• more about #janetmaslin more comments →
    gangey: When I worked at the library we used to amuse ourselves at the desk by trying to one up each other and find the most ridiculous author photo in the li... more »
    roodles: I admit it, if my dissertation ever gets finished and then published and I have the opportunity to have a pic on the jacket (unlikely I know) I'm choo... more »
    paperbackwriter: Ok... my first author photo, I was sent to a photographer who has done gazillions of them, and is renown in the trade (over here in the UK, anyway). I... more »
    PromQueen: I HATE having my photo taken--I got Xanax to take for my photo shoot--and though I chose a not-horrifying straight-on headshot, my (large house) publi... more »
    Majrhoulihan: Guess what? Authors rarely get to choose their own author photos! Publishers get the final say! more »
    Pesti-Esti: Anna says if she ever wrote and published a piece of literary fiction, she thinks she'd "demand a straight-on headshot - no pouty lips or bare shoulde... more »
    Red-headed bookworm: Huh, well, I don't usually look at the author's picture unless the book summary is continued onto the back flap and their picture is there. Silly me, ... more »
    bowleserised: I'm not looking forward to this part of being an author. I've already needed to provide a photo for my agent's website, and there's a dinky little cla... more »
    HereComesMyBaby: Meh. Men's headshots can be sexy too. It's just that our idea of a man being sexy is not them sitting on a bed or pouting their lips. When a publishin... more »
    braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.: This is why, until I get arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct and can use my mugshot for an author's photo, I use this: more »
    Penny_Esq: Leaving legitimate criticisms of Twilight aside, Stephenie Meyers got raked over the coals for having a "hot" author photo and then turning out to be ... more »
    Titania: I will just say that I work at a men's magazine and they whine like little babies when you can see their double chins in photographs. They also are th... more »
    Kivrin: Y'know how some authors choose to publish under a nom de plume? I think I would opt to publish under a photo de plume. I am not photogenic. more »
    PantyWaist: "Marisha Pessl" is surely one of the ugliest names ever. Is that a mitigating factor in her hotness? Didn't think so. more »
    BrutallyHonestBabes (aka Mrs. Sarah.of.a.Lesser.Hobbit): Dude, when my book is finally published, I want a picture of me on it. I deserve to have my picture on it. I want a picture that'll say "Ha ha I pub... more »
  • #specialtopicsinliteraryattractiveness

    Book-Hot-Or-Not: More On The Sexual Politics Of Author Photos

    Gawker readers will remember "book hot" author Marisha Pessl — according to a a recent VQR piece, even reviewers are now playing book-hot-or-not. More »
  • #laurenweisberger

    Blogging Towards Bethlehem