Books of the Year 2010: Covers of the Year

There’s no formula for choosing the books of the year. Some break ground, some tackle familiar themes with new energy. Some represent the best work from established authors, some introduce us to important new voices. And some are simply in-house favourites we feel deserve a little more attention. Here are the 5 most notable book covers of 2010.

Seven Good Reasons Not to Be Good
by John Gould (HarperCollins Canada)
Cover design by David Gee

I like this cover for so many reasons, one of them being that it doesn’t rely on bland and obvious stock photography. It’s simple, effective, and ­geometrical. It does what a good cover should do: it instantly grabs my attention and piques my interest. It does not rely on a visual representation­ of the book’s content, which can really hobble a cover design. I don’t­ ­instantly know what the book is about, but that’s why flap copy was ­invented, and this cover made me stop to read the flap. – Jessica Sullivan, senior ­designer at Douglas & McIntyre

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Books of the Year 2010: Books for Young People

There’s no formula for choosing the books of the year. Some break ground, some tackle familiar themes with new energy. Some represent the best work from established authors, some introduce us to important new voices. And some are simply in-house favourites we feel deserve a little more attention. Here are the Books for Young People that made the most impact in 2010.

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Books of the Year 2010: Non-fiction

There’s no formula for choosing the books of the year. Some break ground, some tackle familiar themes with new energy. Some represent the best work from established authors, some introduce us to important new voices. And some are simply in-house favourites we feel deserve a little more attention. Here are the non-fiction books that made the most impact in 2010. (more…)

Books of the Year 2010: Fiction and Poetry

There’s no formula for choosing the books of the year. Some break ground, some tackle familiar themes with new energy. Some represent the best work from established authors, some introduce us to important new voices. And some are simply in-house favourites we feel deserve a little more attention. Here are the Fiction and Poetry books that made the most impact in 2010.
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R.I.P. Scott Symons, 1933-2009

Author Scott Symons died Monday at the age of 75. He was best known for his debut novel, Place d’Armes. Originally published in 1967 by McClelland & Stewart, the novel is remembered for its groundbreaking gay themes and experimental style – and for the circumstances of Symon’s life. From a 1998 Q&Q profile of Symons:

“I had to bear witness to the time I was living in,” he says now. For him that meant writing Place d’Armes, a novel featuring a stream-of-consciousness narrative and, among other things, trysting male prostitutes and an acid scorn for what he saw as an oppressively staid Anglo-Canadian society.

By the time McClelland & Stewart published the book in 1967, Symons, then in his early 30s, had left his wife and their young son and gone to Mexico with his 17-year-old male lover. They were soon on the run, pursued by the Mexican police at the instigation of their families (Symons maintains he was also wanted as the author of a “pornographic novel”).

Symons had been living in Canada since 2000 after a long stay in Morocco, and Insomniac Press reissued Place d’Armes in 2006. Insomniac publisher Mike O’Connor could not be reached for comment on Monday. Another publisher who knew Symons, Cormorant Books owner Marc Côté, admits that the author’s legacy “will be more for the life he lived than the the work he produced,” though Côté adds, “At a time when Toronto was still stiff and very narrow in its focus, he blew the doors open…. He deserves a lot of credit because in the late 1960s, before Pearson and Trudeau legalized homosexuality, he came bounding out of the closet.”

A few favourite CanLit covers

Entertainment Weekly recently compiled a list of the 25 most memorable book covers from the past 25 years. Their list is slightly skewed toward ubiquitous mega-designer Chip Kidd, who scores six entries. The lone Canadian reference is Fred Marcellino’s 1986 cover for Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

We thought we’d play along by starting a list of our own favourite CanLit covers.

Below, you’ll find five picks from the bookshelf of Q&Q art director Gary Campbell. These bold, daring, and memorable covers grabbed him straight away, regardless of the title or the author’s name.

	The Bookseller Matt Cohen (Knopf Canada) Designed by Gordon Robertson, 1993
	Miss Wyoming Douglas Coupland (Random House Canada) Designed by John Gall, 1999
	This All Happened Michael Winter (House of Anansi Press) Designed by Bill Douglas, 2001
	Not Wanted On The Voyage Timothy Findley (Penguin Books Canada) Designed by Soapbox Design Communications, 2006
	The Boys In The Trees Mary Swan (Henry Holt) Designed by Lisa Fyfe, 2008

September song for BookExpo Canada in 2009? Have your say

An idea that’s been tossed around for the past couple of years got another push today, as BookExpo Canada owner Reed Exhibition Companies unveiled a proposal to move the convention and trade show to the fall.

