Dear Lily Allen

This is really going to divide all of you: it’s a response to the copyright debate so helpfully aided by Ms Lily Allen. It raises the question of how on earth do you make people realise that copyright theft is theft, without looking like you are in thrall to The Man? Or, perish the thought, throw copyright out of the window….Thanks to Suzanne Moore for the heads up on this btw. Let me know what you think

28/09/2009 | No Comments | General Discussion

I’m back and this season I won’t be reading an eReader

I’m back: proof positive that updating your blog software is a good idea if you want to keep posting. I will be updating the site with my latest articles when I get time.

In the meantime it seems I’m not alone in wanting to keep up to date at the moment. There appears to be a rush of Old Book Brigade eager to show that beneath their dusty jackets lurk technophiles bang on trend.

Listening to Radio 4 yesterday, I was struck by a discussion about new Sony Readers between Peter Florence and John Sutherland. “Marvellous and so shiny and cool” was the general verdict of the newly launched kit. “I’m a convert,” they concluded.

I nearly dropped my croissant. read more

07/09/2009 | 3 Comments | Blog, Publishing

The thin red line

A while ago I wrote a scathing piece in the Daily Mail about what I regarded as the “pornography” of misery memoirs. I had become increasingly concerned at the way boundaries were being pushed in this genre. Each book seemed to push the border between taste and titillation further as the content became ever more graphic in their depiction of abuse – especially child sexual abuse. read more

17/11/2008 | 11 Comments | Blog, News, Publishing

It’s more than a loss for Ross

Okay, I hold my hands up: I got it wrong. Jonathon Ross’s book is sinking like a stone. But his suspension from the BBC will affect more than his own book. Talking to friends in publicity at the large publishing houses, his disappearance from our screens in the run up to Christmas is worrying for altogether other reasons.
Since the demise of Parky [the show, not the man], Ross has been the number one showcase for A List celebrities with a book to plug. As one PR said to me, there really isn’t anywhere else. An appearance on Ross sent people into stores, and as most celebs publish in autumn in order to cash in on the upsurge in sales at this time of year, not having this influential show on their side is a huge loss. read more

05/11/2008 | 3 Comments | Blog, Publishing

Who’s a naughty boy then?

Amid all the furore about the nuisance calls made by Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross there is bound to be one winner: Transworld, publisher of Ross’s life-story-cum-pub rant Why Do I Say These Things?. Transworld execs must have been cracking open the champers when they saw the author of their big Christmas book splashed across the front pages of every newspaper and leading every news bulletin for saying something he might regret. Why does Jonathan do these things?
Of course the marketing men and women may have feared a backlash against the star, but among his target audience of 20-something blokes the response seems as sniggering as the puerile stunt itself. Older people and women of varying ages may be far less approving, but they are not the chief component of Ross’s and Brand’s target audience – however metrosexual Brand claims to be his boasts about who he has shagged (with the unvoiced implication that these “ladies” must be sluts to his stud) sound like swaggering sexism to me and a very nasty throwback to the 70s.. read more

29/10/2008 | 1 Comment | Blog, Publishing

Mrs Palin: a love song


vlad and friend boris presents ‘Song for Sarah’ for mrs. Palin
Hello Sarah Palin we wrote this song for you because we see you from Russia! Plz respond to our emails!! We like to hear from you!! words 2 song soon as i wayk up in the morning i go to my window i made …

25/10/2008 | 2 Comments | Blog, General Discussion

Only mystics need apply

Always ready to look on the bright side of life, and to see opportunity where others see despair, publishers are rushing out books on the credit crunch. According to a report in The Economist, the financial crisis has spawned a mini-boom in books analysing what went wrong. Already 18 titles are either in the works or already in store.
The rush release of these books challenges the perception of book publishing as a slow industry that is as fast to respond to the market as Paula Radcliffe in an Olympics marathon. When they want to, publishers can turn around a book in a matter of weeks. But, because the supply chain for a book can grind slowly thanks to booksellers’ lack of flexibility on instore display, book publishers need to have more foresight than most and be attuned to the zeigeist to the point that they could make a killing in the Mystic Meg market. read more

14/10/2008 | 1 Comment | Blog, Publishing

Hello, hello I’m back again

Hmmm, that is probably not the best headline for a woman who has just had a baby (it’s a G Glitter song, in case you wondered what I am talking about). But it is appropriate in one way, because I have take a long break from my website thanks to the birth of my daughter – the wonderful Kasia – in July and getting married.
It’s been a busy summer too in the book industry – ebooks finally appear to have reached a tipping point (well, they made it to News at Ten, which is a pretty good gauge of public interest), the global economy has gone into freefall (and hopes of rescue have been scuppered by Republican senators fearful of losing their seats, good to know that they are not motivated by self-interest); Richard & Judy bade farewell to terrestrial TV (more of that at a later date…); and now children’s books are to get Brand Beckham. More of that here… read more

30/09/2008 | 7 Comments | Blog, General Discussion, News, Publishing

The Friday Project and the Rules of Dating (or how to spot a lasting relationship)

