Twilight, you may have noticed, is everywhere, especially now that UK and US editions of Wuthering Heights have been rereleased. This is the UK version:
And this is the US version:
both, obviously capitalizing on the fact that this is Bella and Edward’s favorite book in the fictional Twilight universe. Never let it be said that the iconic red on black imagery isn’t effective. Those books are gorgeous. But the redesigns got me thinking, especially with the use of other people’s names to market different books and similar marketing hijinks, that it’s time I did Simon & Schuster a favor.
Hi Simon! Hi Schuster! Should you be thinking, “Hmm, how can I sell another 5 or 6 copies of the Bosoms?” I have the answer for you. RIGHT HERE. I did all the work! Just slap this puppy on the cover and ship ‘em out. It’ll be great!
No, no, don’t thank me. I do this for you – all for you.
What other covers need the Twilight revamp?
Wait.
…
You’re allowed to do this? To put as the recommendation that sells the book the fact that it is the favorite of some fictional characters?
I’ve got that Kate Bush song in my head now!
That cover made an otherwise boring evening a whole lot more bearable.
You guys crack me up.
And I’m with @Elizabeth – I’m supposed to buy a book because fictional characters from another book entirely like it? WTF?
See, I’d have been glad if Wuthering Heights had had those covers back when I’d bought it, instead of the standard Oxford Classics vaguely relevant looking portrait period cover. Something that says “this book is like Twilight” rather than “this book is like Jane Austen, and that Bronte you actually like”. I wouldn’t have bothered slogging through it then! Give me Villette any day.
It’s a mark of how ridiculous they are that I had to read this entry like three times before I realized that the top two were not faked.
And – sorry – but aren’t we pretty tired of the single flower? At this point no matter how gorgeous the photography-n-photoshopping is, all I hear is the publisher saying “Look at this flower. This flower has a single petal dying. Dying. DYING. It’s a CLEVER METAPHOR. THIS BOOK HAS GOT TEH DEADNESS.”
That being said, I am reluctantly amused by the red ribbon in book the first; it’s sort of a “THIS BOOK HAS GOT TEH DEADNESS OF GROOMSMAN BOUTONNIERES.”
Excuse me while I vomit.
Also, the fact that this is apparently Bella and Edward’s favourite book? Yet another reason never to try Wuthering Heights again.
Hehe, I could not help but join in on this. So I have made a Twilighted cover of Dark Lover
OMG Shae that was too funny! I literally just spit my drink all over my monitor. LOL
You could cross-sell the BeDazzler as a Twilight product: Make your BF sparkly just like Edward!
that is so ridiculous!! poor Emily Bronte must be rolling in her grave.
TypO- speaking of
– a friend of mine sent me the link below….I nearly fell off my chair I laughed so much!! It is completely NOT WORK SAFE!!
http://tantusinc.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TD&Product_Code=VAMP
Talk about cashing in on the sparkly vamp craze!!
“Bella and Edward’s favorite book”
Wow. Because that’s not ridiculous on so very many levels.
Joanna said:
I was just thinking, “What the hell does a single flower have to do with Wuthering Heights? And if you were going to have one, shouldn’t it be heather?”
@Shae: That was excellent!
Yes, because nothing says romance like a necrophiliac puppy-killer.
Yet another reason not to read Twilight.
And Shae, that was brilliant.
I bet the cover blurb helps them sell more copies of Wuthering Heights. I would think you could do the same thing by putting a sticker on existing copies, though.
Cheesy atempt to sell more books by redoing a cover. Yep. Will it work? I bet it does…
Because of course all the die-hard Twi-fans are at a level to appreciate Wuthering Heights. Naturally.
My 8 year old just got her 6th Twilight poster for her bedroom. Somehow I don’t see her reading Wuthering Heights though…
Not Twilight, but how about putting on the cover of Pride and Prejudice “The Book That Inspired Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”
The ridiculous is off the charts. Shae: AMAZING.
Books that need the Twilight redo? I think this needs a contest. What do the Bitchery Leaders think?
Wait. Wait. Those WUTHERING HEIGHTS covers are REAL?
Are they really real?
Can I get a link to the home page for these editions, please?
If that’s true, I’m really disappointed. Both of those covers look ridiculous. It’s like the art department spent about three seconds on the covers and then outsourced the project to an eight-year-old child. A really bored, really busy eight-year-old child.
Never mind, found the links, and these are both Harper books. WOW.
P.S. SB Sarah, the UK link is off a little, FYI.
Love your new heaving cover.
Gosh, I guess I know what I want the cover of my next book to be!
Darlene- I know, right? Forget painstakingly forwarding the art department pictures of Mayan ruins and hot guys (though I’d miss that part of the research- lol), I’ll just tell ‘em to stick a cacao flower on a black background, slap on a quote from the heroine saying how much her roommate’s-sister’s-friend’s-second-cousin loved Twilight, and move on. (rollseyes)
I love, love Wutherine Heights, but I think it’s hilarious that Stephanie Meyers says that it’s Bella’s favorite book. I mean, Heathcliff IS Edward, people – an abusive, obsessive psycho with anger management issues? Check! What I don’t see is the Bella = Catherine connection; Catherine at least had a smidgen of spine and aggressiveness, whereas Bella was as passive as a damp dish towel.
Those covers are awful, btw. Like a 12 y/o Twi-hard got into MS Paint for a book cover contest on a fan forum.