At a morning meeting with exhibitors and association representatives, Reed management suggested several changes to the trade show: that it run in early September, that the program include public events with high-profile authors, and that the trade show be devoted to the public for one designated day. Reed plans to consult with the industry over the next month and a half before making any firm decisions, but if the mixed reaction on the trade show floor Monday was any indication, consensus will be a longshot.

In any case, the proposal does reflect a dissatisfaction with the current state of BookExpo Canada, on the part of Reed as well as exhibitors. BookExpo managing director Scott Temple says this year’s show has shrunk by 8% in terms of floor space, and that if the show shrinks another 10% to 15%, it will be a money-loser for the firm.

The proposal raises a huge number of questions, both philosophical and logistical; watch Q&Q Omni‘s news page this week for a full report, with more details and reaction.

In the meantime, we want to hear from publishers and booksellers in the comments section of this post. Is a September show a good idea? What needs to change about BookExpo – or not? What do you get out of the show, and what do you want that you’re not getting? What would make the show more useful to you?

Quotes from the top

A Monday morning panel discussion at BookExpo Canada, dubbed “View from the Top,” drew more than 60 attentive spectators. Moderated by Globe and Mail arts writer James Adams, the panel included four Canadian publishing execs – Random House of Canada president and CEO Brad Martin, Simon & Schuster Canada president Kevin Hanson, House of Anansi Press president Sarah MacLachlan, and McClelland & Stewart VP and associate publisher Susan Renouf. The conversation touched on several big themes, from environmental concerns to pricing to e-books. Some highlights appear below.

On the supply chain

“If the consumers really understood the amount of energy involved in shipping all that stuff, they would be appalled.” – Sarah MacLachlan

“That’s the biggest waste in our business…. That’s one of the first things we have to tackle.” – Brad Martin (on mass-market paperbacks, which are destroyed if unsold)

On book pricing

“One of the things we’ve really failed at as an industry is selling the value of what we all collectively do…. We’ve done such a good job [over the past several decades] of selling the democracy of reading, and that it should be accessible to everyone, that we’ve kind of bottomed ourselves out of our own market. We have failed to market ourselves as something that is valuable.” – Susan Renouf

“The model that we use to sell books is sort of ridiculous…. We have to think about a new way of selling new books.” – Sarah MacLachlan (on the list-price practice)

“For the most part, we are a price taker.” – Kevin Hanson (on the Canadian market’s pressure to compete with the U.S.)

On e-books

“I think we’re getting closer to the tipping point where e-books become a much more powerful force in the market…. I don’t believe there will be a single platform. I believe there will be a number of competing platforms in the immediate future.” – Brad Martin

“I find if I work late on my computer at night and try to go to sleep, I can’t. Whereas if I read a book I go to sleep in two minutes.” – Sarah MacLachlan

“The challenge for all of us is that it means we all have to run parallel business models.” – Susan Renouf (on e-books complementing print books)

On the market

“I think there are more readers out there. We have to be optimistic about that.” – Kevin Hanson

“Diversity is supposedly a great thing, both in nature and in book publishing, so I’m not going to say there are too many books being published.” – Brad Martin

Photos: Monday at BEC, part 3

One of the highlights of Monday afternoon was a Prince-themed dance party at the Thomas Allen & Son Simon & Schuster Canada booth, complete with DJ and purple-shirted staff. Also below: Nino “Dreamboat” Ricci, Tina Burke, George Elliott Clarke, Emily Giffin, Adrienne Kress, Sam Hiyate, Martin Levin, the impossibility of throwing popcorn into a colleague’s mouth, and more.

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Photos: Monday at BEC, part 2

One of the stranger booth offerings was a liquid tomato salad, served in a test tube, courtesy of chef Olaf Mertens and John Wiley & Sons Canada. Erin Kelly is in the kitchen lending a hand. Also in this set: Stan Sanderson, Ruth Ohi, Jay Ingram, interior design gurus Colin & Justin, Kathy Kacer, Matt Dunigan, and more.

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