A Joint Conference of the Victorian Studies Association of Western Canada and the Victorian Interdisciplinary Studies Association of the Western United States. Hosted by Emily Carr University of Art and Design and University of the Fraser Valley. Sponsored in part by University of Northern British Columbia and University of Victoria |
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Solveig C. Robinson - Marketing the Book The field of advertising came of age concurrently with the modern publishing industry, and bookselling remained one of the largest advertisers throughout the nineteenth century. Books were promoted by authors, publishers, booksellers, and circulating libraries, through publication lists, paid adverts, reviews and readings, blurbs and broadsides—as well as by stage adaptations and such promotional tie-ins as cigarette cards and toby jugs. While the mixing of commerce and aesthetics was a perennial concern of Victorian critics, for the most part, publishers just got on with business, offering wares adapted to every taste and price point and advertising works like the Kelmscott Chaucer just as assiduously as the latest penny dreadfuls. This workshop will consider the ways in which books (and other printed materials) were publicized and promoted in the Victorian age. Participants are invited to consider all aspects of the publication of publications. How did advertising strategies change over the period? How did authors and readers respond to the commodification of certain kinds of texts? What effect did reviews really have on sales or library demand? How did serialization affect demand for bound books? What were some of the more creative or unusual strategies for promoting books? The workshop will begin with a brief presentation on the development of Victorian reviewing practices to spark discussion, but participants are encouraged to bring their own questions, observations, and case studies to the group’s attention.
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