'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 ]
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Fifty libraries have closed in the UK this year

The UK has lost nearly 50 libraries over the past year, according to full figures released today (11th December) by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #chartered institute #public finance #accountancy cipfa


Small loss for Faber in 'tough' year

Faber saw a sharp drop in turnover for the year ending March 2014, and made a small operating loss for the year. The independent publisher recorded a turnover for the year of £16.3m, down 18% from £20m in the previous year. From an operating profit of £2.3m in the year to end March 2013, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Kinney takes US top spot again as Christmas sales surge 26%

As the Christmas rush got underway, the US book market surged again last week with print volumes increasing by 26% week on week. Overall, just over 20m book sales registered through Nielsen BookScan in the seven days ending 7th December. Jeff Kinney's The Long Haul (Amulet), enjoys another... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #chart-topping week #christmas rush #nielsen bookscan #jeff kinney


Bloomsbury Announces New William Boyd Novel

William Boyd has moved to Bloomsbury for his next novel. The British author, who was at HarperCollins, will release 'Sweet Caress' with his new publisher in September 2015. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #william boyd #british author #sweet caress


Iceland’s Jólabókaflóð: The Christmas Book Flood

In Iceland, the holiday season sees more than 800 books published and is responsible for 60-70% of all book sales in the country. The post Iceland’s Jólabókaflóð: The Christmas Book Flood appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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JK Rowling crime novels to be adapted for BBC series

Crime novels The Cuckoo’s Calling and The Silkworm, written under the author’s pseudonym, to form the basis of new dramaThe BBC will adapt the crime novels written by JK Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, its second collaboration with the Harry Potter author.The Cuckoo’s Calling, the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #jk rowling #bbc series #crime novels #huge bestseller


Wiley half-year revenue up 5%

John Wiley & Sons has reported a 6% rise year-on-year in second quarter revenue to $477m, due to growth in its Research and Education divisions, up 5% and 3% respectively, as well as to contributions from its recent acquisitions CrossKnowledge and Profiles International. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Unseen Dredd art to be published

Previously unseen sketches of one of the UK's best-known comic book characters are to be published for the first time. Continue reading at BBC News

[ BBC News | 2014-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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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 -


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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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


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 ]
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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 ]
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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 ]
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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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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


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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