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
A snapshot of the ebook industry today shows more than 1,000 ebooks with sales of 25,000+. And while our survey of publishers is by no means complete, it's more than enough to prove that the book business is quickly moving to digital. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-03-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#book business
Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith and Barbara Kingsolver are among the finalists for the $45,000 Women's Prize, known formerly as the Orange Prize, which released its longlist today. Hilary Mantel, Zadie Smith and Barbara Kingsolver are among the finalists for the $45,000 Women's Prize, known formerly... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#orange prize
#hilary mantel
#zadie smith
#barbara kingsolver
A new prize for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year, the Petrona Award, has announced its... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#scandinavian crime
Coffee House Press, with two finalists, and Cinco Puntos Press join FSG and Pantheon with titles on the shortlist for this year's prestigious PEN Faulkner Award for fiction. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
HarperCollins is to merge its three non-fiction divisions into two imprints, creating a new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-02-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
It is no surprise to see aphorism alive and thriving in our current celebrity climate. The forgotten, it may be assumed, never said anything interesting, whereas choice words of the famous live forever at cocktail parties and in book reviews. To carry a portfolio of pithy quotations is to... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#choice words
#cocktail parties
#book reviews
The shortlist for the 2012 International Prize for Arabic Fiction has been announced in a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#international prize
#arabic fiction
Egmont Press has acquired a debut historical fiction title, The Executioner's Daughter, by TV... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#egmont press
The Andrew Lownie Literary Agency has appointed David Haviland to build a fiction list, with the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#andrew lownie
#fiction list
Hodder Children’s Books has acquired a new series, Foxy Fiction, by author Caryl Hart and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#hodder children
The online comics marketplace has exploded over the past year. Here, from innovative indies to blockbuster franchise extensions, some of the best from the emerging world of digital comics. 2012 was the year digital-direct comics went mainstream. Entirely bypassing the tried-and-true supply... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2012-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#tablet apps
#business models
#art form
Lion Hudson is launching a fiction imprint “as a platform for Christian novelists from all... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#lion hudson
#fiction imprint
John Murray is planning to expand its non-fiction publishing output and has appointed Georgina... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#john murray
Weidenfeld & Nicolson and Haymarket Network are launching an app of The John Lennon Letters... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#weidenfeld nicolson
Frank Cottrell Boyce’s The Unforgotten Coat, published by Walker, has won the 2012 Guardian... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#fiction prize
10 facts about media and content industries 1. Digitization has increased book sales. Expenditure on electronic books almost doubled each year in 2006-2010 but still amounts to only 3% of global book sales. Forecasts however predict that reve ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-10-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#european commission
#electronic books
Individual donors including Christopher Foyle, Joanna Trollope, ebook site Bilbary, Cherie Blair... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#joanna trollope
Piccadilly Press is claiming to be the first publisher to have harnessed the 50 Shades-generated... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#piccadilly press
#ya fiction
Sales of digital fiction books increased by 188% in value terms in the first half of the year,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Amazon is planning to take a Charles Dickens approach to publishing with the launch of fiction in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-09-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |