Erin Napier Solves HGTV Mystery for Fans — What’s With the Backward Books?
Ben and Erin Napier showed a lot of spine with their latest Home Town renovation — literally.
In the HGTV show’s January 5 episode, the Napiers renovated a century-old house in Laurel, Mississippi, to serve as the new home for the town’s Unlimited Dreams Christian Learning Center.
And viewers noticed that, for once, the finished product featured a bookshelf in which the books’ spines face outward. The Napiers typically put books on bookshelves backward, as seen on their Laurel Mercantile website and on the HGTV site.
“This may be the first time you haven’t turned all the books around, hiding the spines,” one person commented on Instagram — shadily, perhaps — as the Napiers shared photos of the renovation.
View this post on Instagram
“I’m guessing they do that for copyright reasons…?” another fan wrote. “Either way, yes, it’s cool to see the actual books!”
Erin herself responded in the comments, saying, “Somehow, we got permission from the legal folks!”
(Another fan, meanwhile, suggested that the Napiers could show the book spines since the room in question is a library.)
Betsy Ayala, previously a senior vice president of production and development for HGTV, also attributed the backward books to copyright issues in an HGTV Insider post but added that homeowners on the network might “prefer not to be judged by the books they own.”
Jasmine Roth, host of HGTV’s Hidden Potential and Help! I Wrecked My House, also elaborated on this renovation-show quirk. “It’s a really simple answer: copyright!” Roth wrote in a 2022 blog post. “That’s right, this isn’t some breakthrough of a design trick. … It’s because the network would have to get copyright clearance from every single title in order to display them. And that’s not very realistic, considering each design could have at least 10 books in them!”
Roth added that it had become “pretty popular” for people to hide the book spines on their bookshelves at home. Apparently, being able to see the titles of your books and to find books easily is, like, so 20th century.
Home Town, Sundays, 8/7c, HGTV
Conversation17 Comments
Please read the TV Insider Community Guidelines.
Comments are closed on this story.
-
C
Book titles are not subject to copyright!
34 2
-
O
Spines outward. I don't want to spend an hour or more, turning all my books around to find a book l want to read.
27
-
R
I think the book spines are sometimes beautiful, not a fan of the backwards books. It takes away from the overall design of the room.
21
-
P
If you turn all the spines inward all your books become mysteries.
19
-
B
Totally hate that practice, but this gave me a chuckle 🙂 Thanks!
11
-
-
C
I feel sorry for you, you must be tired. Go take a nap
19
-
C
If best not remembered, why bother keeping?
4
-
C
When do the books get close enough or stay in the frame long enough to read them? And as another poster pointed out titles are not copyrighted.
If the book is face out there may be a case but no publisher would bother to sue. Hell its publicity.
5 1
-
R
Doesn’t matter how long something is in frame. It takes only a second to either pause or screenshot then zoom in. I do agree it seems unlikely a publisher would sue but even one could be more trouble than it’s worth.
4 1
-
-
O
Would rather have my some of my books' spine inward. Definitely don't care what folks think of what I read- however certain treasures that I own are best left not remembered.
4 1
-
B
Book titles are not subject to copyright.
1
-
C
Books backward? What's the point?
1
-
G
Go back to your own show!!!
-
G
She seems very nice. Who hurt you?
-
B
She is stupid and illiterate yet here you are deep in the comment section on tvinsider commenting such a hateful thing....so weird. I'm sure Erin is devastated by your opinion. 🙄
-
-
R
Reverse thinking, look how many people are talking about it , mystery keeps the conversation alive , . Prof it works right here , good thinking show !
1 3
-
O
Because she is stupid and illiterate?
3 39
Watchlist Easy access to only the shows you care about — all in one simple place
Alerts Only important notifications — when a show is returning, when it becomes available to stream, and more.
Special Offers Exclusive products we release related to your favorite shows and streaming services