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This book examines how meaning and value are constructed outside of what we have often considered to be the text itself. Thus, in its writing, I have constantly been aware of how often my own arguments, and the meaning and value of this text, have come from colleagues and friends whose sage counsel, astute criticism, and warm offers of assistance have considerably refined and advanced my thinking about paratexts. With this in mind, I offer thanks to a small band of friends who never seem to tire of discussing texts and paratexts with me, and who have shared their own thoughts on the topic so readily and generously: Ivan Askwith, Will Brooker, Kristina Busse, Derek Johnson, Derek Kompare, Amanda Lotz, Jason Mittell, Cornel Sandvoss, and Avi Santo. Will’s comments on the manuscript were particularly invaluable and warrant especially profuse thanks.

Many others have also helped significantly with thoughts, criticism, or encouragement here, an article, book, or blog post there. Thanks, then, to Robin Andersen, Miranda Banks, Martin Barker, Geoffrey Baym, Nancy Baym, James Bennett, Bertha Chin, Mike Chopra-Gant, Lynn Clark, Paul Cobley, Nick Couldry, Max Dawson, Ana Domb, Sam Ford, Joshua Green, C. Lee Harrington, John Hartley, Timothy Havens, Heather Hendershot, Matt Hills, Jennifer Holt, Nina Huntemann, Henry Jenkins, Victoria Johnson, Jeffrey Jones, Michael Kackman, Beth Knobel, Elana Levine, Ernest Mathijs, Matthew McAllister, Tom McCourt, John McMurria, Lothar Mikos, David Morley, Susan Murray, Michael Newman, Laurie Ouellette, Roberta Pearson, Martyn Pedler, Allison Perlman, Aswin Punathambekar, Bob Rehak, Jean Retzinger, Brian Rose, Sharon Ross, Kevin Sandler, Louisa Stein, Ethan Thompson, Serra Tinic, Chuck Tryon, and Michael Tueth. To this roster must also be added many of my excellent students, full of excellent ideas.

For discussing their (para)textual creations with me, I am indebted to Jesse Alexander and Mark Warshaw, formerly of the NBC series Heroes; Stephen Andrade at NBC-Universal; Ivan Askwith at Big Spaceship; Patrick Crowe at Xenophile Media; Matt Wolf of D20 Productions; and the vidders “GK,” here’s luck, Luminosity, and obsessive24. Thanks too to the International Radio and Television Society Foundation and Disney for making my attendance at their 2008 Digital Media Summit possible; to Brian Leake, David Jessen, and Damon Lindelof for their openness at that event; and to the National Association of Television Production Executives for making my attendance at their 2008 convention possible. And many thanks to all those who participated in the Lost spoiler survey I conducted with Jason Mittell in 2006.

Parts of this book have appeared in other forms elsewhere. Profuse thanks go to Bertha Chin for allowing me to reprint parts of our article, “‘One Ring to Rule Them All’: Pre-Viewers and Pre-Texts of the Lord of the Rings Films” (Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media 2) in chapter 4, and to Jason Mittell for letting me reprint some of our article, “Speculation on Spoilers: Lost Fandom, Narrative Consumption, and Rethinking Textuality” (Particip@tions: The International Journal of Audience Research 4.1) in chapter 5. I also extend thanks and acknowledgment to Matt Hills and Martin Barker, editors of Intensities and Particip@tions, respectively, for allowing me to reprint those pieces, and to Sage for allowing me to reprint parts of my article “Television Pre-Views and the Meaning of Hype” (International Journal of Cultural Studies 11.1) in the Introduction and chapters 1 and 2; to Wallflower Press for allowing me to reprint parts of my chapter “Bonus Material: The DVD Layering of The Lord of the Rings” (in The Lord of the Rings: Popular Culture in Global Context, ed. Ernest Mathijs [New York, 2006]) in chapter 3; and to Routledge for allowing me to reprint a section of my chapter “The Reviews Are In: TV Critics and the (Pre)Creation of Meaning” (in Flow TV: Essays on a Convergent Medium, ed. Michael Kackman et al. [New York, 2009]) in chapter 5. Thanks too to Gary Wines for so kindly providing the art for figure 6.1. At New York University Press and beyond, thanks to Eric Zinner, Emily Park, Ciara McLaughlin, Despina Papazoglou Gimbel, and the rest of the team.

And of course, no acknowledgments section could be complete without once more paying due homage and respect to the fantastic foursome that are my brother Matthew Gray, my mother and father, Anne and Ian Gray, and my wife, Monica Grant. I’ve moved thirteen times in my life so far, nine of those across national borders, and through all the packing and unpacking, meeting new friends and leaving old ones, passport renewals, and learning new accents and television schedules, my family members have remained my constants, as has Monica for these last eight years. My love and eternal gratitude to all four.