The crisis in non-fiction publishing

When it comes to high-calibre non-fiction, risk-averse trade publishing houses are producing too many copycat ‘smart thinking’ books that promise more than they deliver. But praise should be given to the university pressesAmid the ambient wails of doom about the publishing industry, I’d like to enter a note of encouragement. The mainstream may be getting dumber by the day, but we are living in what looks like a golden age of publishing for, of all people, the university presses.At the moment, I don’t think there’s a trade publishing house producing high-calibre, serious non-fiction of the quality and variety of Yale University Press; and snapping at its heels are Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, Cambridge and Chicago. As the literary editor of a middlebrow news magazine I’m finding ever more of the reviews I commission are from such presses. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]

Other news stories related to: "The crisis in non-fiction publishing"


How to Write a Roger Federer Think Piece

It has been a bit more than nine years since David Foster Wallace delivered “Federer as Religious Experience,” the Magna Carta of what has become one of the most popular genres in sports journalism: the Roger Federer think piece. The now-classic essay, penned for the short-lived New York Times... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2015-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Arnaud Nourry to be questioned at FBF

Hachette Livre c.e.o. and chairman Arnaud Nourry will be interviewed as part of Frankfurt Book Fair’s c.e.o. talk series. Nourry will be questioned by the editors of The Bookseller, Livres Hebdo, Bookdao, buchreport, PublishNews Brazil and Publishers Weekly. The discussion, moderated by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


US book sales fall in first five months of 2015

Book sales of traditionally published books in the US fell by almost 6% in the first five months of this year, compared to the same period the year before. Overall sales for trade fiction and non-fiction, children, higher education, professional and university presses were down 5.8% from... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Spoiler alert: this article says why Terry Pratchett review didn’t have a warning | Open door | Claire Armitstead

If we add an alert to one review, what about the others? Readers have different sensitivities; who is to say which details may spoil a book for any one of them?Readers hate spoilers, and one of the sacred duties of the literary editor is to make sure they don’t happen – or if they do, that... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Self-Publishing Is Good for You … and Authors and the Book Industry

The real beneficiary of the DIY book boom is the publishing industry itself. The post Self-Publishing Is Good for You … and Authors and the Book Industry appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2015-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


'Drastic action needed' to help Scottish writers

Author Janice Galloway has called on Creative Scotland to “to do something drastic” to stop the nation’s writers from struggling.   According to the Scotsman,  Galloway, author of The Trick is to Keep Breathing (Vintage Classics), has warned that most of Scotland’s writers are being left to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The rise of the fall

While half of the publishing industry has taken advantage of the brief August lull to spend a fortnight in Devon reading Elena Ferrante, the reality—as many a hard-pressed publicist can testify—is that the autumn rush is almost upon us. In under a fortnight, Jamie Oliver’s Everyday Super Food... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Can We Stop Pretending The Publishing Industry Is Fair Now?

Book publishing is an absolute meritocracy, if you disregard all the deeply ingrained misogyny and racism. Wait ... Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2015-08-06 13:54:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Future Artefacts fair seeks to show physical media far from dead

Ben Freeman, organiser of London event, says: ‘Everyone realises the internet hasn’t killed the record industry or the publishing industry – just changed it’A fair celebrating the future of physical objects in media – from books and magazines to records and cassettes – will debut in London this... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Why Nikkei Is Betting Big on Digital Growth at the Financial Times

Nikkei’s $1.3 billion deal to buy the Financial Times underscores the fact that the publishing industry’s fortunes lie in going digital, experts say. Continue reading at Knowledge@Wharton

[ Knowledge@Wharton | 2015-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Ion Trewin memorial service this autumn

A memorial service for Ion Trewin, who died earlier this year after a battle with cancer, is to be held in the autumn. Trewin, who was literary director  of the Booker Prize Foundation, passed away on 8th April. Formerly literary editor of the Times, Trewin then worked at Weidenfeld &... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Booksellers get free access to digital proofs

Booksellers will get “quicker and wider access” to book proofs from across the publishing industry through a partnership with the Booksellers Association and NetGalley. UK booksellers will get access to digital proofs from over 50 publishers – including Bonnier, Hachette, HarperCollins, Penguin... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


HarperCollins UK CEO says “Publishing Entering a Golden Age”

At HarperCollins UK's annual summer party for its authors, UK CEO Charlie Redmayne could not have sounded more positive about the firm's direction in 2015. The post HarperCollins UK CEO says “Publishing Entering a Golden Age” appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


A "cooler", more creative children's publishing industry on show at CMC

The theme of this year’s Children’s Media Conference (CMC), which took place 1-3 July in Sheffield, was “All Change”. Which is apt, because the children’s TV industry (from which this conference was originally born) is experiencing a disruption just as profound and perhaps more urgent than... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


For the Publishing Industry in 2020, Print Will Still Dominate Revenues

Ovum’s new Digital Consumer Publishing Forecast is published tomorrow.  It takes a five year view at how this sector will change. Ahead of publication, Ovum analyst Charlotte Miller gives TheMediaBriefing an exclusive look at some of t ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher

[ Editor & Publisher | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Unpaid internships 'should be banned to build diversity in publishing'

Novelist Kerry Hudson is setting out ‘a provocation’ calling for wholesale change to encourage and reflect broader spectrum of voicesThe award-winning novelist Kerry Hudson is set to make a bold call for change in UK publishing, which she believes is failing “to reflect the extraordinary... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Non-fiction publishing in the UK is in fine health, actually

Contrary to Sam Leith’s complaints last week, commercial publishers continue to take risks, and put out great and original workIn his article last week, Sam Leith deplored the state of mainstream trade publishing, saying it was “getting dumber by the day”, in contrast to the university presses... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Chinese publishers crack the top 10 as STM remains staunch

The changing nature of the worldwide book industry is sharply demonstrated in the upper echelons of the 2015 edition of the Global Ranking of the Publishing Industry: for the first time, publishing houses from outside Europe and North America have cracked the top 10. Both the groups—Phoenix... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


The crisis in non-fiction publishing

When it comes to high-calibre non-fiction, risk-averse trade publishing houses are producing too many copycat ‘smart thinking’ books that promise more than they deliver. But praise should be given to the university pressesAmid the ambient wails of doom about the publishing industry, I’d like to... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this


Bay Area Spotlight 2015: A Different Vibe

Though the University of California Press (UC Press) and Stanford University Press (SUP) are the only university presses in the Bay Area, they are among the country’s most innovative academic publishers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this