As Black Lives Matter protests take place across the world, the publishing world is rushing to support those ‘ignored by the mainstream’. Who is the mainstream, then?The publishing industry is stilted and archaic. I worked in it for seven years, and left due to reasons I can’t legally talk about. Though, in that time, I was able to enforce and oversee some steps towards sustainable change. At 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins, I started the Guardian 4th Estate BAME Short Story prize (still going strong, five years later). Staggered by the lack of underrepresented voices, I knew I had to do something, anything to give those voices a way to permeate the industry.It is taken for granted that would-be writers will know what a literary agent is. But most have no idea how to structure a book proposal, or where to send it. This information is possessed by those in the know, and the people in the know often want to keep it to themselves. Let’s talk about literary agents for a second; they are, effectively, tastemakers. Editors trust them to deliver books and authors that adhere to their (sometimes limited) taste. And what happens when these arbiters continue to work within the circles of writers who they already know? The same thing that always happens: books that follow trends, that look the same, that are written by the same kinds of people. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-06-11 09:44:22 UTC ]
Publishing industry veteran Roland Elgey died recently at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz., after an 18-month battle with colorectal cancer. He was 65. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-29 05:00:00 UTC ]
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PW looks back at the library stories that captivated the publishing world this year—and what they portend for 2021. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-12-11 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In light of last week’s Penguin ethnicity pay gap report, their first-ever following in the footsteps of Hachette’s 2019 iteration, it seems like the perfect moment to reconsider the publishing industry’s approach to those vague, catch-all acronyms and terms that are so often used... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-10 06:31:16 UTC ]
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The International Green Book Supply Chain Alliance has this week launched a global industry survey, to gather data about the publishing industry's environmental intiatives. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-03 20:48:23 UTC ]
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As this week’s FutureBook20 conference has shown, this is a year where change is at the top of the agenda for the publishing industry. And when it comes to changing the sort of books that get published and the sort of authors whose voices are heard, broadening the acquisition process is crucial. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-20 22:39:15 UTC ]
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Interviews Since 2003, Jessica Cohen has published over twenty books translated from Hebrew to English. Among other honors, she shared the 2017 Man Booker International Prize with author David Grossman for her translation of Grossman’s A Horse Walks... Continue reading at World Literature Today
[ World Literature Today | 2020-11-20 16:36:29 UTC ]
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The book critic and Fake Accounts author says that smart readers are not being served by the publishing industry. The post Lauren Oyler on America’s Alienating Literary Culture appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2020-11-18 21:30:25 UTC ]
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Orion is offering webinars "to demystify the publishing industry", starting this month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-18 12:50:52 UTC ]
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The publishing industry should trust and listen to its communications teams to see greater change and audience growth, PR professionals said at The Bookseller's FutureBook conference on Tuesday (17th November). Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-18 06:55:46 UTC ]
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In October 2018, B B Alston was waiting for an interview for a temp job when he spotted the #DVPit contest on Twitter, a hashtag inviting aspiring authors from marginalised backgrounds to pitch their ideas to literary agents. He had a middle-grade fantasy manuscript about an inner-city black... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-11-06 03:56:26 UTC ]
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Following its its success in the US, the ethical platform Bookshop.org has arrived in the UK, marking an exciting new chapter for independent stores onlineIn publishing we often talk about things that we are “excited” and “delighted” about, so much that sometimes I think the words have lost... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-05 08:00:40 UTC ]
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Fred Klein, who helped make Bantam Books a major force in mass market paperback publishing in the 1960s and 1970s, died on October 22. He was described by a former colleague as "the greatest ringmaster the publishing world has ever known.” Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-11-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
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After shaky start in lockdown, Bloomsbury sales soar as people pick books over box setsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe Harry Potter publisher, Bloomsbury, has reported its most profitable first half in more than a decade, after a nation tiring of box sets fuelled... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-27 12:22:12 UTC ]
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The British Council is seeking proposals from researchers to conduct research into India’s trade publishing and literature sectors, identifying opportunities for internationalisation and identifying challenges and issues faced by publishers and other literature organisations from working and... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2020-10-26 15:43:22 UTC ]
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In the absence of in-person book fair meetings, literary agents are hosting webinars to pitch titles at the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair. The post Frankfurt Events: Riky Stock’s Agent Webinar Picks appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-10-14 23:08:52 UTC ]
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Robert Caskie established Robert Caskie Ltd in April this year. He co-founded Caskie Mushens in 2017, after previous roles as senior agent and chief operating officer at PFD. The literary agent reckons any online equivalent will struggle to live up to the physical book fair—if he can get logged... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-14 10:17:05 UTC ]
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Bärbel Becker’s selection of events at the 2020 Frankfurt Book Fair, ranging from rights presentations to book prize ceremonies and introductions to international literature. By Hannah Johnson | @hannahsjohnson Noteworthy Sessions in and Around the Trade Show ublishing Perspectives has asked... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-10-12 02:08:45 UTC ]
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My mother, Janet Freer, who has died aged 89, was a literary agent for science-fiction writers in the 1960s and 70s. She helped launch the careers of several young SF writers.Janet began work as a commercial artist before starting her publishing career in London around 1962. She spent several... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-11 15:38:47 UTC ]
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Wade through the vast library and a horrifying picture emerges: an ignorant, narcissistic, racist liar with a strange relationship with his daughter and senior adviserDonald Trump is not a reader but to the publishing industry he is the gift that keeps on giving. His time in the White House has... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-11 05:00:04 UTC ]
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Simply submitting your story to be read by someone who knows talent when they see it is important for so many reasonsWriting prizes are massively important for aspiring and emerging writers. I think they are vastly more important than literary prizes. So many aspiring writers don’t have access... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2020-10-03 07:00:18 UTC ]
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