As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the ether on to our Kindles. There are more books sold in the summer than during any other season: the well-established publishing calendar tends to see hardbacks released in the autumn to be given as gifts at Christmas, then repackaged as paperbacks in late spring. As Donna Harrington-Lueker sets out in her history of the beach read, Books for Idle Hours, the summer publishing rush is at least a century old, and has typically aimed “airy and froth-like” books on “young ladies” (the quote is from an 1888 work on summer books by Arlo Bates). The summer fiction market is changing, though, with more and more “serious”, “literary” novels showing up where once there were only thrillers and crime novels, bonkbusters and romances. So it is that Normal People by Sally Rooney is currently piled high on the tables of WH Smith’s Travel alongside Lee Child, Jodi Picoult and Bernard Cornwell.I’m aware of how contentious and porous discussions of genre can be. Generic labels, though, are the terms that booksellers and publishers think in and for literary novels, the chances of summer success are still relatively slim. Tom Tivnan, managing editor of the Bookseller, points to Nielsen BookScan data that... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
“The Selected Letters of Ralph Ellison” capture the fiercely intelligent and irreverent author of “Invisible Man” in conversation with other novelists and critics of his day. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-19 10:00:10 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle’s annual letter to company employees emphasized the acquisitions the publisher has made across the publishing world this year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-12-12 05:00:00 UTC ]
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In the publishing world, it seems like winning the Nobel Prize just isn’t what it used to be. A Deutsche Welle interview with Lucien Leitess, director of the Swiss publishing house Unionsverlag, explored the business of predicting a Nobel laureate’s commercial success. The controversy... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-11 19:54:24 UTC ]
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A deliciously original study of the cheap editions of Pride and Prejudice and other novels – ignored by literary scholars – casts new light on her readershipJane Austen aficionados think that they know the story of their favourite author’s posthumous dis-appearance and then re-emergence. For... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-12-11 07:30:31 UTC ]
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AbeBooks has published a list of the most expensive books they sold this year, with The Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, which sold for $40,000, at the top. Better luck next year, signed Harry Potter deluxe set ($38,560)! A first edition of The Maltese Falcon and Mark Twain’s complete writings... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-09 21:14:37 UTC ]
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“My Brilliant Friend” and Elena Ferrante’s other best-selling books are inspiring female novelists and shaking up the country’s male-dominated literary establishment. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2019-12-09 10:00:14 UTC ]
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The Booksellers Association (BA) will launch the Indie Book of the Month scheme, to promote adult and fiction titles across the UK and Ireland next year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-03 19:14:43 UTC ]
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David Walliams’ The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins) has racked up record single-week sales for the author, selling 130,073 copies for £886,333 through Nielsen BookScan’s TCM in its first full week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-02 20:19:07 UTC ]
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David Walliams and Tony Ross' The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins) has held the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Fiction top spot for a second week, over the same week it ascended to the UK Official Top 50 number one through Nielsen BookScan with 100,899 copies sold. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-27 01:37:38 UTC ]
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WH Smith’s plans to buy the Marshall Retail Group (MRG) have been approved by the FCA and the transaction now only requires shareholder approval. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-25 19:46:04 UTC ]
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David Walliams has surpassed the £100m mark through Nielsen BookScan's Total Consumer Market, a week ahead of The Beast of Buckingham Palace (HarperCollins) hitting the charts. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-20 22:12:15 UTC ]
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It’s rare for novelists to make the leap to becoming filmmakers, but Dennis Cooper has not only made the transition, his latest movie Permanent Green Light is one of the year’s best. It reworks his longtime themes of young people, intimacy, and violence to create an affecting story of... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-11-18 09:47:50 UTC ]
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It’s a confusing thing, being Irish. We’re European with none of the sophistication, and for a tiny island, we have an impressive lack of consistency. That said, we also have an impressive literary output. Our politics, social movements, and religions have born enough conflict to make a canon... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2019-11-15 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Contrary to its namesake, Lee Child's Blue Moon appeared twice in the week ending 2nd November; the title topped the Nielsen BookScan charts in hardback format, and the e-book edition stormed to the top of the Weekly E-Book Ranking. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-14 14:57:35 UTC ]
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Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson's Pinch of Nom (Bluebird) has sold one million copies to date, with last week's 7,067 copies sold pushing it into seven figures through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-11-05 13:55:45 UTC ]
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From meditations on the d/Deaf experience to short stories blurring the mythic and the gothic with the everyday, from mixing the personal and political to a young woman uncover the truth about her family’s past – four outstanding writers have today been named on the shortlist for The Sunday... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2019-11-04 12:55:09 UTC ]
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Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters. You can get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device; sign up... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-28 10:22:02 UTC ]
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Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters. You can get an audio version of this briefing on your Alexa device; sign up... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-10-24 10:29:51 UTC ]
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Almost 6,000 copies of Girl, Woman, Other sold in the week after Evaristo’s win alongside Margaret AtwoodBernadine Evaristo’s Girl, Woman, Other more than doubled its lifetime sales in the week following its Booker prize win, with joint winner The Testaments by Margaret Atwood also flying off... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2019-10-22 16:25:45 UTC ]
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