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 ]
In a tightening market for fiction and especially for debut authors looking for that big break, editors can be choosier–and many are more dependent than ever on literary agents to find their next debuts. The post With Fewer Debut Novels Selling, What Do Editors Want To Tell Authors? appeared... Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2018-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Women’s Prize for Fiction winner Naomi Alderman has been poached by 4th Estate in a four book-deal, after more than a decade with Penguin Random House. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate will publish an “exceptional” debut about survival against a dystopian, water-filled landscape from an environmental literature expert. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Manuscripts from Max Porter, Kiran Millwood Hargrave and Candice Carty-Williams are among those agents are taking to London Book Fair (LBF) next month. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Regardless of the market's limited size, given a national population of only 1.9 million, the standards of the publishing industry in Latvia remain very high. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-03-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate will publish a guide to parenting as a freelancer by journalist Annie Ridout. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Times’ consumer champion Laura Whateley’s debut book, a guide to money management, has been signed by 4th Estate. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate has won a five-way auction for a literary crime thriller The Plotters by South Korean writer Un-su Kim. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The late physicist’s editor, Peter Guzzardi, recalls his first meetings with Hawking and how his book became a bestsellerStephen Hawking dies aged 76I first encountered Stephen Hawking on the cover of the New York Times magazine. Inside, its pages told a story we all know today, but at the time... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-03-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Comedian Sofie Hagen’s debut, an "intelligent, funny, provocative response to body shaming", will be published by 4th Estate. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate has won a five-way auction for a memoir by drag troupe leader ‘Glamrou’, exploring their journey from "god-fearing Muslim boy to an influential drag queen", in a six-figure deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-03-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Following a sexual harassment scandal that has embroiled the children's sector of the publishing industry for the past week, James Dashner, author of the bestselling Maze Runner series, has been dropped by his publisher. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-02-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the wake of online accusations, The Maze Runner author James Dashner has lost representation, as has Thirteen Reasons Why author Jay AsherThe Maze Runner author James Dashner has been dropped by his literary agent after a series of anonymous accusations of sexual harassment were made against... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2018-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ted Heinecken, who was regarded as a senior statesman of the publishing industry, with a career in publishing that spanned 58 years, 52 of them spent as a publisher's rep calling on stores in the Midwest, died in Chicago on Saturday. He was 84 years old. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate’s Anna Kelly has won a seven-way auction to publish a debut non-fiction book about the perils of digital start-ups. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2018-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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During his Winter Institute 13 keynote address, author Junot Diaz delivered a blistering political statement urging the publishing industry to "stop talking about diversity and start decolonizing our shelves." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2018-01-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The £580,000 Arts Council England funding will support new initiative to find and develop black and minority ethnic, disabled and LGBTQ writersA new literary agency, which aims to discover “the next generation of diverse writers” and “blow open the pipeline” for them, is being launched by the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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PW takes a look back at some of the library stories that captivated the publishing world in 2017, and what they portend for 2018 Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate will publish astronomer and planetary scientist Dr Sara Seager’s “highly original” grief memoir following a reported seven-figure deal in the US. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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4th Estate will publish the "hopeful, humorous and moving" memoir from the Times columnist Melanie Reid. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2017-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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