title: Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life

Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life

A new review over at Publishers Weekly. This cover went through a bit of a dramatic birthing, and Todd Gallopo, of Meat and Potatoes, gave us a brief version of the back story:

"I was out to dinner with Neil Strauss and he was showing me the book cover designs that his publisher, Harper, did for his new book. Their solution was not what Neil had in mind, and I had to agree. I offered to help whip up a design and he accepted. The next day I sent him this concept I mentioned at dinner and he forwarded to Harper. At first they were not so sold on it, and Neil had to push to make it his cover, they were so attached to their cover design. In the end they went with Neil's pick, but they made him pay for 1/2 the design fee. That's sad."

The results were worth the push from the author. Read more about this beauty here.

— Fwis , 2009-04-06 12:43:41 -0400

made him pay for half the design fee... ouch.

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2009-04-06 12:51:42 -0400

Generally, when the publisher makes and author pay for the design, it is because they went through many rounds of covers and the author was being a giant pain in the arse. The publisher will say, we don't have anymore time to work on this cover, we found some in house that we like and if you don't like it, find your own designer.

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-04-06 13:12:53 -0400

I can see why the Publisher would make him pay. From their perspective they were already paying for a desginer to do the work. It doesn't sound like Neil discussed another designer taking a crack at the cover with his publisher. If he wasn't a NY Times bestselling author he probably wouldn't have gotten his way at all.

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-04-06 13:26:57 -0400

oh so great. LOVE IT
such convincing execution of a fantastic idea! amazing

— , 2009-04-06 13:49:23 -0400

I would love to see Harper's in-house cover design ... looking at the full box Mssr. Gallopo's work is a masterpiece indeed. Well done! Pooh on Harper for making the author buck up.

— Anonymous Coward , 2009-04-06 13:52:48 -0400

I'd like to make a note here that the production value on this cover is amazing. The scratches are raised, the texture on the painted areas is bumpy and metallic, and the white handle is matte and plasticky. Wonderful.

I'd also like to say that this is a GREAT book. Poignant, hilarious, and informative. A survivalist's manual for whiny gen-xers.

— , 2009-04-06 16:30:44 -0400

And hey, who knows, the in-house cover may have been a masterpiece that just didn't gel with the authors vision. It happens. Read about Chip Kidd's "differences of opinion" with John Updike.

If I spent 3 years building a custom car, I would know exactly how I wanted to paint that beast long before it was done, and I'd be damned if someone else tried to tell me I was wrong. But then again, if someone else offered to pay for the paint job, well, then I might listen to their input. So they met half way. I don't think either of them were in the wrong on this one.

— Fwis, 2009-04-06 17:19:42 -0400

The production on this sounds tasty!

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2009-04-06 19:46:15 -0400

yeah i'm really intrigued. have to make a trip to the B&N.
raised scratches?!
must have cost a bunch to print, so yeah, makes the compromise understandable.

— , 2009-04-07 16:52:46 -0400

its hot...
xoxo

— suicide_blond , 2009-04-13 21:37:21 -0400

test

— Ian B. Shimkoviak , 2009-04-16 16:10:48 -0400

Saw this at a Borders over the weekend and it fairly set my eyes on fire. There's a remarkably disconcerting, and effective, sense of a reverse-engineering to the design for this title and subtitle, as the execution flawlessly transposes one bit of reality into another. I wasn't quite sure it even was a book at first.

Whatever the machinations between publisher and author, it's refreshing to know whenever a writer is visually savvy and also willing to go to the mat for something startling. And as mentioned elsewhere, the production values are the stuff of any designer's dreams. Dada comes to the bookstore. Very nice indeed.

— M. Kellner , 2009-05-27 15:04:35 -0400

ambulans geciyor

— yapay havuz , 2009-12-03 09:35:23 -0500

garlica

— garlica , 2010-01-20 07:33:35 -0500

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— red pepper , 2010-01-28 06:15:08 -0500