CreateSpace: My Underwear Is Immaculate

“Amazon becomes the ultimate clearing house for books of all kinds (and much else besides), with none of the traditional middlemen getting a look in. Genius. If you’re an agent, publisher, wholesaler, or retailer of books and you haven’t just soiled your undies, then you don’t understand what’s going on.”
- Timo Hannay, [...]

The Truth That Sticks

To dinner with the estimable Martin Bell last night. Martin is Britain’s Walter Winchell - perhaps uniquely for a television journalist (and former MP) he commands great respect and deep affection across a very diverse audience: he is a true British institution.
Martin’s latest book, THE TRUTH THAT STICKS (which I am proud to have [...]

DailyLit

DailyLit sends you bite-sized chunks of public domain books (including many classics) daily, for free. Each serving takes less than five minutes to read, and if you want, they’ll send you the next instalment right away if you click a link.

Double Whammy!

A double transatlantic whammy this weekend for my client Michelle Paver. On Saturday, The Times (Americans call it “The Times of London” to differentiate it from the NY Times, but its real name is simply The Times) carried a feature in the Books section looking for a successor to the Harry Potter mantle: Michelle [...]

“What Is The Future of Publishing?”

That’s what a very senior publisher asked me quite recently.
I thought about it for a bit, then sent her this reply:
First, a caveat - this whole subject is enormously prone to over-intellectualizing. No-one can accurately predict the future. The only thing that really counts is what the consumer / reader does - everything else is [...]

Simon & Schuster Make Rights Grab?

There is a report that Simon & Schuster US are trying to alter their publishing contract to extend their copyright control of an author’s work “in perpetuity”.  Normally, rights to a work will revert to the author once it is deemed out of print.  I do hope this isn’t true or, if it is, that [...]

The Litopia Podcast is Here!

Very pleased to announce the birth of the Litopia podcast - essential listening for writers everywhere! Featuring the latest news for writers from the worlds of publishing, films and television… interviews with all the key industry movers and shakers… the winning entries in Litopia’s Short Story Contest – all this and Litopia’s Word of [...]

…And The Public Side of the London Book Fair

The more normal view of the London Book Fair (see below for a behind-the-scenes version). It’s been a long day today, intense but tiring. Just one more day to go. Click on the photo for a full-size version to open in a new window.

The Side of the Book Fair You Don’t See

Having just returned (9:30pm) from a long day at the London Book Fair, I wanted to give you a glimpse of the side of the book business you normally don’t see. This – in all it’s panoramic glory – is how commercially-published books begin. Here you can see the International Rights centre, an [...]

Amazon – Under The Hood

To a presentation, last night, by Amazon UK. Chris North, head of Amazon Books UK, introduced two other team members, and they all gave a good account of themselves. Here are the key points I noted:

Amazon is obsessed with what’s good for their customers. They have 64m active [...]

Why Do Writers Write?

To the International Theatre Forum today, for a fascinating debate. The chair was Sir Arnold Wesker, author of 42 plays, 4 volumes of short stories, 2 volumes of essays, and considered one of the key figures in 20th Century drama.
Introduced to the great man, I said the inevitable: “I studied your plays at school!” then [...]

O.J. Simpson Headlines London Book Fair!

Following my critical remarks about the lack of spectacular seminars at this year’s London Book Fair, several people have asked me what I’d suggest instead. Well guys, it’s really not too difficult to come up with a more stimulating programme. Actually, watching pond slime evolve into protozoans would be marginally more interesting than [...]

The Friday Project – Part One

The Friday Project has been much in the news of late. Apart from having a major talent for self-publicity, it’s founders, Paul Carr and Clare Christian, also blog to an astonishing extent (as does their Commercial Director, Scott Pack). I wish they would tell me their secret: how do they find time to [...]