With soaring sales, viral hits like Cat Person and a cameo by Tom Hanks, the form seems to be staging a comeback. But did it ever go away?In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are reporting a surge in popularity for the form, commentators note publishers are buying more collections and issuing them with greater care and enthusiasm; in December the newcomer Kristen Roupenian cut five- and seven-figure deals in the UK and US after her New Yorker story “Cat Person” went viral. On top of all that, collections are being reviewed more than ever before, the Sunday Times EFG short story award (worth £30,000) has received its highest ever number of entries and the BBC national short story award continues to grow in popularity. We are experiencing the renaissance of the short story form, right?Wrong; which isn’t to say 2017 wasn’t a good year for the short story – it was, but the “renaissance of the short story” story is an old one that is rolled out year after year. Does that matter? I think it does. By getting caught up in this recurring phantom narrative, and dwelling on press release froth rather than the work being produced, we spurn the opportunity to talk about short stories in a way that might actually deepen how they are understood and engaged with by readers.How can the short story ever have time to wither, given the frequency of its rebirth?In the cases of Tom... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In early 2011, Amazon launched Kindle Singles, and among those who saw the potential of the short-form digital content model were Chandos Erwin, managing director of the digital agency Oatmeal Beach, and Ivan Dee, founder of Ivan R. Dee Inc. (now an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield) and then... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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W H Smith is to promote cross- over young adult (YA) titles more directly to adults via a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Germany’s top fiction title at the end of December, The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out His Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson climbed up from #5, supplanting previous chart-topper Inheritance (Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance was also #2 in Spain). Jonasson’s novel has sold more... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-01-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jon Appleton has been appointed to the newly-created post of editorial director for fiction at... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Sutherland, a former judge and chair of the Man Booker prize, is to chair the judging panel... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent publisher Saqi Books is to launch a new non-fiction imprint, with plans to publish... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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News Corp. (NWSA) for the first time publicly detailed bribery by a journalist at its now-defunct News of the World, telling a court that a former editor agreed to pay a prison guard to get a story about a child killer. Matt Nixson, a features edit ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-01-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gibson Square Books will be increasingly "dipping its toe" into fiction, following on... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sussex-based independent publisher Myriad Editions is launching a series of events to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins has acquired an account of this year's Libyan conflict by Sky News reporter... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oxford University Press will be releasing its 300th Very Short Introduction title in January 2012... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Literary agent Fiona Spencer Thomas has sold a thriller by Alex Churton to Anthony Cheetham's... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Constable & Robinson is to launch Canvas, a new commercial fiction list headed by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-12-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of print books fell 18.6% in the first nine months of 2011 in the major trade categories, according to figures reported to the Association of American Publishers. And although ebook sales jumped in the nine monthsahead 137.9% at the 15 reporting housesthe gain was not enough to offset... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 14/11/2011 - 08:22 Penguin is launching a digital series of exclusive short works called Penguin Shorts, releasing nine titles by authors including Helen Dunmore, Toby Young and Colm Toibin. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 14:52 Digital publisher Andrews UK has released the first 3D video-supported ebook onto the market through Apples iBookstore. The company has included a six-and-a-half minute 3D film within the ebook A Dream of Christmas 3D, a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 11:01 Headline has acquired the next book by Soccer Saturday presenter Jeff Stelling, with the Sky Sports football pundit moving with his editor Jonathan Taylor from HarperSport. Publishing director Taylor bought world... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In a major departure for Hay House, the self-help and spirituality publisher is jumping into the fiction market. Its debut mystery novel, The First Rule of Ten by psychologist Gay Hendricks and screen writer Tinker Lindsay, will be published in January. Hay House has signed up 10 additional... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:30 Independent bookseller Ron Johns is moving into childrens fiction publishing, following a number of successes as a publisher of picture books and coffee-table books under the Mabecron Books imprint. Johns, who owns bookshops... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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