‘A smorgasbord of unlikability’: the authors helping ‘sad girl lit’ grow up

In this post-Fleabag world, publishing has become obsessed with the inner turmoils of messy millennials – but isn’t it time they pulled themselves together? Meet the novelists subverting the clichesYou’ve probably come across this woman: she is unfulfilled in her career, has been abandoned by at least one man, she is aimless and lamenting the obstacles in her life (of which, in reality, there don’t appear to be many). She is not just miserable, she’s a mess; self-absorbed and full of self-loathing.If you’ve read a book by a woman, about a woman, that has been published in the last five years, then it’s overwhelmingly likely that this woman was the protagonist. The narrative likely circled around this character’s sadness, her passive struggle to overcome it, and little else. Typically, such stories have notes of darkness but will rarely deliver the actual thing. Usually the main character (like the author) will be middle-class, if not incredibly wealthy. Almost always she will be white. The book’s cover will probably feature a devastated-looking woman with her hair covering her face or her head cradled in her hands. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-08-08 15:19:43 UTC ]
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Other Publishing stories related to: '‘A smorgasbord of unlikability’: the authors helping ‘sad girl lit’ grow up'


SoA not fighting for authors, claims historian

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 16/06/2011 - 09:22 Author Gregor Dallas has accused the Society of Authors of not doing enough to defend its members from large publishers which are cutting back on range and creating a "national scandal" with the declining quality of their... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Prevention Magazine Grows a Digital Network

Prevention magazine's new digital advertising network of niche health sites, dubbed the Healthy Living Group, is now in full swing since its May launch, with about 12 million monthly unique visiting the 35 sites in the network. The digital network is also now ranked 11th in the health category,... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-06-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joseph, Ziegler, Henderson, win at Society of Author awards

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 15/06/2011 - 08:21 Twenty-one writers shared £76,000 of prize money at the Authors' Awards last night presented by Joanna Trollope. Among them Anjali Joseph won the £10,000 Betty Trask prize for Saraswati Park (Fourth Estate). As previously... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agent Peter Cox offers 'impartial' review of author contracts

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 09/06/2011 - 10:05 Literary agent Peter Cox has offered to review "any" contract given to an author by an agent for free in order to ensure that the author has "impartial advice". The move is a response to agents setting up their own publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Avon acquires three from Authonomy author

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 07/06/2011 - 08:10 Avon has acquired three novels by Authonomy workshop author Laurence O'Bryan. Editorial director Claire Bord bought the three books directly from the author, who attended the crime and thriller workshop held by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Call the Midwife author Worth dies

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 06/06/2011 - 11:35 Bestselling author of the Call the Midwife trilogy Jennifer Worth has died following a short illness, Weidenfeld & Nicolson has announced. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Metamarkets Raises $6 Million To Help Big Web Publishers Corral Big Data

A ad tech startup that promises to help Web publishers make sense of all the data their ad sales generate. Continue reading at AllThingsD

[ AllThingsD | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pluto "deeply worried" over vanished author

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 31/05/2011 - 14:18 Concerns are growing over the whereabouts of investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, whose book Inside Al-Qaeda: Beyond Bin Laden and 9/11 has just been published in the UK by Pluto Press. Shahzad, who is Pakistan... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HCCB acquires Inkpop author

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Tue, 31/05/2011 - 15:06 HarperCollins Children's Books has bought a debut by an author discovered on the Inkpop website for budding writers of teen fiction. Senior editor Lizzie Ryley bought UK and Commonwealth rights to the book from Jean McGinley at... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pluto author Shahzad "found dead"

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 31/05/2011 - 14:18 Journalist and Pluto Books author Syed Saleem Shahzad has been found dead near Islamabad, after going missing on Sunday (29th May), according to reports just in from the Pakistan media. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors readied to support strong Independent Booksellers Week

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 08:45 Edmund de Waal, Maggie O’Farrell and Tony Parsons are among the authors lined up to take part in Independent Booksellers Week. The week of events, in association with the Booksellers Association, will take place between... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Corvus acquires seven from self-published author

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:15 Corvus has acquired seven books from self-published author Nick Alexander, whose title The Missing Boyfriend was in the top 10 in the Kindle paid-for charts for six weeks. Senior editor Laura Palmer bought world English... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors should be paid for events - BIC

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:20 Authors should be paid for hosting events, the Society of Authors new general secretary has said. Nicola Solomon told delegates at the Book Industry Conference yesterday (16th May) that if authors give up a day of their free... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ten make Authors' Club travel longlist

Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 11:54 Titles on Russian history, the populace of Germany and a spiritual travelogue have been longlisted for the 2011 Authors' Club Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Molotov's Magic Lantern by Rachel Polonski (Faber), Germania by Simon Winder (Picador) and All... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Support your library, CWA tells authors

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Thu, 12/05/2011 - 09:13 The Crime Writers Association (CWA) is asking each of its members to do at least three events a year for their local library as part of a campaign to support the public library service in the face of widespread cutbacks. "We... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sainsbury's grows book sales 20%

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 11/05/2011 - 08:22 Sainsbury's has singled out book sales as an area of strong growth in its most recent financial year, and has said that it will now devote more new space to "non-food ranges". For the 52 weeks to 19th March 2011, the retailer... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Number of Gatefold Ads Grows 50 Percent In 1Q 2011

“High-impact” ad pages saw a mixed usage among MPA-member magazines in the first quarter of 2011, according to data gathered by Mag Radar. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-05-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nurturer of Authors Is Closing the Book

The editor Robert Loomis, who is retiring from Random House after 54 years, is known for nurturing writers including Maya Angelou, William Styron, Shelby Foote and Calvin Trillin. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-05-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital helps lift profit at Simon & Schuster

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 09:30 Digital sales were worth 18% of Simon & Schuster's total global sales in its first quarter as its revenues increased 2% to $155m. Digital revenue more than doubled to $27.9m (£16.9m) from the first quarter in 2010, with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Digital sales now worth 6%, as ebooks grow 300% in 2010

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Tue, 03/05/2011 - 09:22 The digital publishing market is now worth 6% of UK publishers' sales, the Publishers Association has revealed, with consumer digital sales up more than 300% in 2010 to £16m—the third year of treble digit growth. The PA... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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