Here's a sample of Hard Case Crime's 50th book, coming soon. And the cover, of course. It's great, as ever.
I was talking with a Finnish publisher about something similar (still a bit of hush-hush) and he said to me: "With that kind of covers no one takes you seriously in Finland. And the libraries won't take them." I'm seriously hoping he's wrong.
Interesting attitude. The pulps weren't taken seriously in America during the 30's and 40's. Perhaps Finnish attitudes will change, given enough time.
ReplyDeleteLike your blog. Found my way here from crimespace.
Here's hoping they change faster than that! There have been lots of reasons why paperbacks and pulps or other genre fiction magazines have been considered pretty low in here - political, aesthetical, geographical, gender-related, you name it. And almost no one in Finland has ever done a stylish paperback reprint line - there was one publisher doing this, but they never really got quite classy or stylish, so it didn't really help. People are thinking paperbacks here only in terms of camp and Tarantino-ish "pulp fiction".
ReplyDeleteBut more on this later.
Pulps not Usually taken seriously artistically, and often for good resson, in the US...only a few, such as WEIRD TALES, were consulted for BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES...but they were taken seriously as commercial propositions. One would think that a good paperback line might sell at least reasonably well over there.
ReplyDeleteI think the publisher meant that the book won't be taken seriously even as entertainment - he probably meant it looks like camp.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting that the current translations of several Hard Case Crime books into German seem to be retaining the original Hard Case covers. I've just posted a comment about the release of Bust by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr, called Flop in German, but with the same cover.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Hey, thanks, Peter, this is interesting. Must look into that and post about it to the publisher I'm working with. (You must already be guessing what will be happening in Finland in the near future...)
ReplyDeleteIt appears that Hard Case's marketing in Germany is very similar to its marketing in the U.S., though on a smaller scale, with just three books to start. Apparently, a sample chapter from Flop is available online, just as Hard Case offers a sample from each of its books in English. Good books, good covers, and marketed well.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing what might be happening in Finland in the near future, and if I guess right, I hope it goes well.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/