Sebastian Faulks gave his former Sunday Telegraph boss, John Thompson, a warm send-off in his tribute yesterday, "A nurturing force in the final days of Fleet Street".It reinforced the picture drawn of Thompson in the more formal Daily Telegraph obituary following Thompson's death, aged 93, on 24 November.Thompson, who edited the Sunday Telegraph for 10 years from 1976, was mild of manner and ran a kindly regime but had "an inner steel", wrote Faulks. This characteristic was necessary, as both Faulks and the obituary pointed out, because of the difficulties he faced in producing a paper in Fleet Street's final days of continual union disputes.Faulks pointed out that it was difficult to know Thompson well because "he was a diffident man who did not invite intimacy." It reminded me of a description of him by Henry Porter as "retiring to the point of joining a trappist order." But Faulks and the Telegraph's obituarist overlooked Thompson's most extraordinary, and disastrous, decision as an editor. In 1978, the Sunday Telegraph negotiated the serialisation of an autobiography by a former Liberal MP, Peter Bessell, who was a chief prosecution witness in the trial of Jeremy Thorpe, his party's leader. Thorpe was accused of conspiring to murder a male model, Norman Scott, who was said to have blackmailed him over their alleged gay relationship.Two months after Thorpe was charged, Thompson agreed a contract with Bessell which stated that he would receive £50,000 for extracts... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The shock of the new has given way to the comfort of the old in this year's bestseller list, with plenty of football and blokey chefsSee the chart in fullTwo female newcomers dominated the all‑year bestsellers list at this point last year. EL James (Fifty Shades of Grey) and Suzanne Collins (The... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Clement Clarke Moore's famous holiday poem re-imagined by a book publisher on a bit of a bender. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Headline) has been voted Specsavers Book of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Granta is bringing forward to publication of Masha Gessen's Words Will Break Cement: The... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A sinking ship of a drama that managed to be neither monstrous nor deep"Thar she blows!" said one of the crew as a whale came to the surface. The cetacean wasn't the only thing blowing heavily in The Whale (BBC1), a 90-minute dramatisation of the sinking of the Essex, a Nantucket whaler, by a... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A publisher continues to hand-bind and hand-sew books that also function as works of art. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The fight goes on: RoyaltyShare founder Bob Kohn has appealed final approval of the Macmillan and Penguin ebook settlements to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Infographics both retro and modern, futuristic transportation, and cartoons of Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts are all featured inside these 10 gems of design books.No matter how convenient Kindles are, they will never do justice to beautifully printed, full-color art and design books. (And... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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German booksellers are facing a nail-biting finish to the holiday season. With end November sales... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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On behalf of the other 99.9% of books published this year that didn't make the consensus top ten, tell us what were your favorite sleeper best books of 2013? Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Coker of Smashwords, which recently inked a major content deal with Scribd, weighs in on how the all-you-can-read model changes the way we read, how authors make creative choices, and how everyone gets paid.Is a "Netflix for ebooks" nearing viability? Yesterday, Smashwords, the largest... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers may think a cute animal on the cover is what sells in the supermarket, but ask around online and those who buy pet books will tell you otherwiseThe moment of receiving your first book jacket is one that every author remembers. I was so excited when I got mine – a jacket, for a book,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amid a general book market decline, the Polish Chamber of Books (PIK) has drafted a bill which is set to introduce fixed prices for new book releases for 18 months after publication. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Armed with a new name, five employees and $5.3 million in financing, Wilmington-based e-Book subscription service Entitle is open for business this week. Founder Bryan Batten, who left a career in pharma sales to jump off the startup ledge, calls the service “a hybrid of Netflix and a book... Continue reading at Silicon Valley Business Journal
[ Silicon Valley Business Journal | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Bookseller's consumer sister site We Love This Book is inviting book-lovers to test their... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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At the GBO's recent translator workshop, two US book editors and translator Susan Bernofksy shared techniques and tips for literary translators. Here's what they said. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A revival in classic illustrated books is helping Poland's children's book market boom, says Katarzyna Domańska of publisher Dwie Siostry. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Italian government has proposed a law allowing book buyers to claim up to €380 (£... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Quercus will publish a fourth book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series, to be written by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Top off your last-minute holiday shopping list with these four fabulous picture books for young readers. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-12-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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