Sharmaine Lovegrove: ‘You must spend a year in a bookshop before you get a job in publishing’

Seeing unexpected pairings of readers and books quickly dispels the idea of who reads what• Time to reset: more brilliant ideas to remake the worldI have a party trick. If you name three books you like and two you hate, I can write you a reading list of 10 books you will love.I’ve gained this skill from two decades as a bookseller. Many questioned if I could become a publisher and run an imprint, as I hadn’t worked in-house. But I’ve worked in retailers from Foyles to the London Review Bookshop, from a bookstall under Waterloo Bridge in London to Waterstones in Edinburgh. And I’ve run my own bookshop in Berlin for seven years – yet my experience wasn’t valued by the publishing industry. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2020-08-15 10:00:40 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "Sharmaine Lovegrove: ‘You must spend a year in a bookshop before you get a job in publishing’"

UK book sales soared in 2020 despite pandemic

New figures from the Publishers Association show fiction and audiobooks did particularly well, with value of consumer sales up 7% on 2019 despite bookshop closuresFiction sales in 2020 soared by more than £100m for UK publishers, as readers locked down at home made their escape into books, with... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-26 23:01:49 UTC ]
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In the Instagram age, you actually can judge a book by its cover

Social media is now a vital platform to promote new titles. And that means jacket designs that hit you ‘hard and quick’Last week’s big literary event was not the publication of a new book, the million-pound signing of a celebrity author or the announcement of a prestigious prize. Instead, it was... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-18 09:00:04 UTC ]
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Burgled indie forced to close a day after reopening

An indie bookshop in Brigg, north Lincolnshire, was forced to close on Tuesday (13th April) after only a day's post-lockdown trading, following a break-in that left the shop unsafe for customers. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-13 17:09:48 UTC ]
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Stop being ‘nice’, start doing good: 15 steps to doing better

Having collected views from Black people across the publishing industry for the past year, the Black Agents and Editors’ Group has outlined 15 steps for how those in the trade can do better. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-04-09 07:18:36 UTC ]
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Collective Book Studios Takes a Different Tack

The two-year-old Oakland, Calif.-based "partnership publisher" is hoping to disrupt the publishing industry's traditional models. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-04-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors fear the worst if Penguin owner takes over Simon & Schuster

Analysis: if Bertelsmann, owner of Penguin Random House, buys US publisher, writers expect smaller deals and less choice for readersUK watchdog investigates Penguin owner’s Simon & Schuster takeoverJokes circulated online when, in 2013, Penguin and Random House merged: would the new... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-03-22 23:24:23 UTC ]
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Bookshop UK is launching a series of online events.

The UK arm of Bookshop.org, the online retailer that partners with indie bookstores, has a new initiative on the way: it’s launching a series of online events for its customers as well as customers of unaffiliated indies. For the first event on March 23rd, Bookshop is partnering with Faber to... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-11 19:42:27 UTC ]
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UK: Jellybooks Pilots Bookshop ‘Peek Inside’ Capacity at Blackwell’s

The familiar Amazonian preview called 'Look Inside' gets a storefront cousin in Jellybooks' new 'Discovery,' using QR codes to offer samples. The post UK: Jellybooks Pilots Bookshop ‘Peek Inside’ Capacity at Blackwell’s appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-03-11 16:45:04 UTC ]
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If writing’s got you down, remember that James Patterson’s first book was rejected 31 times.

Unless you’re a disgraced politician, trying to get a book published can be difficult, nerve-wracking, soul-denting work. If you’re anything like me, though, it really helps to hear that rejection is the rule in the publishing industry, rather than the exception. When my novel was out on... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-03-10 17:04:17 UTC ]
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A novel approach to IR35

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[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-09 00:04:53 UTC ]
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Tough times need indie spirit

When I left the publishing industry at the end of 2007, the first Kindle had gone on sale just a month earlier, Apple had not yet launched the iPad and few people in publishing knew what an app was. It was a very different world. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-03-05 11:09:47 UTC ]
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Barefoot Bookseller | 'It’s not for the faint-hearted, but it’s an amazing opportunity and a brilliant job'

Back in 2018, an advert for what seemed like the perfect job for book lovers went viral after Sonu Shivdasani, founder of Soneva luxury holiday resorts, and Philip Blackwell, c.e.o. of Ultimate Library—a company that creates bespoke book collections for hotels and private clients—came up with... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 23:24:10 UTC ]
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Cover design round-up: March 2021

Onto March, and with any luck, you'll soon be able to find some of the covers in our monthly round-up on the shelves of your local bookshop before too long. A fine treat it will be too, as there are plenty of lively illustrated children's jackets here, as well as a handful of lovely treatments... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 12:50:29 UTC ]
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International markets showed mixed response to pandemic in 2020

While the pandemic sent shockwaves across the world’s publishing industry in 2020, some international markets reported strong performances with the US posting record-breaking sales while Australia also saw a major boost. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-25 01:03:16 UTC ]
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Writing for likes

Wattpad has increasingly become a very popular platform among young writers. Allowing anyone to share their works and providing a route for aspiring authors to be discovered by the publishing industry, it has become a compelling route for those to looking to develop professionally as a writer... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-24 03:00:18 UTC ]
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Lawrence Ferlinghetti, poet and founder of City Lights bookshop, dies aged 101

Poet and countercultural pioneer put on trial for publishing Allen Ginsberg’s Howl went on to become a beloved icon of San FranciscoLawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet, publisher, painter and political activist who co-founded the famous City Lights bookshop in San Francisco and became an icon of the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-02-23 19:42:46 UTC ]
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Housmans and Comma to release playback of Peake and Eccleston readings

Housmans Bookshop is to release a free playback of two online events featuring actors Christopher Eccleston and Maxine Peake reading stories published by Comma Press. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-23 18:18:14 UTC ]
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Nappy Roots Books, a Bastion and a Haven: A Conversation with Camille Landry, by Alex Crayon

Current Events On a visit to an Oklahoma City bookstore, Alex Crayon finds more than books. When I pulled into the snow-covered parking lot of Nappy Roots Books in northeast Oklahoma City, the first thing I noticed were the posters. Handwritten signs... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2021-02-22 21:59:22 UTC ]
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Own a Complete Set of the Paperback Experiment That Paved the Way for Penguin

In the early 1930s, a bookshop window would have displayed the pretty, pictorial dust jackets of the latest bestsellers, say Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth. A compact wooden bookshelf stuffed with colorful paperbacks might also have commanded space and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-22 09:49:47 UTC ]
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