Consuming Books The Marketing and Consumption of Literature [Paperback]

The buying, selling, and writing of books is a colossal industry in which marketing looms large, yet there are very few books which deal with book marketing (how-to texts excepted) and fewer still on book consumption. This innovative text not only rectifies this, but also argues that far from being detached, the book business in fact epitomises todays Entertainment Economy (fast moving, hit driven, intense competition, rapid technological change, etc.).

Written by an impressive roster of renowned marketing authorities, many with experience of the book trade and all gifted writers in their own right, Consuming Bookssteps back from the practicalities of book marketing and takes a look at the industry from a broader consumer research perspective. Consisting of sixteen chapters, divided into four loose sections, this key text covers:

* a historical overview
* the often acrimonious marketing/literature interface
* the consumers of books (from book groups to bookcrossing)
* a consideration of the tensions that both literary types and marketers feel.

With something for everyone, Consuming Booksnot only complements the how-to genre but provides the depth that previous studies of book consumption conspicuously lack.

Preface: Beanz Meanz Bookz

1. Rattles From the Swill Bucket (Stephen Brown)

2. Selling Gods Book (Russell Belk)

3. The Extraordinary Tale of an Eight Point Eight Million Dollar Book (Michael Thomas)

4. The Pleasures of the Used Text: Revealing Traces of Consumption (Janet L. Borgerson & Jonathan E. Schroeder)

5. Culture Club: Marketing & Consuming The Da Vinci Code (Kent Drummond)

6. Martin Amis on Marketing (Daragh OReilly)

7. Palƒ/