The publishers' year: hits and misses of 2013

Publishers choose their books of the year, and the ones that got awayRobin Robertson Deputy publishing director, Jonathan CapeThe book that made my year: Many years ago, I was sitting in Blake's bar in Enniskillen with John McGahern and he recommended an American novel from the 60s, written by John Williams: a book called Stoner. I thought it was astonishing, and I passed it to vintage, who brought it out in 2003 with John's introduction. Like so many great books, it promptly disappeared, again – only to come back this year, miraculously, and succeed.Our book that deserved to do better: Chamber Music by Tom Benn. It's the late 1990s, in the middle of the drug wars on the estates of Manchester, and complicated antihero Bane is pitched against a Yardie called Hagfish, whose weapon of choice is a Komodo dragon. Tom Benn – still only 26 – is writing these amazing dialogue-driven noir literary thrillers that, as the blurb says, "do for low-life Manchester what Trainspotting did for Leith", and no one is paying attention.I wish I'd published: Cormac McCarthy, as usual. Even a screenplay by Cormac McCarthy, like The Counsellor (Picador).Alexandra Pringle Editor-in-chief, BloomsburyThe book that made my year: In a year that included fiction by George Saunders, Aminatta Forna, Colum McCann, Jhumpa Lahiri, Margaret Atwood, Elizabeth Gilbert and Khaled Hosseini, how can I choose? But perhaps in the end it will be 21-year-old Samantha Shannon's debut The Bone Season, which hit the... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hearst starts publishing iPad magazines days before print editions

Magazine publishers have more directly embraced tablets over more than a year as it became clearer that they were boosting the bottom line. We may be witnessing a watershed moment today, however. Hearst has started publishing issues for 22 of its magazines in the iOS Newsstand days before their... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2013-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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9 Other Things That Harper's Publisher Rick MacArthur Googles

"Try finding Harper's Magazine when you Google "magazines that publish essays" or "magazines that publish short stories" -- it isn't easy." No, Rick, no it's not. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2013-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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3 Key Ideas from Digital Book World 2013

Looking back on this week's Digital Book World conference, we distill the event into three key ideas: price innovation, discoverability and authenticity. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Minimal exposure' for publishers over HMV

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[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing CEOs on Direct-to-Consumer Sales and Marketing

Three CEOs at this year's Digital Book World conference spoke about how they are reaching out directly to consumers and what they can do better. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing Executive Survey Shows Industry Settling into Digital

Forrester Research and DBW presented the findings of their Executive Publishing Survey on ebooks, devices and digital publishing predictions for 2013. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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10 Strategies for Publishers to Succeed and Survive

Guy Kawasaki says traditional publishers need to 'think about maximizing sales not minimizing losses' and offers 10 strategies to put them back on the right path. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Why Publishers Need to Think More Like Silicon Valley

Every book published each season is its own startup. By adopting some of the principles that drive Silicon Valley, publishers really don't have anything to lose. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives

[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Dan Brown of 'The Da Vinci Code' to publish 'Inferno' in May

Dan Brown's new thriller "Inferno," starrring his tweedy hero Robert Langdon from "The Da Vinci Code," will be published May 14 in hardcover and as an ebook by Doubleday. Dan Brown's new thriller "Inferno," starrring his tweedy hero Robert Langdon from "The Da Vinci Code," will be published May... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-01-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A Look at a Year of Bestsellers

No one would have been able to predict at the start of 2012 that a BDSM erotic romantic trilogy—Fifty Shades—would set new records for book sales and change/spice up what women worldwide would admit to be reading, many for the first time. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Major Dutch publisher abandons DRM

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[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Distribution: Prometheus and Random House Publisher Services Agree

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-01-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Bleak' 2013 predicted as 300 libraries could be lost

  Library campaigners are forecasting a grim 2013, predicting that 300 libraries could... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The trade makes predictions for 2013

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[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Self-published authors on Kindle bestseller list

Amazon has revealed that 15% of its bestselling Kindle books in the UK last year were written by... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2013-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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January’s Starred BlueInk Reviews of Self-published Books

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Publishing’s Most Prolific Blurber Immortalized on Film

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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It’s Time Publishing Tries Something Radical to Entice Readers

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Independent Publishers Association Launched in the Maghreb

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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China Will Never Be a Gold Mine for Western Publishers

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[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-01-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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