Last week, Ruth Rendell claimed that reading novels is a dying art. Sadly, she might have a pointNo one can say precisely why John Williams's novel Stoner has become a bestseller almost 50 years after its first publication. After all, plenty of books, "forgotten" or otherwise, are recommended by word of mouth and yet most will not go on to sell more than a few hundred copies. And it's hard to know in what ways, if any, its story – a young man falls in love with literature and thus a new world is revealed to him – might have touched people. Many of those who rushed to buy it will not yet have got around to opening it and some will never read it. Stoner will languish on their shelves, its spine unbroken, just like Jung Chang's Wild Swans, the non-fiction hit of 1992.But still, it has given us something to think about, this dusting down of so plangent and substantial a novel. On Radio 4 last week, Ruth Rendell, the novelist and Labour peer, suggested that Stoner is a book for our times, her argument being that we live in an age when reading is for most an alien pastime, just as it is to William Stoner until he has an epiphany. (Asked to elucidate a poem by a professor, he is unable to say anything except: "It means... it means..." and yet, in this moment, everything changes; the verse, whether he understands it or not, has touched him on some powerfully deep level.) "We are told that it isn't happening," said Rendell. "But it is. Reading is no longer something that everybody... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
Rachel Mills, formerly head of Peters, Fraser + Dunlop's international rights department, will be joining Furniss Lawton in the newly created role of agent and international rights director in late August. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How the tie-in cookbook to the Emmy Award-winning animated series, which has sold more than 40,000 copies since it went on sale in March, came to be. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quadrille has acquired Vegetables, a new cookbook by "Godfather of Italian cooking", Antonio Carluccio OBE. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Keeping kids reading when school is not in session can be a challenge for any parent. But when books are combined with play, music and interactive entertainment, kids can enjoy these activities in an untraditional format that takes reading outdoors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Headline Publishing Group has acquired Laurie Frankel’s This is How it Always Is, a book about "a little boy who becomes a little girl". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Has fact become stranger than fiction? Book sales, publishing contracts and even whole writing genres may be affected by the fallout from the referendum “Feel as if I’m living in a bad dystopian political thriller,” tweeted the writer Robert Harris at 8.50am on 24 June, a response echoed 10... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Vintage has partnered with MBNA Thames Clippers boats to mark the publication of Ruth Ware’s new thriller, The Woman in Cabin 10 (Harvill Secker). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After two months of challenging ourselves, we're ready for what Rothfuss is selling: classic fantasy that's not so much read as consumed. The post WIRED Book Club: Alright Fine We'll Read The Name of the Wind appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2016-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers need to work harder at creating the need for books as a product, rather than focusing on their brands, delegates to The Bookseller’s Marketing and Publicity Conference have heard. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Skip ahead. Skip backward. Roam as you please. Then go back to where you were in a jiffy.The advantages that ebooks have over their dead-tree forebears are so many and varied that I'm not going to bother detailing them here.Read Full Story Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2016-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Our publishing industry is complex and vibrant,' says publisher Karina Bolasco, who speaks on October 18 as The Philippines' analyst in Frankfurt Book Fair's The Markets: Global Publishing Summit. The post ‘Draw That Roadmap to the World’: The Philippines’ Karina Bolasco appeared first on... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-06-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What's the perfect manuscript? The authors of the forthcoming 'The Bestseller Code' assessed some 20,000 works to find that a 2013 novel by Dave Eggers had all the attributes of a book destined for literary success. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-06-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The 45-hour children's bookseller gathering in Orlando closed on a high note, in large part because of the energy and enthusiasm of booksellers and connections made thanks to the stories they brought with them and the authors presented throughout the institute. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In early April, Medium, the platform founded by Ev Williams, made a pitch to the publishing community: come to Medium, and we'll help you make money. There's not a publisher these days that isn't looking for new revenue streams, so it's not surprising that nearly 400 publishers have applied to... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2016-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Biteback is to publish the story of charity Kids Company by its founder Camila Batmanghelidjh. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Medium is recruiting sports publications, leagues, teams and athletes to use its publishing platform. Italian soccer A.S. Roma plans to run two publications on Medium: one covering the team and another for its captain’s final season. Roma sees Medium as a way to reach new audiences, especially... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2016-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins fiction imprint The Borough Press has made several changes to its editorial team, hiring Holly Ainley as commissioning editor. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2016-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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From Colm Tóibín’s Tuskar Rock to Fleet, One and Tinder Press, there seem to be more and more publisher subdivisions. Claire Armitstead finds out whyTowards the end of the noughties, Colm Tóibín bounced into the office of a London publisher clutching a fat Australian novel and insisting that he... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2016-06-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the resurgence of print formats, indie booksellers are testing new business models, scouting new locations, and starting mini-chains. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The CEO of Peter Lang, an international publishing group, is now one of six owners pivoting the company to face outward from Bern. Four years ago, she says, the company was 'very good at hiding.' The post A Swiss Academic Powerhouse Steps Onto the World Stage appeared first on Publishing... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2016-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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