She published her first book in her 40s and became the biggest selling author of the past decade in any genre – The Gruffalo alone has sold 13m copies. How did this former busker make it so big?The room where the children’s author Julia Donaldson writes – the heart of her vast picture book empire – is down a winding staircase, in the cellar of her grand white house in Steyning, West Sussex. Her desk looks out on the street at knee height. “I’m thinking of writing a book about legs,” Donaldson said, as she showed me around the house this summer. Children from the nearby school often wave in at her as they pass. Donaldson is well known in Steyning, due to her frequent signings at the local bookshop. She and her husband, Malcolm, a retired paediatrician, recently bought the local post office to save it from closure. But elsewhere she can walk the pavement without being recognised. “I got a letter the other day for Jacqueline Wilson,” Donaldson told me. “It said: ‘You’re my favourite author!’”If you are not someone who spends much time with young children, you may only be dimly aware of Donaldson’s work – although you will probably be familiar with her most famous creation, the Gruffalo. If you have children, however, you will know her as a cultural juggernaut whose influence among children is perhaps only surpassed by the works of Disney and CBeebies. Donaldson, who is 72, has written more than 210 books: chiefly picture books, but also poetry, plays, a 60-part phonics... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 06:00:31 UTC ]
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Pulitzer Prize winner Adam Johnson has won the Sunday Times EFG Short Story Award for his short... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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“We used to get our news from a couple of anchormen," noted Forbes CEO Mike Perlis in his OnCopyright 2014 keynote. "That’s not the world we live in any more." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-04-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sixty thousand is the number of copies Christina Baker Kline thought her newest book, "Orphan Train," might sell in her "wildest dreams." For a midlist author on her fifth novel, it was a lofty number. It turns out, it was also way too low. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sara Miles, once a war reporter in Central America, didn’t give religion much thought then. Now she is an Episcopal lay liturgist and preacher taking to the streets of San Francisco and finding God there. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The merger partners are two of America's least favorite cable companies, according to the magazine's new survey.Merger partners Comcast Corp. and Time Warner Cable Inc. are two of America's least favorite cable companies, according to a new survey from Consumer Reports. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2014-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ukraine's new government is considering withdrawing support for the publishing industry and eliminating tax and other benefits for publishers to save cash. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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USA Today is in the midst of rethinking what it’s all about. Gone is the mindset of being a national newspaper; in is the goal of establishing itself as a national news brand on several platforms -- and yes, that includes print. USA Today president and publisher Larry Kramer explained the... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sam Gardiner is a football-mad schoolboy, but no one took his opinions seriously. So he created a fake Twitter personality and soon was talking tactics with Premiership players. Tim Lewis meets the spoofer extraordinaireFor five minutes, Sam Gardiner panicked. He had been rumbled: he wasn't... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s a story as old as humankind—an older generation makes way for a younger one. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Specs Who Albert Tsai Age 9 Accomplishments Stars as Bert on ABC’s Trophy Wife (Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c) Base Los Angeles I’ve read that you take all of your classes online. What’s that like? Yeah, I’m homeschooled. When I’m on set, there’s a studio teacher who helps me with my work. I like it,... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2014-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mobile might be the biggest transition for news organizations since the World Wide Web--and the New York Times is on it.On March 8, the New York Times unveiled a new app called NYT Now that signals a major shift in how publishers package the news. For $8 a month, NYT Now will offer users access... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Carolyn Kellogg reports in the Los Angeles Times about how ResultSource Inc. was able, through clever machinations, to generate a #1 New York Times bestseller. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Our digital magazine for March focuses on ebook businesses and initiatives around the world, from sales to format, enhanced content to devices. Download your copy here. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Dickens's day, serialized novels were all the rage. Rooster aims to revive that trend, making it easier than ever to find good books (and the time to read them).In the age of abbrevs., sitting down to read a novel can feel like gearing up for a marathon, no matter how much you love books. The... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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World Book Day titles dominated the top of last week's UK Official Top 50, nabbing the first... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The London Review of Books has become the most successful – and controversial – literary publication in Europe. Just what is Mary-Kay Wilmers, its 75-year-old editor, getting so right?The offices of the London Review of Books are situated on the top two floors of a Georgian townhouse in the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Driscoll reportedly paid the firm ResultSource Inc. hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure a place on the NYT bestseller list for his book. It's only the latest story of companies who will work to ensure a book makes it onto a bestseller list. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time Inc. has raided the digital world to land a new publisher for Fortune magazine, naming Eric Danetz to the post on Friday. Mr. Danetz had been chief revenue officer at Defy Media, the web video and branded entertainment company created when Break Media and Alloy Digital merged last fall.The... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Newsweek has a big scoop in print -- print! -- this week. The revived weekly has generated a significant amount of online buzz with its claims to have unmasked the creator of Bitcoin. Yesterday, as it happens, Time magazine unveiled its own splashy new Website. You'd be forgiven for asking... Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2014-03-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW Comics World, Publishers Weekly’s regular email newsletter on graphic novel and comics publishing, is increasing its frequency to twice a month. Beginning March 5 2014, the newsletter will go out on the first and third Wednesdays of every month. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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