Calling the question Conference organisers, prize judges, pretty much anyone who has a role in deciding who gets to be heard: don’t they notice the roll call of mainly white men? My colleague at The Bookseller Cathy Rentzenbrink is not only our acting books editor but also is project director for Quick Reads and a… Read More
Why Don't The Kids Read Digital?
‘Enduring appeal’ When Egmont UK’s managing director Cally Poplak (pictured) told The Bookseller’s Children’s Conference that “old-fashioned publishing skills are as relevant and vital as ever,” she could have gone on to say that “old-fashioned” reading patterns look to be just as enduring. As #KidsConf15 was written up by my colleague, Sarah Shaffi: The children’s publisher… Read More
Now booking seats: FutureBook's #AuthorDay
‘Respective strengths’ To look at some of the major news about authors last week, you’d think we might have titled our new conference “Show Me The Money.” Between the US Authors Guild’s release of its first survey since 2009 of author income, “The Wages of Writing,” and Hugh Howey and Data Guy’s delivery of the latest AuthorEarnings… Read More
Is this the triumph of print?
‘Digital is now as big a part of this industry as print’ There is a belief (and relief) now among some booksellers that the ebook “threat” is over. I have heard similar talk from senior buyers at supermarkets, who tell me that they have seen e-reader buyers switching to print books. So writes my good colleague… Read More
Your Survey Of Surveys
‘Perspective on the Book Business’ Is there any industry so feverishly bent on surveying itself as publishing? This week, my colleague Philip Jones at The Bookseller in Taking a measure of the FutureBook audience has launched the 2015 Digital Census, results of which will be released in relation to the Author Day / FutureBook week of activity in… Read More
Pottermore or less?
A new route across the techno-terrain The news conjured from Fortress Rowling by our wizardly Bookseller editor Philip Jones is that “in the coming weeks” (nice hedge—you know how Web development goes), the Web site so powerful that it got Amazon to play quidditch is undergoing some deep change. If all is as Jones is being… Read More
Introducing The FutureBook's #AuthorDay 2015
The problems and the promise: Authority As The Bookseller’s c.e.o. and publisher Nigel Roby is saying this evening at our launch event in London, The FutureBook Conference is in its fifth anniversary. And, as Europe’s largest publishing industry conference, it addresses a broad audience. Roby: “So many dimensions to modern publishing, and so many groups who have… Read More
Reader Analytics: Not All Authors Want To Know
Your Soul Vs. Data? When Jellybooks’ Andrew Rhomberg wrote at Digital Book World recently about publishers having a Fear of Data in an age of digital metrics, I thought that taking that issue to authors would be a worthwhile exercise. And I tried it out on some trusted colleagues by making it the “Provocations in… Read More
When the agent is the author: Andrew Lownie on Guy Burgess
‘A lot of new material’ “Being an author myself again has made me a better agent I believe,” Andrew Lownie tells me. Not nearly the sinister combo of student-and-spy, fortunately, the literary agent Lownie nevertheless is an accomplished chameleon whose colours can switch to those of an author as easily as putting on a red sportcoat. His… Read More
#WhatsABookWorth?
‘An integral part of our emotional lives’ What’s a Book Worth? is asking readers to film themselves talking about a book that means a lot to them and share those thoughts on 28th September, using the hashtag #WhatsABookWorth, the title of the book and its cover price. It is also encouraging readers to write a short… Read More