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 ]
There were 669m physical books sold in the UK last year, according to new figures from the Publishers AssociationThe UK publishing industry had a “record-breaking year” in 2022, with a total income of £6.9bn.A Year in Publishing, a look at the state of the book market by trade body the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-17 11:26:08 UTC ]
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Gloucester-based bookseller bought by the retail giant in 2011 will shut at the end of AprilThe online shop Book Depository is due to close at the end of April, vendors and publishing partners have been told. This comes after the bookseller’s parent company Amazon announced it had decided to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-04 11:07:43 UTC ]
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In the latest “Craftwork” episode, a deep-dive conversation about literary agents with Carly Watters, herself a longtime literary agent and the co-host of the popular writing podcast The Shit No One Tells You About Writing. Carly is “very online” with a keen understanding of the digital... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-04-03 08:53:09 UTC ]
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For writers at every stage, the publishing industry can feel inaccessible. There are so many steps between drafting a book and seeing it out in the world. Especially for debut hopefuls, it’s more than a little intimidating: how do we know what we don’t know? Meanwhile, those who’ve already... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-24 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Are publishers acquiring fewer LGBTQ+ and diverse books in the wake of rising censorship? This week's book censorship news. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-24 10:40:00 UTC ]
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Dosdoce's Javier Celaya challenges the Spanish-language publishing industry to expand its share of a fast-widening audio 'ecosystem.' The post Audiobooks in Spanish: Dosdoce Hands Publishers a ‘Map’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-23 14:51:07 UTC ]
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As you may recall, back in January of 2022, after much speculation and an industrywide manhunt, a Tom Ripley-esque rights coordinator by the name of Filippo Bernardini was arrested at JFK airport for the extremely strange crime of impersonating literary agents and book publishers. Between 2016... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-03-13 17:20:57 UTC ]
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Filippo Bernardini impersonated hundreds of people in the publishing industry to obtain work by Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and Ian McEwan, but never intended to leak the booksThe former publishing employee who stole manuscripts of books by Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and Ian McEwan has said... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-03-13 11:30:25 UTC ]
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According to data, women are now publishing more books than men are, and it's affecting the publishing world in a big way. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-03-07 17:36:00 UTC ]
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On paper, the publishing industry seems glamorous. But this façade belies the deep problems that persist, and one of them is the low pay. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-23 11:36:00 UTC ]
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The departing Scottish first minister has already said she plans to write about her time in office, and publishers are showing keen interestPublishers will be clamouring to buy a memoir by Nicola Sturgeon, with any deal expected to involve a six-figure advance, literary agents have... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-18 08:00:35 UTC ]
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The Women’s Prize Trust hopes to make the first award in 2024, after research showed female writers were far less likely than men to be reviewed or win prizes The Women’s prize is to launch a non-fiction award to sit alongside its long-running fiction prize, in response to research that found... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-02-08 08:00:10 UTC ]
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The well-connected publishing executive provides a top-down look at the industry—and more than a few harsh appraisals of notable peers—in a new memoir. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Following a down year for print book sales, NPD Group's publishing industry analyst, Kristen McLean, predicts that 2023 will be a year of transition for the publishing industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In our monthly series Can Writing Be Taught? we partner with Catapult to ask their course instructors all our burning questions about the process of teaching writing. This time, we’re talking to Christine Ma-Kellams, who’s teaching an online eight-week fiction workshop. From improving narrative... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-01-20 12:00:00 UTC ]
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DBW's final day looked at a recent study of publishing industry startups and found that innovation takes all forms, from wildly successful ideas that took time to take off, like Audible, to cutting edge innovations, like blockchain book retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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DBW's final day looked at a recent study of publishing industry startups and found that innovation takes all forms, from wildly successful ideas that took time to take off, like Audible, to cutting edge innovations, like blockchain book retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Vampires and ghosts have long haunted popular fiction, but now a string of new releases is focusing on marginalised women with hidden powersSomeone, or something, shadowy has put a strong spell on popular literature aimed at women, once cheekily labelled “chick lit”. This perky genre, packaged... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-08 12:00:47 UTC ]
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With sales in the adult books and children’s/young adult categories falling 16.4% and 9.9%, respectively, total industry sales dropped 9.3% in October from a year ago for the 1,370 publishers that report results to AAP’s StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
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Our first salary and jobs survey in three years found that the publishing industry’s lack of racial diversity and gender pay gap haven’t improved much. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
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