'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

Other Publishing stories related to: ''I've never felt less festive': the art of writing Christmas novels, 365 days a year'


WHS reports "solid" Christmas

Written By: Lisa Campbell High street book sales at W H Smith were down by around 2% like-for-like in the weeks leading to Christmas, according to analysts briefed by the company, equating to books outperforming other categories. In its formal Christmas trading statement, out this morning... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #2% like-for- #weeks leading #trading performance


Survey: Organic Growth, New Devices To Have Biggest Impact On Media Over Next Two Years

Organic growth will be the primary driver of the media business over the next 12 to 24 months, according to nearly 500 executives in the information, marketing services and technology sectors, according to the first annual Media Growth survey from investment banker The Jordan, Edmiston Group and... Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #media business #organic growth #biggest impact #primary driver #marketing services #edmiston group


Adam Haslett on Stanley Fish's How To Write a Sentence.

In 1919, the young E.B. White, future New Yorker writer and author of Charlotte's Web, took a class at Cornell University with a drill sergeant of an English professor named William Strunk Jr. Strunk assigned his self-published manual on composition titled "The Elements of Style," a 43-page list... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #combined work


Hachette to close teen magazine Sugar after 16 years

Hachette Filipacchi is to close teen print magazine Sugar in March, which has suffered flagging circulation figures, and ahead of an anticipated group sale to US publisher Hearst. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hachette filipacchi


Barack Obama Anonymous Novel: What if Tom Friedman or Rahm Emanuel wrote it?

As Simon & Schuster prepares to release O: A Presidential Novel, based on the Obama administration and starring a thinly veiled Barack Obama as the character "O," the publisher is trying to keep the identity of its anonymous author under wraps. Slate imagines a few possibilities.[more ...] Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-01-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #obama administration #anonymous author