What Books Can Learn From Music
Beck Beck’s music has always been a genre-busting, uncompromising artistic journey. Certainly writers should aspire to translate this kind of freshness to the page. Beck’s innovation also carries over to the presentation of his art. His album, The Information, came with a set of stickers which were intended to be used for listeners to design their own album cover. Could writers do something similar with book covers? Sure. It doesn’t seem like much and could come off as gimmicky, but it’s fun. And one of the most important lessons the publishing industry has to learn is to have more fun. The album also came out in a deluxe version. The deluxe album added three new songs, six remixes, a DVD with videos. A book with videos would be tough to come by, but perhaps a short story collection could come in a few different versions with a few new stories slipped in. Maybe writers can borrow the idea of a remix. In the same way Beck or Bjork or Lil’ Wayne recreates a song, writers could release remixes of stories. If Hemingway had come out with a handful of “remixes” of Hills Like White Elephants, people are reading that, right?
William Hung In no way am I trying to inspire writers to shoot for the print version of William Hung’s butchering of “She Bangs,” but wisdom can come from unexpected sources. If someone as talent-less as Hung can force himself into the public’s psyche, why can’t great writers like Junot Diaz? Writers need to use all the same media outlets that musicians are taking advantage of. Build websites, put a clip of a public reading on myspace or you tube, they need to submit to every available online journal and basically shove themselves down the public’s throat. This is also known as promotion. Remind yourself that William Hung sold records and only because the public was told to with posters, ads, etc. And if the public reading is to the writer what the concert is to the rock star, then we have a long way to go. I’m not suggesting dressing up in outlandish, demonic outfits like GWAR, but refuse to let readings be boring. The reading format needs some work. Can writers incorporate audience interaction, laser lights, the mosh pit? Can writers ever sell out arenas or put together festivals? I don’t know, but they have to try something. The Wu Tang Clan Why don’t we see more literary collaborations? Duets like Julianna Baggott and Steve Almond’s, Which Brings Me to You and James Kincaid and Percival Everett’s A History of the African-American people (proposed) by Strom Thurmond, as told to Percival Everett and James Kincaid pop up every once in a while, but not often enough. Imagine a pairing of Richard Russo and Phillip Roth or Isabelle Allende and Toni Morrison. Screenwriting is way ahead of fiction writers in this regard with brother teams like the Coens or the Nolans and longtime friends like Tarantino and Rodriguez. And while we’re at it why not go full throttle and form some writer super groups like the Wu-Tang? Banana Yoshimoto! T.C. Boyle! Nicole Krauss! and The Ghostface Killah! While I don’t know if Ghostface could hold up his end, but this or something like this would at the very least attract a fervent curiosity. Putting great writers together could produce some incredible prose. The literary equivalent of Audioslave and Velvet Revolver may not end up as cohesive and magnificent as we’d like it to be, but it would bring some excitement to an industry that seems to only produce buzz when someone dies or is caught lying a la James Frey.
The Misfits I once saw a teenager with the classic Misfits shirt; white skull logo on black. I was surprised. He seemed more of the T.I. type. He admitted he had never heard a Misfits song, but thought the shirt was cool. It is. So are a lot of Metallica and Nirvana shirts. Where are the writer shirts? How come David Foster Wallace doesn’t have a logo? Ever seen someone with a Dave Eggers bumper sticker? SHELFLIFEMAGAZINE : issue #004
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