The best I could come up with foggy brain this morning.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v309/nicolesphotos/Outlander_edited-1.jpg
(Crossing fingers and seeing if the link works)
Kudos on the bonsai Bosoms cover. Unlike those appalling Wuthering Heights covers, I can see that yours actually bears some relevance to the book—oh look, it’s a bosom-shaped bonsai with a pretty flower demurely tucked into its decolletage.
@Anna/ocelott
Totally! They’d find it unbearable—especially since I can’t recall Heathcliff or any of his family being sparkling in any way.
Jessica—Heck, I told my agent he could rename my next book “Gone with the Wind” if he thought it would sell 10 million more copies. I’m not above making an extra dollar or two.[g]
Shae, that cover was brilliant. Still wiping the coffee off my screen.
And for all the little Twilight pyschos we know…
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?ref=vt_related_1&listing_id=29652662
Too creepy.
That is my actual personal Bonzai tree, too. His name is AJ. I like how in the picture he’s sort of shrugging.
And thanks for the heads up on the link, Willa – I fixed it.
So you think we need a Photoshop contest for Twilight re-covers? Remake your favorite book Twilight-style? That could be a LOT of fun. How long is best for you guys in terms of creative pressure? 24 hours?
well, it’s nice to know stalker books seek each other out…
it’s like they made a baby…
Err….you guys are aware there’s a whole series of those ‘revamped classics’ available for sale on Amazon? Even a ‘twilighted’ version of Pride & Prejudice?
This lotion co out of Minneapolis—which I totally respect and adore—made a lotion which I believe is meant to piggy-back on Twilight as well.
http://www.thymes.com/Thymes/Collection.aspx?nodeid=65374
If the “Glimmer of Twilight” tagline doesn’t do it for you…it leaves you glittery.
I put it on ‘cause the scent was lovely. Then I left the store into the bright, happy summer sun and realized I was all vampirically glowing in the light. My brain did one of those terrible slow connections: “Wait…twilight. MOONflower….sparkling…Twilight…oh CRAP.”
The worst part is, I may actually have to go buy the damn stuff ‘cause I like the fragrance so much.
Knew I’d find them.
Romeo and Juliet:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061965499?ie=UTF8&tag=stepmedi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061965499
Pride and Prejudice:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061964360?ie=UTF8&tag=stepmedi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061964360
I’m just imagining the poor child who picks up Wuthering Heights expecting it to be a read like Twilight. And instead has to slog through all that Bronte.
From what I remember of the last time I read it, Wuthering was not exactly a quick and easy read…
Hilarious! I love your cover redo.
I have no problems with novels trying to reap the success of others. If Twilight can get teenage girls (and their moms) to pick up the classics, I’m all for it. I love Twilight, but I read and loved Wuthering Heights back when I was a teen. Truthfully I think the references in Eclipse are of a whitewashed version of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff is not a romantic hero and Catherine is not so nice herself.
I would need at least 5 minutes to redesign my favorite Laura Kinsale into a “Twilight” cover.
It would take me about 2 days, though, to figure out how to post it here, though.
Cathy was a ghost – they’re sort of whispy and shiny – does that count?
Hmm, Edward and Heathcliff are both creepy as hell, controlling, angsty and involved in relationships that are destructive, involve the female dying and in my book group at least, most people wanting to take out an imaginary restraining order against both “heroes.’”
So sort of the same only Emily B has a lot less people photoshopping her characters together or creating “Heathcliff” cut outs to put on your wall so they can watch you while you sleep:
http://www.journalfen.net/community/sparklefield/
Oh my god. Really? Sigh. Okay, I’m all for using any means necessary to get the newer generations reading all the ye olde stuff I so did not want to read either, when I was their age.
Also, I love Twilight. I am not ashamed to admit it; it’s got good story and I loved the big hook of the last book, the wrapping of the romance plot device.
AND I know marketing will use any means available and viable to sell more books. I am counting on such when one day my words are out there on paper and can only hope they are behind such beautiful covers. But I’m grinding my teeth at the idea that my contemporary women characters would be in ANY way relate-able to girls/women who want Edward to bite them.
Though frankly, I wouldn’t mind being bitten by Eric Northman. I mean, damn, y’all. That’s a REAL vampire. umm-umm-umm.
Go ahead and say it: I have no argument here. I can take it.
I hated Wuthering Heights. I’ve read it twice, maybe three times. I keep trying to figure out what’s so great and hot about the psycho a$$hat and the obnoxious dead chick he was obsessed with. I just can’t.
So yeah, another reason not to read Twilight. Besides the vampire burnout.
I loved Jane Eyre when I was about 10, though. *sigh* Not so sure what I saw in it now, but at least the characters aren’t all a$$hats *all* the time.
Given that the authors are dead and their copyright has long, long lapsed, I think these revampings are going to net bucks. Seriously…
I didn’t think Shakespeare needed pimping, however.
Sarah: yes, yes, yes, please make this a contest! I agree with RStewie – I’d like two days, if possible.
I’m fine with people deciding to read something because some fictional characters like it, or because it was brought up in another book. I know I’ve read a lot of stuff for this reason, especially when I was a teenager. I do think it’s kind of…lame that publishers are using this as a selling point on book covers. Stylish cover art, yes, seals of approval from people who don’t exist and who not everyone actually cares about, no.