Pulp: Your Escape from Reality

From Io9:

"We are seeing the trend toward escapism across the board in all areas of publishing right now due to the faltering economy. People really want to focus on something other than the nonstop woes of the world. The escapist nature of SF and fantasy gives readers a doorway into a world very different from their own."

Well, duh...

Got Pulp?

And yet another wonderful day with a client that doesn't understand why she needs to pulp up her horror movie's marketing. She is dead set on keeping this movie's marketing star-based (even though the lead hasn't been a "star" since the early 80's) instead of going with the movie's horror concept which is far more entertaining and marketable.

Me: This (person) doesn't sell the movie. Especially on DVD.
Her: Sure she does...
Me: No, she doesn't. The concept is sell-able if we amp up the pulp.
Her: "Amp up the pulp?" What's the pulp?
Me: Well, the way you want to do it is to position this movie is as a "heart-wrenching drama about a woman dealing with a horrific disease."
Her: And that's not "pulp?"
Me: No, pulp is a woman dealing with the horror that something alive is inside her and taking over.
Her: Oh.

Good Design Speaks for Itself

This is absolutely one of those situations that I love:

Making what you have work.

The only images of The Bat available were scans from the yellowing wood pulp pages... how do you make a cover out of that?

By turning your weaknesses into strengths.

Kudos to Altus Press.