The indie publishing mavericks shaking up the UK books world

Last year, all of literature’s big prizes went to small publishers. In a risk‑averse climate, edgy debuts and ‘tricky-to-sell’ foreign titles have found a home at the likes of Fitzcarraldo Editions and Sort Of Books – and the gamble has paid offA quiet revolution is afoot in British publishing. Earlier this year, when American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis brought out his latest bestseller, The Shards, the book came to UK readers not from his usual publisher, Picador – his home for nearly four decades – but from a small independent company, Swift Press, a freelance-powered outfit so light on overheads it doesn’t even have an office. Likewise, Sheila Heti, the prize-winning Canadian author of zeitgeisty autobiographical cogitations Motherhood and How Should a Person Be?, recently announced that her next book won’t be out with her regular publisher, Penguin Random House, but with south London indie Fitzcarraldo Editions, not yet 10 years in business. Last year’s Booker winner, Sri Lankan writer Shehan Karunatilaka, came to us courtesy of the smallest publisher ever to win the prize, husband-and-wife indie Sort Of Books. In 2022, all the glittering literary prizes went to indies – not only the Booker, but its sister prize for translated fiction, the International Booker, as well as the Nobel, the Goldsmiths, the Pulitzer and Australia’s A$100,000 (£80,000) Victorian prize for literature. The last four remarkably were all won by Fitzcarraldo, the UK home of celebrated... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2023-07-16 08:00:02 UTC ]

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Sally Rooney novels pulled from Israeli bookstores after translation boycott

Following the acclaimed author’s decision not to have Beautiful World, Where Are You translated by an Israeli publisher, two major retailers have removed her work from their shelvesBooks by Sally Rooney will no longer be sold in two Israeli bookshop chains, after the acclaimed writer’s decision... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-11-05 16:14:29 UTC ]
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Canadian Author Catherine Mavrikakis at Frankfurt: ‘Serious Thinking’

'My mother didn’t want us to live wars,' said Canada's Catherine Mavrikakis in a conversation at Frankfurter Buchmesse. The post Canadian Author Catherine Mavrikakis at Frankfurt: ‘Serious Thinking’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2021-10-28 16:58:14 UTC ]
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Rooney turns down Hebrew translation bid over Palestine stance

Sally Rooney has turned down a bid from an Israeli publisher to translate her most recent novel, Beautiful World, Where Are You, into Hebrew, due to her stance on the conflict in Palestine. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-12 12:12:35 UTC ]
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Richard Osman, inspired by ‘The A-Team,’ has created a delightful band of elderly sleuths

‘The Man Who Died Twice,’ the latest in Osman’s Thursday Murder Club series, is a notably entertaining mystery novel Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-10-06 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Bookstat: Kindle titles can't topple Osman

Richard Osman’s The Man Who Died Twice (Penguin) has swiped the Bookstat e-book top spot for a third week running, once again charting top for the week ending 2nd October. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-05 18:35:55 UTC ]
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The Man Who Died Twice goes thrice for the top spot

Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice (Viking) has notched up a third week running in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 38,439 copies through Nielsen BookScan's TCM. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-05 18:06:50 UTC ]
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The sensitivity stereotype

I used the term ‘sensitivity readers’ for the first time the other day, and I immediately felt angry at myself. It’s a concept (or service) that I’ve been involved in for a few years now, and yet only recently have I learned of the now well-established title of the ‘sensitivity reader’ in the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-01 05:57:17 UTC ]
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Rooney keeps the top spot on Bookshop.org's September chart

Sally Rooney has kept the top spot on Bookshop.org's Indie Champions chart for a second month, with Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-10-01 03:17:27 UTC ]
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The Man Who Died Twice doubles up for a second week at the top

Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice (Viking) has claimed the UK Official Top 50 number one spot for a second week running, selling 60,992 copies. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-28 08:25:29 UTC ]
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Bookstat chart: two's company for Osman sequel

Richard Osman’s The Man Who Died Twice (Penguin) scored the Bookstat e-book number one for the week ending 18th September, doubling up on its overall print number one—and leapfrogging Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) in both charts. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-23 03:15:19 UTC ]
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Amazon Charts: The Man Who Died Twice murders the competition

Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice (Penguin) has claimed the Amazon Charts' Most-Sold: Fiction top spot, with its predecessor The Thursday Murder Club bouncing four places up the chart to join it in second. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-23 01:43:42 UTC ]
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Richard Osman’s second book is one of the fastest-selling novels since records began

The Pointless presenter’s second crime novel, The Man Who Died Twice, has sold 114,202 copies in its first week on saleRichard Osman’s follow-up to The Thursday Murder Club, The Man Who Died Twice, has become one of the fastest-selling novels since records began.Published on 16 September, The... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-09-21 14:37:39 UTC ]
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Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice makes a killing

Richard Osman's The Man Who Died Twice (Viking), the sequel to his blockbuster debut The Thursday Murder Club, has thundered into the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 114,202 copies in its first week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-21 06:44:44 UTC ]
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Bookstat chart: Rooney doubles up

Sally Rooney has done the double as Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) searched out the Bookstat e-book number one spot, the same week it debuted atop the Nielsen BookScan print chart.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-15 10:34:29 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You tops UK book charts

In its first week on sale, Rooney’s new novel has outsold Jamie Oliver and beaten day-one sales of her previous book Normal People by 1,200% at WaterstonesSally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You has shot to the top of the UK’s book charts, selling more than 40,000 copies in just five... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-09-14 14:20:14 UTC ]
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Picador wins four-way auction for Patterson debut collection

Picador has won a four-way auction for the “meditative and powerful” debut collection by poet James Conor Patterson. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-14 01:12:14 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You finds the top spot

Sally Rooney's Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) has debuted in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 46,065 copies in its first week on sale, making it the fastest selling Adult Fiction title since sales figures returned in March. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-14 00:26:45 UTC ]
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'Keep making the world a better place' Osman urges booksellers

Richard Osman has praised the "passion and intelligence" of booksellers up and down the UK, applauding their hard work and adaptability during the pandemic. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-12 17:58:45 UTC ]
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New Rooney is already 2021’s bestselling hardback novel, says Waterstones

Sally Rooney’s latest novel Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) is already the biggest-selling hardback fiction title of 2021 at Waterstones after just three days on sale, the chain's m.d. James Daunt has said. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-09-10 14:57:27 UTC ]
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Sally Rooney’s latest novel is a lucid, nuanced story about coming of age in a broken world

“Beautiful World, Where Are You” more than lives up to the promise of its predecessors and even exceeds the hype. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2021-09-10 12:00:00 UTC ]
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