Very cool; I like the red of the title on the book spine, it looks like blood dripping from a shark's teeth.

I assume the text on "Poster for the Film Adaptation" is just a mock-up? No secret hints of cast or crew in there? ;-p

That is freaking cool!

I hate to say it, because I spend so much money on books I already have as it is. But if that becomes an edition of Raw Sharks I will have to buy it. It's amazing. I love the cover.

I tried to zoom in on the text at the bottom of the poster but it just blurred before I could read much of anything, I think I saw a John. :D Not that that helps any.

It looks like Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman and Bill Murray; could be from Rushmore but its too blurry to be certain.

Oh man, this is so awesome! That's so inventive. SOOOOO well done.

Hi cg,

This whole topic is one I could say a lot about - who has control of what areas of making a book and so on.

With this particular book, it would depend on how it was released. I imagine that if this design were used to create a new, limited edition of Raw Shark (say 500-1,000 copies) then I'd probably have control over all of those things on the inside, and work with the artist outside (I'm not sure I'd want to interfere too much with Jesse's great work though). If this were a repackage of the paperback on the other hand, then this becomes a more commercial venture and the marketing people would very much want their say. The marketing people at Canongate are a generally more interesting and creative lot that at your typical house though, so it's rarely the nightmare for me that I'm sure I'm sure it is for some other writers.

To be honest, I think I get my own way a good proportion of the time - the green ink in the UK first ed for example, I doubt that would have happened if the book had been at a larger, more corporate UK house - the numbers just don't add up. It was pretty much Canongate giving that to me at the cost of their bottom line, because they knew how important I felt it was. In return, I know that any design we put on the book needs to hit the right notes with booksellers, the general public etc so I try to be sensitive and understanding to what they need to achieve with the space too.

So it has to be a negotiation, but the short answer is still 'a lot of involvement'.

I'm with Canongate because if there is a solid creative reason for something to be done a certain way, I know it will be done that way. I like to be involved in everything -cover, fonts, typesetting - because I love the idea of using every aspect of the book to tell the story. And with publishing being the way it is, I'm lucky that I get chance to do that. Canongate let me do things that no other house would, and I love em for it.



S