The truth about book prizes, why Amazon is like an old-fashioned library and how much famous writers really earned from their journalism …Periodically, signs go up saying that Grub Street is closed to through traffic. Observers speculate that the street is being redeveloped as gentrification forces the former inhabitants to move out, or else that the closure may be due to the expansion of the neighbouring university’s English department. Older heads are shaken in what had been the local pub but is now a coffee’n’crafts shop: there used to be more life in the place, they mourn, when bohemian writers could dash off a review against the clock to pay for their round. Even if Grub Street is eventually reopened, it will never be the same again, and anyway it will probably have been renamed “Creatives Crescent”.Such cliches and exaggerations are characteristic of this genre of lament. Like most keening for the good old days, these threnodies are not pieces of dispassionate historical analysis: they are attempts to compensate for so much that is disagreeable about one’s own time by inventing a more or less idealised version of the past. Still, it is worth wondering why “Grub Street” should be the form taken by paradise lost in this case. After all, the street originally so named in London (it was real before it was metaphorical) came to be the home of that kind of “grub” defined by the OED as “a person of mean abilities; a dull industrious drudge; a literary hack”. Even allowing... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2016-01-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
A selection of the top ten books that have received five star reviews on IndieReader, a service which reviews self-published books. The post IndieReader’s Top 10 Five-star Reviews of Self-Published Books appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jessie Hartland knew many people interested in Steve Jobs wouldn't read Walter Isaacson’s 630-page biography, so she depicted Job's life in a graphic novel. The post Translating Steve Jobs’ Life into a Graphic Novel appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury Press has bought Ctrl, Alt; Delete, a memoir about growing up online, by journalist and blogger Emma Gannon [pictured]. Commissioning editor Sara Cywinski has bought UK and Commonwealth rights to the book, in which Gannon talks about subjects from editing photos for MySpace to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jimmy Carter let me down. Not with his book "A Full Life: Reflections at 90" - a warm and detailed memoir of his youth followed by a clear-eyed assessment of the issues he tackled as president and afterward - but with his response to the question "Does the arc of history bend toward justice?" Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2015-07-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman is not a book that should be read in a vacuum. It becomes fairly transparent, fairly early on, that this can only be taken as a first draft of what would become To Kill a Mockingbird. This perspective allows it to be an unprecedented insight onto a seminal novel,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first reviews of 'Go Set a Watchman' reveal Atticus Finch to be a racist, a disclosure that has only increased debate about the book, set for release tomorrow. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Century is to publish a book celebrating the life of Deirdre Barlow, a character on ITV’s “Coronation Street”. Deirdre: A Life on Coronation Street is described as a “tribute to one of Corrie fans' all-time favourite characters”. Anne Kirkbride, who died in January this year, played the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Three literary agencies in Italy — Marco Vigevani, the International Literary Agency, and Luigi Bernabo — merged to form The Italian Literary Agency. The post Trio of Literary Agencies Merge Into an Italian Super Agency appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The renowned literary center in downtown Minneapolis announced this morning that Britt Udesen will be its new executive director, succeeding Jocelyn Hale. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Baker & Taylor this week announced that it has released a new “all-in-one” mobile app for library users. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones has more than tripled sales of its Fiction Book of the Month in volume terms in the past two years, the company’s head of events and PR Sandra Taylor revealed. She said its Book of the Month choices were “consistently making bestsellers because we are hand-selling better”. Giving... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It is "incredibly blinkered" to only target traditional newspaper reviews for books, The Pool c.e.o. and co-founder Sam Baker has said. Speaking at The Bookseller's Marketing and Publicity conference yesterday (30th June), Baker also admonished the industry for its obsession with the hardback,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A keen business mind and real commitment to the publishing industry are vital for a job that is all about selling – shy and retiring types need not apply Gordon Wise has been a literary agent at Curtis Brown for 10 years, and has a wide range of clients, from celebrities like Miranda Hart to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The co-ordinator of Independent Bookshop Week has said this year's IBW is what the Booksellers Association has "always envisioned", with the event taking on a "creative life of its own." Meanwhile booksellers said their events had been "well attended" this year and that IBW 2015 was "the biggest... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Steinem talked about her how her nomadic childhood and read from her upcoming memoir Diary of a Nomad: My Life on the Road. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Fake reviews are still “rife” in the industry and most authors have been subjected to it, the author who exposed the sock puppetry scandal of 2012 has said. Jeremy Duns was speaking after the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) revealed it has launched an investigation into fake online... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Star Wars' and 'Lord of the Rings' had a baby, it died badly, and this book is its reanimated remains. The post We Review a Self-Published E-Book About a Lady Clone War appeared first on WIRED. Continue reading at Wired
[ Wired | 2015-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Shin Kyung-sook had earlier denied using material by Yukio Mishima, but has now apologised, saying ‘I can’t believe my own memory’Shin Kyung-sook, an internationally renowned South Korean novelist who won the $30,000 (£19,000) Man Asian literary prize four years ago, has apologised to her... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors and book reviewers have hit out at national newspapers for shrinking the amount of editorial space given over to children’s books, despite huge growth in the market. In the UK, the children’s sector (including teen and YA titles) is the fastest-growing area of the market: sales grew... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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She's known for her children's books and plays, but The Eye of the Sheep changed everything for Laguna. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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