of the hardest parts of his job.
‘‘Realistically, we have no way of field-testing covers,’’ he says.
Instead, they’ll gauge the opinion of their trusted customers.
Burton’s looking for the feel of the book.
‘‘It needs to kind of grab you from the shelf,’’ he says.
‘‘I get a sense of what’s likely to work, it’s an art form. It’s definitely not a science.’’
Potton and Burton sell nonfiction story books – the kind that grace your coffee table with beautiful pictures or poke out a bit too far on your wooden bookshelf.
It’s an area of the publishing industry that’s been immune to the rise of the eBook.
‘‘Arguably, eBooks have poured the focus back onto the printed books,’’ Burton says. ‘‘The standard of production of printed books has gone up, people are more interested in having an artefact and having something to hold.’’
Burton would argue that in the last 10 years the standards of book publishing have risen.
‘‘Having something to hold is an entirely different experience from having something on a Kindle,’’ he says.
For example, Burton has no trouble selling books between $60 and $100 ‘‘because they are an entirely different experience to the eBook experience’’.
‘‘All the predictions that print is dead isn’t true.
‘‘If you want an artefact on your coffee table or by the bed, print still outgains the eBook in that sense.’’