Conference update: Bookings close this weekend for FutureBook 2015, hurry to get one of the remaining seats at Mermaid London for the event, which is a week from today, 4th December. Our hashtag for that one: #FutureBook15 And on Monday (30th November), follow speakers and delegates at Author Day on hashtag #AuthorDay, the kickoff to The FutureBook 2015… Read More
Which #BookTech player is your favourite?
What the world needs now is…. An aggregator of a book lover’s print and digital bookshelves? “The YouTube of storytelling”? A curated marketplace for publishing professionals? You tell us in #FutureChat today. Those are some of the FutureBook BookTech Awards that journalist Molly Flatt has been profiling for weeks here at The FutureBook. On 4th December… Read More
#AuthorDay: What divides us?
Of “trade” and “the Trade” Today we’re making the “programme reveal” for the inaugural FutureBook Author Day conference (#AuthorDay), which is set for Monday, 30th November. It’s on the 30th at the 30th, 30 Euston Square, headquarters of the Royal College of General Practitioners, we’ll all be healthier for it. Our programme should appear, if… Read More
At Frankfurt: Can books find true fans?
Fanning the flames When asking Pan Macmillan’s Naomi Bacon to join us at Frankfurt Book Fair’s Business Club for a discussion of “hardcore fandom” and books in our “Hug the Alien” series of events, I hadn’t counted on getting video in the bargain. But we got it, and it’s good stuff. Bacon, with the… Read More
At Frankfurt: AmazonCrossing's new $10 million translation bid
Interviewing Sarah Jane Gunter at Frankfurt Book Fair’s Business Club This story was written for Wednesday’s (14th October) “Hug the Alien” session at Frankfurt Book Fair. In a move that answers a constant question both from independent authors and from publishers, AmazonCrossing has announced that it now is accepting submissions. The news comes with word of… Read More
Setting A Compass: Those FutureBook Manifestos In A Storm-Tossed Industry
Sinking Into The Pubslush Years into publishing’s encounter with the digital dynamic, it’s not as if anything is holding still, is it? A kind of heaving grace is about the best you can find on some days in this deeply shaken, tech-swept industry. Every other week, my colleague Jane Friedman and I find ourselves looking… Read More
#MusicForWriters: Jodie Landau In Iceland, Romancing ‘You’
you of all things by Jodie Landau and wild Up ‘You’re The Choice I Make’ Let me offer you some artful goosebumps. This is a man at 23 speaking to you about what happens when he sings his music: All of my pieces are from the “I” perspective sung to “you.” And while it is… Read More
Nielsen's #KidsBookSummit: Nobody Said YA Books Aren’t For Teens
When The Medium’s Message Gets Rough It was an odd turnabout in the annual Nielsen Children’s Conference. Led by Kristen McLean—among the most respected people in the business of quantifying and evaluating the young person’s reading scene—the conference was a crackling success. Smartly produced at New York’s pristine Convene Center in Lower Manhattan on a… Read More
Are you 'noticing' publishing's gender bias?
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
Age, Surveys, And Income: The Authors Guild’s View
‘Only One Piece Of The Puzzle’ Subsequent to our report on the Authors Guild’s release of results from its 2015 Member Survey, I’ve invited the Guild to provide some interpretation of how it sees the release of its “The Wages of Writing” survey results. In response, I have this explanation of the survey exercise, and I want to… Read More