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 ]
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Publishers’ Graphics, the Chicago-based POD print provider, has acquired Commercial Letter, a direct marketing printing company located in St. Louis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After writing a letter to readers calling on them to ask the e-tailer to end its sales terms dispute with Hachette, Preston posted an updated version of the note, complete with the signatures he has collected from other authors. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishers’ Graphics, the Chicago-based POD print provider, has acquired Commercial Letter, a direct marketing printing company located in St. Louis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Natalie Jerome has been promoted to non-fiction publisher at HarperCollins, taking on the role... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two weeks ago bestselling author Douglas Preston began quietly circulating a letter to other writers that encourages readers to write to Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The publishing industry's packaging of women's literary fiction in stereotypically girly covers makes great books seem trashy.If you take a look at the cover of Alice Munro's latest Nobel Prize-winning short fiction collection, The View From Castle Rock, you probably wouldn't guess it includes... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2014-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Even while publishers at the International Christian Retail Show celebrated top books in Christian fiction, publishing programs are being cut back in this crowded category. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Since digital publishing is perfect for serializing fiction almost as fast as authors can finish their latest installment, it makes sense that Christian publishers exploring that developing space are also making things up as they go along. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Eight writers have been chosen as winners of the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, with two... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Everyone is the poorer for publishers' widespread assumption that nobody wants to read about this part of societyI have spent the last 25 years selling and then publishing books, so I read with interest Melvyn Bragg's recent comments on working-class characters in fiction being stereotyped and... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sci-fi and fantasy fiction is entering a golden age of short fiction thanks to social media, crowdfunding and a loyal community of ardent fansA man wakes up from a car crash to find that he is an "electric ant": an android programmed to believe it is human. At home he uses micro-tools to open... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-06-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As proven by the conversations at BookExpo America, American publishers, editors and readers may finally be coming around to embracing more foreign literature. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-06-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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This year is set to be a strong one for children’s non-fiction, with retailers reporting... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Living Language has partnered with HBO Global Licensing to offer a course in Dothraki, a language from George R.R. Martin's popular series. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-06-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ruth Reichl joins the wildly popular novelists Jodi Picoult and Kathy Reichs on a panel about bestsellers. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Readers who were inspired by Azar Nafisi’s paean to literature in Reading Lolita in Tehran—there were enough to keep the book on the New York Times bestseller list for 117 weeks—can rejoice at the appearance of The Republic of Imagination (Viking, Oct.), an homage to American literature and a... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Iraqi writer Hassan Blasim has won the 2014 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for his second... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-05-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Joanne Harris says the book industry is sexist. Why else are there categories for 'women writers' and no equivalents for writers who happen to be men?This is the year of reading women, people, remember? We're all reading female writers and helping address the literary gender imbalance which is... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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So, you've written your book. Now what? Find out with 'Publishing 101,' a new ebook from 'Publishers Weekly' that offers a no-nonsense perspective on how publishing works, and what writers can do to make their own projects take off. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster has won an auction for Letters to the Lost by Iona Grey. Clare Hey, senior... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-04-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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