'I've never felt less festive': the art of writing Christmas novels, 365 days a year

Drinking sherry, bingeing Downton Abbey ... how authors keep up the spirit of the season, even when writing during heatwaves and a nightmarish ChristmasChristmas novels are not a new phenomenon. Charles Dickens sold out of his first print run of A Christmas Carol in days in December 1843, while Agatha Christie played on seasonal stresses with titles including The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding in 1923 and Hercule Poirot’s Christmas in 1938. But these days, there are acres of festive crime and rags-to-riches romances under the mistletoe to choose from. All tastes are catered for, whether it’s a love of trains (Edward Marston’s Victorian railway detective story A Christmas Railway Mystery), religion (Unlikely Santa: An Amish Christmas Story) or even festive erotica. Ebook retailer Smashwords stocks romance titles including The Old Dragon of the Mountain’s Christmas, and the inventive-sounding A Cyborg’s Old Terran Christmas. (“Interstellar bride Nell and her three children are forced to enter space-sleep capsules in the hope of surviving a calamity. She wakes over 700 years later on a ship of cyborg warriors. In this strange environment, Nell can’t imagine what their future will hold, but she is determined to keep her promise and make Christmas for her children.”)It may sound futuristic, but it is part of a long tradition beloved by readers. As Christina Storey at Allison & Busby, an independent publisher whose titles this year range from Anna Jacobs’ Christmas in... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-12-17 15:22:04 UTC ]
News tagged with: #print run #allison busby #wonderful time #independent publisher

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Zoella keeps top spot in Christmas-fuelled charts

YouTube star Zoe Sugg, aka Zoella, shrugged off a mild ghostwriting controversy to retain the top spot of the UK Official Top 50 for the second straight week, with her Young Adult novel Girl Online (Penguin) becoming 2014's fastest selling book. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zoella retreats from web amid row about ghostwritten novel Girl Online

YouTube blogger Zoe Sugg asks fans for patience while she takes a few days off, saying book controversy was ‘clouding up my brain’The YouTube blogger Zoella has revealed she is temporarily quitting the internet amid controversy over her record-breaking debut novel.Zoe Sugg’s Girl Online, about a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #girl online #book controversy #record-breaking debut #zoe sugg #american musician #week -


YouTube star takes online break as she admits novel was ‘not written alone’

Bear with me, video blogger Zoella asks fans, as she takes break from internet after admitting that runaway bestselling debut Girl Online was written jointlyYouTube star Zoe Sugg has announced that she is taking a break from the internet after admitting that she did not write her bestselling... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bestselling debut #twitter account #girl online #fastest-selling debut


Ecco Buys Debut Novel 'The Nest' for Seven Figures

In a seven figure deal, Ecco has acquired world English rights to Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney's debut novel, 'The Nest' about, as HC put it, a "wonderfully dysfunctional" family. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Zoella admits Girl Online ghost-writing

Her debut novel, Girl Online, was written with the "help" of her publisher, Penguin, admits Zoella. Continue reading at BBC World

[ BBC World | 2014-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #girl online


Rowling pens Pottermore stories for Christmas

Pottermore is set to post a surprise each day between the 12th and the 23rd December, including new writing from J K Rowling. In a newsletter sent to Harry Potter fans, Pottermore said Rowling will write about Draco Malfoy, a pupil at Hogwarts and one of Harry Potter’s nemeses, as well as... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harry potter #diagon alley


New Morrison novel coming in April

Toni Morrison’s new novel God Help the Child will be published by Chatto & Windus in April next year. The book is described as “spare and unsparing” and is “about the way childhood trauma shapes and misshapes the life of the adult”. It follows a woman called Bride, “whose stunning... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Blogger Zoe Sugg sets new record for fastest-selling debut novel

Sugg's debut book, 'Girl Online,' now holds the record for the highest sales in its first week for a new writer in the UK.  Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Costello debut voted Irish Book Awards' Book of the Year

Mary Costello’s debut novel Academy Street (Canongate) has been voted the Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year for 2014. The book was chosen via public vote from the list of category winners announced at the recent Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #public vote


Ayn Rand’s ‘never-before-seen’ novel Ideal due out in 2015

Atlas Shrugged author’s work, which she abandoned and adapted for the stage, will be released next yearA “never-before-seen” novel from the late Ayn Rand, who expounded her personal philosophy of “Objectivism” in the doorstopper work of fiction Atlas Shrugged, is due to be released next year,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #personal philosophy #american library


Walker plans 80 indie Christmas displays

Walker Books has secured window displays in independent bookshops this Christmas, including London’s Dulwich Bookshop and Tales on Moon Lane. The shops, which are in the UK and Ireland, will be based around Walker’s Christmas books, such as Jingle Bells illustrated by Niroot Puttapipat, as well... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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GraphicAudio Celebrates 10 Years

Listening to an audiobook is, by its very nature, a sensory experience—and for the past decade, GraphicAudio, an imprint of the Bethesda, Md.–based Cutting Corp., has been targeting listeners’ senses in a big way. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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5 Tips for Writing a Memoir

Will Boast: "If fiction is the art of invention, memoir is the art of selection and arrangement." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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NAL To Publish 'Lost' Ayn Rand Novel

'Ideal,' the first Ayn Rand novel to be released since 1957's 'Atlas Shrugged,' is set to be published by Penguin Random House imprint NAL on July 7, 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #ayn rand #atlas shrugged


Publicity Campaign Calls on Booksellers to End Novel

Booksellers are usually tasked with selling books but, in a twist this holiday season, they’ve been invited to write the ending to one. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus launches Christmas book-giving campaign

Quercus has launched a Christmas campaign to celebrate the joy of giving and receiving books. As part of the Greatest Gift campaign, 15 key bloggers and BookTubers will upload a post explaining why they think books are the greatest gift to give. Each Greatest Gift “blog tour partner” will also... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #quercus books #receiving books #christmas campaign #greatest gift


Zoe Sugg's Girl Online is fastest selling book of the year

YouTube star Zoella’s first book sells 78,000 copies in its first week, the highest first week’s sales of a new author ever! Girl Online, the first novel by Zoe Sugg AKA “Zoella” has pushed Jeff Kinney’s newest Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul off the top of the chart as the fastest selling... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #zoe sugg #girl online #wimpy kid #long haul


Daunt: 'Waterstones could break even this financial year'

Waterstones will “break even” this year if the retailer has a good Christmas, according to its m.d James Daunt. In an interview with the Guardian, the Waterstones boss said the chain’s intention was to eradicate its losses by the end of its financial year. “We are heading towards break-even in... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Miniaturist named Waterstones Book of the Year

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton has been named as the Waterstones Book of the Year. Burton's debut novel, published by Picador, beat a shortlist that also included Man Booker Prize winner The Narrow Road to the Deep North and Samuel Johnson Prize winner H is for Hawk. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Big Rights Deals for Barcelona Author’s Debut Novel

The 26 rights deals for Milena Busquets' short debut novel have raised eyebrows — but looking at the author's passion and personal history, it makes sense The post Big Rights Deals for Barcelona Author’s Debut Novel appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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