Stories should come from all parts of society – not just from the well heeled and the middle classLiterary fiction, you might think, is in wonderful health. Book festivals, from Edinburgh and Wigtown in Scotland, to Hay-on-Wye in Wales, to Cheltenham and Bath in England, are flourishing. There is certainly no shortage of people eager to become authors of literary fiction: creative writing courses have proliferated. The British, you could argue, are more at home tucked up with a decent novel than with any other artform. Britain is, after all, the country of Austen, the Brontës and Eliot; of Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith and Hilary Mantel.Look at the facts, though, and a more worrying picture emerges. It is well known that financing for the arts in Britain suffered a great blow after the global financial crisis: public funding for cultural organisations took a hit, the art market was severely knocked, and spending on theatre and concerts became impossible for many. A decade on there have been some signs of a recovery, albeit patchy and fragile. But this is not so for sales of literary fiction, which have not recovered from the recession. According to new research commissioned by Arts Council England, the problem affects literary fiction in particular. Genre fiction is doing better, dominating digital sales (the popularisation of the e-reader followed swiftly on the heels of the financial crisis; Amazon energetically promoted its Kindle for Christmas in 2010). The arrival of the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
Publishing sector has the lowest level of illegal downloads in the entertainment industry, with book piracy at half the rate of copyright theft in film and musicFor publishers, fresh from winning a landmark ruling forcing internet service providers to block illegal ebook download sites in Russia... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Elena Ramirez, editorial director of Seix Barral and director of international fiction for Planeta, Spain’s largest publisher, observes that the Spanish book industry has adjusted to a new normal after the country’s financial crisis. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Viking has pre-empted the new book by economist Thomas Piketty, author of the bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Belknap Press and Harvard University Press). Chronicles will give Piketty’s views on a variety of contemporary subjects and individuals, including the financial... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gilbert Hernandez's quartet of 2013 graphic novels 'The Children of Palomar,' 'Marble Season,' 'Julio's Day' and 'Maria M.' offer glimpses of a richly constructed world. There are certain things art-comics creators are generally expected to do: Find a tone and stick to it, concentrate their... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The continuing growth of digital publishing has put even more energy into the flourishing genres of SF, fantasy, mystery and romance publishing, says Wired. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The future of book publishing is increasingly digital -- and increasingly tilted towards genre fiction. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2013-06-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has a book deal.Mr. Geithner has an agreement with Crown Publishers, an imprint of Random House, Inc. Crown announced Thursday that Geithner's book, currently untitled, is scheduled for 2014.Mr. Geithner plans a "behind-the-scenes" account of the... Continue reading at Crains New York
[ Crains New York | 2013-03-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Spain’s financial crisis and slump in book sales has led Spanish-language publishers to focus on Latin America, with agents bypassing Spain to sell rights directly in the region. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sheila C. Bair, who ended a tumultuous five-year term as chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation this month, has landed a book deal to give her inside account of the financial crisis. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2011-07-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 27/04/2011 - 08:40 Penguin USA is to launch a community website for genre writers called Book Country (bookcountry.com). The site began a public beta test this week and describes itself as "a place where readers and writers of genre fiction... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 20/04/2011 - 09:45 The BBC is broadcasting an item on The Culture Show about science fiction next month, in the wake of a row about the broadcasters approach to genre fiction. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Mon, 18/04/2011 - 09:19 Authors including Iain M Banks and Michael Moorcock have written to the BBC's director general Mark Thompson, attacking the treatment of genre fiction in its recent World Book Night coverage. In total 85 authors, across the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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