Pantomime misanthropy is tempered with bursts of sweetness in the secondhand bookseller’s latest dispatches from WigtownThere’s a moment in the first season of the short-lived but influential sitcom Black Books in which an elderly customer appears with a box of attractive old editions of classics to sell to Dylan Moran’s crosspatch bookseller Bernard. Barely looking at them, Bernard offers him £40. But they’re worth more than that, the man says. “I know, I know,” Bernard concedes. “But I don’t want them. I’ll have to price them, then, and put them up on the shelves, and store them, and people will come in and ask about them, and buy them, and read them, and come back and sell them and the whole hideous cycle will just go on and on and on ...” He gives the man £40 to take the books away.Shaun Bythell’s dispatches from the Wigtown Bookshop, which he has run for nearly 20 years, read like a knowing riff on the persona of Bernard Black. He started out grousing about his life, pillorying his eccentric staff and venting about his noisome customers on a Facebook page. Then he did the same in his hit Diary of a Bookseller, continued with Confessions of a Bookseller, and here he is – an actual franchise – with a slim little listicle-titled till-point follow-up for the Christmas market. His inner Bernard Black will be heaving a world-weary sigh. The more he parades his contemptus mundi, the more the world loves him.Much steam is enjoyably vented over customers who whistle... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-11-11 09:00:33 UTC ]
Today more than 400 ‘big books’ are published in the hope of capturing the Christmas market. Which of the following will sell the most by 25 December?How Super Thursday turned a publishing pile-up into a marketing triumph With more than 400 titles due to be published today, the betting is on for... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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What effect did Super Thursday have on book sales, and how well did eight leading retailers and pundits fare in predicting the top titles of the year?• Readers turn over a new leaf as celebrity sales stutter• ‘Amazon-free’ Christmas campaign diverts reported £5m worth of sales from online... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller is running its annual Christmas Trading Survey once again to gauge a picture of the Christmas market for indie booksellers in the UK and Ireland. The survey is now live and probes how sales compared with last year, if deliveries held up and what books proved great Christmas hits... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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YouTuber Alfie Deyes is to write two more books for Blink Publishing, including a sequel to his bestselling debut The Pointless Book. The sequel to The Pointless Book, which has sold more than 100,000 copies through Nielsen BookScan, will be published in April 2015. This will be followed by a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the world of books, 10 October is Super Thursday - the day many publishing houses release what they hope will be their biggest sellers for the Christmas market. The BBC's Will Gompertz reports. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2013-10-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Retailers say sport could play a major part in the Christmas market, as publishers hasten to sign... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 16/09/2011 - 08:20 Bonnier's new publishing initiative, headed by former Bloomsbury Group editor-in-chief Sarah Odedina, will be called Hot Key Books, and aims to have its first books published in time for the Christmas market. Odedina, who is... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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