Paul Hiebert at Flavorwire has posted a breakdown of the five most over-used conventions of the author promotional photograph, including:

The “My-head-is-so-weighted-down-by-great-thoughts-it-requires-additional-support”

John Updike

The “Oh-I-didnt-hear-you-enter-please-come-in-it’s-really-no-problem”

Ayn Rand

and The “Torso-twist-with-arm-resting-on-back-of-couch”

J.K. Rowling

This got us to thinking about how original/clichéd Melville House‘s author photos might be. A quick survey of our recent title author photos seemed to be free of Heibert’s top clichés. Indeed, we suspect that T Cooper, author of Los Angeles Times-bestselling The Beaufort Diaries, might have the first “Author-eating-popcorn” photo yet.

T Cooper

But just when we thought we were out of the woods it struck us that two of our covers featured photos that fell into Hiebert’s categories. Roberto Bolaño: The Last Interview features Bolaño in a classic “You-can’t-be-bad-ass-by-doing-what’s-good-for-you-and-your-children” pose.

Roberto Bolaño: The Last Interview

And the newly nonagenarian Ray Bradbury is shown in a “Hand-To-Face Photograph (aka ‘The Face-alone-is-boring-and-therefore-not-enough’)” for Sam Weller‘s Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews.

Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews

We personally think both photographs are amazing. Perhaps there’s a good reason so many authors strike these poses. Right, Oscar?

Oscar Wilde, using three clichés at once.