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Letters and NumbersEpisodes
Episodes of Letters and Numbers
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Is the unauthorised copying of media, more commonly referred to as 'piracy' really one of the biggest threats to authors and other creatives? Or are there far more important things to be concerned about?In this final episode of season 1 of Le
The previous two episodes shone a light on some of the subtle forms of #bookbigotry in publishing: writers may show prejudices for or against books depending on their format (physical vs. ebook), and their platform (Amazon vs. 'the rest').In t
The previous episode shone a light on three subtle forms of #bookbigotry in publishing: writers may show prejudices for or against books depending on their format, platform, and location of origin - starting with a focus on format (physical vs.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson uses the term #bookbigotry to describe snap judgements about a book on the basis that it is independently published - without so much as looking at the description, the author's bio, or even glimpsing the cover.Over thre
As much as I love books, I’ve never been a big fan of book-relatedmerchandise, either as a reader or as a writer. This is a rant about literacy, capitalism… and foul-tasting beans.Join author, linguist, and mathematician-in-the-making Sarah
Don't worry, I don't mean how many books you should be allowed to buy, borrow or steal! Rather, in this episode we ask what is a reasonable limit when it comes to book hauls from conferences and giveaways. Should YouTubers be obligated to revi
For anyone aiming to become an author, the statistics on what happens to books once they hit the shelves aren't all that rosy. Around a third of all traditionally-published books that make it to bookstore shelves are returned to the publishers
In the last episode, we looked at how online traditionally-published authors are via an examination of 12 bestselling authors. A lack of a social media platform doesn't seem to hamper these authors - but what about indies who don't have the sam
Low-effort ghost-written books 'by' celebrities have long been a thing, but this type of publication exploded in popularity with the rise of internet celebrities who have amassed large followings. Meanwhile, as we saw in the previous episode, p
In this episode, we begin the final mini-series in this first season of Letters and Numbers, turning our attention to the promotion of creative works. The real intersection between letters and numbers: where words meet money.Authors are often
Have you ever wondered what Paris Hilton's The Hottie & The Nottie and Kirk Cameron's Saving Christmas have in common? Well, if loglines are so crucial in convincing film studios to finance a film, then surely the films which attract the most f
Loglines were originally designed more for the busy Hollywood executive than for the final audience of a movie - or the readers of a book.So why might they be useful for creative indies, like writers and filmmakers?Join author, linguist, and
A strong tagline was the one thing all of the New York Times bestsellers examined in the previous episode had in common. Yet, just one third of lesssuccessful novels include a tagline in their descriptions.Of all of the ingredients of a book
Now that more books are purchased online, including print books, it’s vitalthat we understand how the best book descriptions work, and what roleblurbs play. Each book has its own distinct flavour, but the professionalism with which it is pre
Summarising all of the lessons we've learned about blurbs over the past few episodes, here are nine rules it's worth keeping in mind when writing your own - or wanting to understand why a blurb you're reading doesn't quite work!What kind of bl
Over the last two episodes, we've explored what makes a successful - and an unsuccessful - blurb.In this episode, we update the numbers, to see whether these patterns still hold!Join author, linguist, and mathematician-in-the-making Sarah on
The previous episode of Letters and Numbers focused on the patterns in successful blurbs, so it’s only fitting that this time, we take a look atunsuccessful blurbs. After all, sometimes we learn more from examining (our and others’) mistakes
We all know that we’re not supposed to to judge a book by its cover. Butcan blurbs give us readers a clue as to whether a book is worth reading… or give us writers a hint as to whether it will sell? In this episode, we’ll take a look at what
Over the previous two episodes, we've looked at the features that the titles of best-selling - and least-selling - novels have in common. But what about non-fiction books? In this episode, we undertake a similar analysis of non-fiction books -
If the most important ingredient of any book's cover is the title, what effect does a bad title have?In the previous episode, we looked at what factors the titles of best-selling books have in common. In this episode, we crunch the numbers to
Perhaps the most important ingredient of any book's cover is the title.What do the titles of best-selling novels have in common? In this episode, we crunch the numbers to find out!Join author, linguist, and mathematician-in-the-making Sarah o
Having examined what makes a good front, back, and spine, our next question has to be - how do we tie all of these elements together.In this episode, we talk about how to continue the narrative of the front cover by ensuring the spine and back
If back covers are an after-thought, then the spine is often an after-after-thought. Yet, the spine of a book really is, as the name suggests, the backbone of any printed book.In this very special 30th episode, we explore the two reasons that
In the last two episodes, we discussed what distinguishes a good book cover from one of the three 'bad' kinds of covers. But so far, we've only talked about the front.What about that after-thought - the back cover? Why do so many books come ha
Having explored firmly established that, whether or not we should, we do judge books by their covers, in this episode, we take a look at how (some) 'bad' covers... might actually be good.I identify three types of 'bad' book covers: the ugly-bu
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