This collection examines the role of book covers in the marketing of popular fiction across the twentieth century and beyond. Using case studies, the contributors address key themes and topics in contemporary media, literary, publishing, and business studies, such as globalisation and translation; the links between books, the music industry, and film; the cover as a signifier of literary value; and the marketing of ethnicity and lesbian pulp fiction.

Contents: Introduction, Nicole Matthews; Part 1 Approaches to the Book Cover: The paperback evolution: Tauchnitz, Albatross and Penguin, Alistair McCleery; How books are positioned in the market: reading the cover, Angus Phillips; Relocating Liverpool in the 1990s: through the covers of regional saga fiction, Val Williamson; Empirical studies of the bookshop: context and participant observation in the study of the selling of science fiction and fantasy, Nickianne Moody. Part 2 What makes a Book Popular?: Literary prizes, production values and cover images, Elizabeth Webby; Book marketing and the Booker Prize, Claire Squires; Jerome K. Jerome and the paratextual staging of anti-elitism, Susan Pickford. Part 3 'The Record of the Film of the Book': Cultural Industries and Intertextuality: Pop goes the paperback, Gerry Carlin and Mark Jones; 'Now a major motion picture': the delicate business of selling literature through contemporary cinema, Rebecca N. Mitchell; In real life: book covers in the internet bookstore, Alexis Weedon. Part 4 Translating Covers: Moving Audiences and the Marketing of Books: Cover charge: selling sex and survival in lesbian pulp fiction, Melissa Sky; Addressing 'young adults'? The case of Francesa Lia Block, Chris Richards; Images, messages, and the paratext in Algerian women's writing, Pamela Pears; Bibliography; Index.