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’"

Hungary fines bookshop chain over picture book depicting LGBT families

Líra Könyv made to pay £600 for failing to clearly indicate the story featured ‘a family that is different than a normal family’A bookshop chain in Hungary has been fined for selling a children’s story depicting a day in the life of a child with same-sex parents, with officials condemning the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-07-08 12:09:32 UTC ]
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A long way to go

Representation matters. Last year, using the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award submission list, I wrote about the problems facing the genre publishing industry here in the UK. Since then, using the same methodology, we’ve collated the data from 2013 through 2020 to look for progress. We could have... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-07-07 19:02:10 UTC ]
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Ex-Review manager Wengraf raises £10k for new Glasgow shop

Former Review Bookshop manager Katia Wengraf has raised more than £10,000 online to help fund her new independent store, Mount Florida Books, in a former tattoo parlour in Glasgow. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-06-20 21:34:09 UTC ]
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The Conservative Publishing Industry Has a Joe Biden Problem

Neither authors nor publishing houses have figured out how to turn the new president into a compelling villain. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2021-06-02 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Obituary: Joel Friedlander

Joel Friedlander, the author, blogger, book designer, publisher, and publishing industry consultant, died on May 7 of cancer. He was 73. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2021-05-11 04:00:00 UTC ]
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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

Publishing has long relied on self-employed freelancers for a diverse range of roles. From editors and copywriters to illustrators and ghost-writers, the periplectic nature of creativity has long been such that impermanence is a norm. Against that context, the publishing industry faces the new... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ 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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