Karl Sabbagh says small publishers face with huge obstacles with selling books and even letting anyone know they exist; plus a descendant of Dr Miles Marley sets the record straightWith reference to your leader on literary fiction (28 December), as a small publisher we are faced with huge obstacles in the way of selling our books or even letting anyone know our titles exist, however good they are. Last year we published an excellent novel called To the Lake, by a Russian writer, Yana Vagner. This had sold over 100,000 copies in Russia, and is being made into a TV series there. It has won prizes throughout Europe, and been translated into half a dozen languages, with sales outside Russia running into tens of thousands. We paid an advance to the author, a fee to a translator, and typesetting, cover design and printing costs, a total of about £9,000. We sent at least 50 copies out to major periodicals, newspapers and broadcast media in the hope of getting reviews, but there were none. The one thing we couldn’t afford was advertising, at a cost of £1,000 or so for a quarter page in a literary journal and far more in widely selling newspapers. So far, we have sold 64 copies. Can anyone wonder why we don’t publish more such books?Karl SabbaghManaging director, Skyscraper Publications• Dr Christopher Goulding (Letters, 26 December) may regard Barry West’s “theory” about Dickens’ use of the name Marley as tenuous; in our family we regard it as long-established fact. I am a... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#won prizes
#dozen languages
#cover design
#printing costs
#broadcast media
#literary journal
'The Dark Wild' by Piers Torday has won the 2014 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, announced Thursday evening in London. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#piers torday
#fiction prize
Children’s laureate Malorie Blackman has launched a fan fiction-inspired project to find the best teen writers and creatives. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#teen writers
David Baldacci’s YA novel The Finisher (Pan Macmillan) took the crown for the Best International Fiction Book at the Sharjah International Book Fair Awards yesterday (5th November). Michele Young, children’s rights director at Pan Macmillan, received the award on behalf of Baldacci from the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#david baldacci
#michele young
#rights director
#pan macmillan
Harlequin UK's Mills & Boon imprint has signed two novels by debut author Eva Woods. Commissioning editor Anna Baggaley signed UK and Commonwealth rights from Diana Beaumont at Rupert Heath Literary Agency. The first book in the deal, The Thirty List, follows a newly-divorced woman setting... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fiction debut
#harlequin uk
#diana beaumont
#paperback original
'Marley,' a memoir by John Grogan about owning an ill-behaved but lovable dog, was adapted into a movie starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-10-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#small screen
#jennifer aniston
Penguin is to release a new non-fiction series of classics for the “discerning reader”. The first 10 books in the Penguin Classics’ Pocketbooks series will be released on 6th November, and include Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, Friedrich Neitzche’s Beyond Good and Evil, and Sigmund... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-10-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#penguin classics
#non-fiction series
A month after its acquisition of digital publisher Byliner, Vook is publishing 'Five Fires,' by Laura Lippman, its first Byliner original ebook. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#laura lippman
In a year in which four publishers closed, paused, or slimmed down their fiction lists, members of the American Christian Fiction Writers held their annual conference Sept. 25-27 in St. Louis to honor their best, talk shop, and see who was still standing, though all agreed there are still... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#talk shop
#hybrid authors
#traditional means
Works that were nominated include 'The Innovators' by Walter Isaacson and 'Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?' by Roz Chast for the nonfiction prize as well as 'All the Light We Cannot See' by Anthony Doerr and 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel for the fiction award. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#nonfiction prize
#fiction award
#walter isaacson
#roz chast
#anthony doerr
#station eleven
#emily st
#john mandel
The list of 10 finalists includes a previous National Book Award winner, two finalists for the award, two Pulitzer Prize winners, and two first time authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
The founder of Canada's Scotiabank Giller Prize announced yesterday that the prize purse will double, to C$140,000. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Start with One Direction and see where they take you your daydreams could snare you a book dealHow to write a bestselling novelHow to write a killer scriptShare pictures of where you writeThis article is a preview from the September issue of the Guardians monthly activities magazine, Do... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fan fiction
#september issue
#saturday paper
The 2014 Man Booker shortlist shows that “contemporary fiction is of the moment”,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#man booker
#contemporary fiction
Writing for The Atlantic, Kate Newman wonders why memoirs aren't fact-checked more closely and questions whether a lack of resources is really to blame. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-09-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Amazon is using “authors as collateral damage and using customers as pawns”, author... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lee child
#collateral damage
Authors United, the loosely knit group of authors who joined forces to formally ask Amazon to end its sales terms dispute with Hachette Books, is preparing to run a full-page ad in Sunday's "New York Times." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#authors united
#joined forces
#hachette books
#full-page ad
Abingdon Press is “reassessing and realigning” its Abingdon Fiction and Christian Living programs and has “paused” acquisitions. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#abingdon press
Buoyed by marketers' growing interest in Hispanic millennials as consumers and trendsetters, the Hispanic media market continues to outpace overall growth in the U.S. ad industry. Ad Age's eleventh-annual Hispanic Fact Pack, distributed with the July 28 issue of the magazine, includes... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2014-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#growing interest
#ad industry
#ad spending
#demographic change
#digital edition
Author Patricia Lakin reflects on discovering that her successful children's book, Clarence the Copy Cat, is out of print and what she can do to bring it back. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-07-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#successful children
Oneworld has signed two non-fiction titles for publication next year and 2016. Senior... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#non-fiction titles