Do readers really care what an author looks like? Apparently so – and neither are authors exactly indifferent to the image created by that dust-jacket photo.
In an NPR piece last week about author photos, Knopf publicity director Nicholas Latimer agrees that it’s an uncomfortable idea but he admits that some in the business believe that books by good-looking authors will garner more reviews.
Pictures worth a thousand words?
Maybe pictures make the authors more human and therefore more accessible. The publishing companies all seem to have not only pictures, but also video of interviews with the authors. There are even some sites that are focused on streaming video interviews with authors, like http://www.openbookclub.tv.
Picture is a clue
I like to know if the author is a man or woman, and sometimes you can’t tell from the name, or the bio. There was an article in our local paper about a visiting author this week–using no personal pronouns. Even with a photo, I wasn’t sure.