The editor who turned down John Kennedy Toole might seem myopic in hindsight, but some of his questions about the novel remain hard to answerHumility is something you learn quickly as an editor. If you have the good fortune to find and publish excellent novels, you are sure to miss plenty of fine work. As a co-founder and editor at independent press Galley Beggar, I wake up in sweats with the certain knowledge that somewhere in my email inbox lies a stone cold classic. Perhaps I won’t even find the time to read it, let alone mistakenly turn it down. I’ve had to refuse perfectly good books in the past and will do it again. The hard truth is that you can’t publish everything – and that every publisher is human and correspondingly flawed. But at least I can console myself that I haven’t yet said no to a Pulitzer winner like A Confederacy of Dunces. I am yet to attain the unenviable fame of Robert Gottlieb, marked by history as the man who didn’t publish John Kennedy Toole’s cult masterpiece.There is another problem: that with all its wonderfulness, the book – even better plotted (and still better plottable) – does not have a reason; it’s a brilliant exercise in invention, but unlike CATCH [22] and MOTHER’S KISSES and V and the others, it isn’t really about anything. And that’s something no one can do anything about. Related: John Kennedy Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces is June's reading group book Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2017-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#robert gottlieb
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 08/04/2011 - 10:47 Faber has acquired the latest novel from British author Peter Hobbs, whose début scooped a Betty Trask Prize. Editorial director Lee Brackstone bought world English language rights to In The Orchard, The Swallows through... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#deborah rogers
#coleridge white
#trade paperback
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 15:58 A husband-and-wife team has launched an e-publishing company for new authors. Cornwall-based lawyers Nigel and Abbie Flanagan are calling on unpublished writers to submit the first 50 pages of their work to Wink Publishing.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#budding authors
#husband-and-wife team
#unpublished writers
#public vote
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 09:05 US publishers have dismissed Borders' recovery plan, which includes revamped stores and increased online sales, as unrealistic and are increasingly gloomy about its future. The New York Times reports Borders senior... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#random house
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 07/04/2011 - 08:59 Tindal Street Press has acquired a debut novel after discovering the author at a writing festival. Editor Luke Brown bought world rights to Robyn directly from author Deborah Morgan. He discovered her work when judging a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#writing festival
#book tells
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 05/04/2011 - 16:11 Coronet will publish "Strictly Come Dancing" presenter Tess Daly's first sashay into fiction, having acquired The Camera Never Lies by the TV host. Editor Charlotte Haycock acquired British Commonwealth rights to the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#tv host
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 15:24 Little, Brown has made two "significant" promotions, with deputy publisher David Shelley becoming publisher of the group and commercial director Ben Groves-Raines moving up to chief operating officer. All of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishing imprints
#design department
#david kent
The current crop of Russian publishers is collectively on the young side, many of them born shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Then, teething problems were many and the growth path rocky at times. But today these publishers produce nearly 120,000 new titles per year,... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#young side
#russian publishers
#publishers produce
#born shortly
#soviet union
#global ranking
Several years ago, when I was not a bookstore employee but merely a regular customer, I wrote up BookCourt, an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, for the Village Voice's Best of New York. My entry posited, though I had no evidence to support it, that single people claimed the bookstore was good... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#independent bookstore
#finding love
#village voice
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 04/04/2011 - 13:02 Cornerstone and Vintage are planning to release historian Alison Weir's backlist in ebook format for the first time. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#published digitally
#ebook format
Written By: Philip Jones and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:50 Literary agent Sonia Land has warned book publishers they will lose control over authors digital backlists unless they improve their royalty offer. Land this week announced her decision to publish 100 of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital rates
#philip jones
#week announced
Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:35 Judy Finnigan, one half of publishing phenomenon Richard and Judy, is to publish her long-rumoured first novel with Sphere. Catherine Burke, Sphere editorial director, signed world rights to two titles from Luigi Bonomi. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#catherine burke
#luigi bonomi
Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 14:45 An upbeat Bologna Book Fair this week saw a strong US presence and a notable upturn from the past two cautious years, with publishers willing to buy, albeit selectively. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#bologna fair
Zite, the app that gathers content according to a users interests and behaviors to form a personalized web magazine, has run into legal issues abound from major publishers such as Washington Post, Associated Press, Getty Images, Time and Dow Jones. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#major publishers
#getty images
#dow jones
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 01/04/2011 - 08:10 Transworld is to publish a limited edition scratch and sniff version of Dirty Tricks by Jo Carnegie. Managing director Larry Finlay said: "This is a new move for us and it's certainly been a challenge for our production... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#production team
#reading experience
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 30/03/2011 - 14:55 Fourth Estate will publish the latest novel by The Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan after HarperCollins bought The Valley of Amazement. Publication date for the novel is expected to be autumn 2012. Daniel Halpern, president and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#canadian rights
#fourth estate
Written By: Katie Allen Publication Date: Mon, 28/03/2011 - 15:31 Profit before tax at Jonathan Goodman Publishing, the parent company of Carlton Books Ltd and Andre Deutsch Ltd, has increased by 72% to £1.6m. The figures, for the year to end December 2010, also show turnover is up 6% to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#carlton books
#good year
#andre deutsch
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 24/03/2011 - 15:31 Independent publisher Stacey International and its imprint Capuchin Classics have launched a new company, Stacey Publishing, with fresh financial backing. It will be headed by m.d. Patrick Kelly, previously part-time... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Amanda Hocking, the 26-year-old author who shot to fame by selling more than a million copies of her self-published books, has signed a deal with St. Martin's Press. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#media decoder
#amanda hocking
#million copies
#self-published books
As convenient as they are, I've long worried about the many ways in which ebook purveyors restrict readers' rights. You can't resell the books you purchase for the Amazon Kindle, and you can't read them on most other e-readers. We also don't really own ebooks in the same way we own... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#amazon kindle
#book publishers
A b-to-b publisher shares lessons from its first app launch including mobilizing Web sites and implementing QR codes. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#mobile strategy
#independent publisher