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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'Find Waldo Local' to Return in 2013

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Open Road to publish Chicken Soup ebooks

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Scholastic partners with RSPCA for publishing programme

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Agency lawsuit hits S&S profits

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Poor turnout hits ebook festival

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[ BBC World | 2012-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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London's high street 'dead' as Games hit trade

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Time To Unpackage: Publishing In The Age Of Social Media

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[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ Editor & Publisher | 2012-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Travel publishing 'at crossroads'

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Headline to publish Texts From Dog

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Senator Schumer sides with Apple and publishers in ebook price fixing case

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[ Betanews | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Self-publishing Goes Big Time

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Nominations open for World Book Night 2013

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[ The Bookseller | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Denise Mina wins Crime Novel of the Year

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Penguin buys into self-publishing

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[ BBC News | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After Great Year, Scholastic Tries For Encore

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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[ The New York Times | 2012-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Brain Quest Celebrates 20 Years of Challenging Kids

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[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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