Craig Mod’s post on “The Elusive Literary Object” discusses the merits of a well-designed book:
I consider something to be a literary object when all aspects of production and editorial come together to form something that is entirely complete in execution. That is to say the typography, layouts, papers, binding, cover, size and any other miscellaneous aspects of the object itself have been carefully considered and chosen to form something whole and much greater than the text alone.
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It’s nearly impossible, I’d propose, to achieve this idea of literary-object-ness unless you, as the author, have taken control of all aspects of production. (Or are able to work extremely closely with the designer.) You must be the author, editor, designer (or art director), typographer, and publisher. You, not the market, determine the price point. You build (indeed, perhaps with a dash of selfishness) the object you desire — the object you see fit to wrap the subject and text you’ve written.
From an artist’s perspective (and Craig is rightfully an artist), this is something the bookmaking industry should allow: the ability to create a book as a work of art, an object of high aesthetic quality. However, we have a mainstream industry built upon the hope of economic success of a precious few books, so the production process needs to be cheap in order to maximise profit per book sold. The ability to create a more intimately designed book therefore rests on the shoulders of small presses and independent publishing houses.
One of the things that has preoccupied me for some time: if we are becoming accustomed to consuming everything low-fi, does it perhaps mean that we would one day cease to be able to appreciate true richness when we see it? Does it mean we would eventually be unable to appreciate beauty in its myriad forms? If the future is e-books and digital formats — most of which, by the way, still exercise bad typography and layout — would humans be so “content-attuned” that we become unable to appreciate the sensory richness that a well-designed book provides?
Wild digressions aside, the book market is still driven by production in volumes, and this has an impact on what gets produced. Until we completely lose the habits that we formed from the roots of the industrial revolution, we may have to continually compromise.
Where I disagree with Craig is that the author should be be the one in control for the whole production of a book. As a web producer, an important part of my job is to recognise a variety of talents and how everyone can creatively and constructively contribute into the building of a website — which in itself is a craft and a half. In recognising that some people have talent in writing, poetry or photography, it’s essential to acknowledge that others have talent in making things look good. Very occasionally, someone would have the talent and ability to do everything. It would be sensible on all counts if an author has a say in the cover of his or her book (which is apparently not the status quo), but Craig might have to recognise that he’s speaking with a voice of rare talent that does not apply to all authors, nor all artists.
