'Goblinproofing' oddest title for book
Source: Agencies |
March 23, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A book offering advice on how to protect chicken coops from goblins has won the Oddest Book Title of the Year award, organizers of the contest said yesterday.
"Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" by Reginald Bakeley and Clint Marsh attracted 38 percent of 1,225 online votes to beat craft manual "How Tea Cosies Changed the World" with 31 percent to win the 35th annual Diagram Prize.
Third place went to a book by Tom Hickman titled "God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis."
Also shortlisted for the award this year was a study of Adolf Hitler's health titled "Was Hitler Ill?," "Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts," and a guidebook titled "How to Sharpen Pencils."
Philip Stone, coordinator of the prize run by industry publication the Bookseller, said the award might seem just fun but publishers and booksellers were well aware that a title can make all the difference to the sales of a book.
He cited books such as "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian," "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" as owing part of their success to odd titles.
The Diagram Prize was founded in 1978, and past winners include "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice" and last year's "Cooking with Poo," a Thai cookbook by Bangkok resident Saiyuud Diwong, whose nickname is Poo.
"Goblinproofing One's Chicken Coop" by Reginald Bakeley and Clint Marsh attracted 38 percent of 1,225 online votes to beat craft manual "How Tea Cosies Changed the World" with 31 percent to win the 35th annual Diagram Prize.
Third place went to a book by Tom Hickman titled "God's Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis."
Also shortlisted for the award this year was a study of Adolf Hitler's health titled "Was Hitler Ill?," "Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts," and a guidebook titled "How to Sharpen Pencils."
Philip Stone, coordinator of the prize run by industry publication the Bookseller, said the award might seem just fun but publishers and booksellers were well aware that a title can make all the difference to the sales of a book.
He cited books such as "A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian," "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" as owing part of their success to odd titles.
The Diagram Prize was founded in 1978, and past winners include "Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice" and last year's "Cooking with Poo," a Thai cookbook by Bangkok resident Saiyuud Diwong, whose nickname is Poo.
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