I have been thinking for a while about how to address the issue of The Friday Project’s spectacular collapse. I don’t want to get into specifics about the company itself. I have seen the published figures, and from before Christmas things were said to me that made me think this was a shaky operation. I have also spoken to many disgruntled authors and my heart goes out to them.
There were a number of issues that made me rather suspicious of the hype around TFP and, unlike with less “media-friendly” but impressive operations like Snowbooks, fear that some of the coverage, especially in the trades, was failing to look beneath the surface of a company that promised much but when it came to chart performance delivered relatively little.
As I say, I am not going to talk directly about TFP, but think it is worth writing about what one should expect from a small publisher and the warning signs that may signal less substance than style. I am going to call them The Rules of Dating. Some of this may have been useful to TFP authors, some may not. I hope all will be useful for authors being wooed by new set ups in particular. read more

23/04/2008 | 23 Comments | Blog, Publishing

Wake up call

I think our cat Syb has been moonlighting for the movies. Enjoy…

14/03/2008 | 1 Comment | Blog, General Discussion

Always blame the mother?

motherAnother day, another arrest in the case of teenager Scarlett Keeling in Goa: this time the suspect is accused of drugging, raping and murdering the 15-year-old, which suggests the local police have finally accepted the claims of Scarlett’s mother that the girl was murdered. Funny what a media campaign can do to change minds.
Meanwhile in Yorkshire, the media spotlight that fell on the disappearance of nine-year-old Shannon Matthews is rapidly fading. The story of the missing girl – unlike Madeleine McCann a year ago – has rapidly sunk from front page splash to inner page lead to also ran.
Instead coverage in both cases has spun into scrutiny of the lives of the mothers, their partners and where they live. The Mail bursts with indignation at interior shots of the caravans in which Fiona MacKeown is said to live with her “nine children by four fathers” – a fact repeated with the same salacious indignation by tabloid writers as the state of dress in which her poor daughter’s body was found. read more

13/03/2008 | 4 Comments | Blog, News

How to win friends and influence a career

I’m busy. Isn’t everyone? It’s hardly a plea from the heart, though an excuse for keeping the site unfed for some time. One of the things that has taken up my time is teaching a module on the MA in Creative Writing (the novel) at Brunel University. The title of my section is The Novel In Society, but before you go all post-structuralist on me, I should warn you: this is a practical course. The aim is to equip the students with the tools to not only get published, but also to sustain their career – no matter whether they have an agent or how big their publishing house.
I really enjoy teaching the course. They are a very bright, talented and engaging bunch of students, and already a few have agents and offers, which is encouraging. read more

04/03/2008 | 6 Comments | Blog, Publishing

Flash fiction blurbs and a challenge

I have spent the last couple of months editing the next issue of The Deal, the official magazine of The London Book Fair. There is some meaty stuff in it, so when it appears beg, steal or borrow a copy – some will be available at the Fair in April. To illustrate one of my own pieces we needed fake jacket blurbs and book titles (I’ll leave you intrigued about the article’s contents). Well, what fun we had. they are spoofs and any resemblance to real books is entirely coincidental. But I didn’t know you could have so much fun in less than 100 words. Below are my efforts at “flash fiction blurbs”. Now I would love to see your own efforts. Believe me, it is better than writing the whole book…. read more

24/01/2008 | 9 Comments | Blog, Publishing

Pass the caffeine

What is it about pregnant women that brings out the doom-laden scaremonger in scientists and journalists? I say this with more than a sense of self-interest. I am just over three months pregnant. Though I have always rather resented the way the press treats pregnant women as (a) irresponsible, (b) idiots and (c) unscientific, I am now apoplectic.
In today’s press we are treated to the news that “caffeine causes miscarriages”. Oh my God, but didn’t my doctor and my midwife say that the less than one cup a day that gets me out of bed was okay? Have I put sprog at risk? Could that mean that I…and most of the medical profession for that matter….are …ohmygod…wannabe BABY MURDERERS?
Scroll down the story a bit further and you start to see what utter rubbish the headline hailing this research is. The researchers in the US found, says the BBC website, that “compared with non-users [DK: "users"? This isn't smack, for God's sake] “women who consumed up to 200mg [dk: three cups] of caffeine a day had an increased risk of miscarriage – 15% versus 12%”. Er, sorry, run that by me again…15% compared to what? 1%? 0%? 5%? No, 12%. In other words a 3% increased risk…in other words negligible. And if you need more coffee than that a day, maybe you should try an iron supplement. read more

21/01/2008 | 13 Comments | Blog, General Discussion

Heroes of the year

Now we all know who I hate (James Blunt anyone?), but in the spirit of Christmas I thought I would write down a few of my heroes of the year. So here they are:
1. Librarians: for so many reasons. They battle stereotypes and slander, budget cuts and declining book stocks, but still keep going. They are the only point of contact for some – young and old – with books, providing a refuge of words and images to those who would otherwise have starved imaginations. They are also innovators, responsible for the rise of the book club and small town literary festival in the UK. They are truly the heroes of the book world.
2. Doris Lessing: for her response on being told she had won the Nobel. “Oh Christ!”
3. The Darwins: every agent and film producer in the land is after this story. And thank God, it save us from being bored to death by political funding stories and made us all laugh. Canoe believe it!
4. Channel 4: for allowing us to see what a vile person Jade Goody is and reminding us how low our culture has fallen.
5. Bloomsbury and Mina Fry: for telling Asda to get lost when they cut priced the final Harry Potter to a fiver, thus robbing the book industry of much needed profits and sending the message out that books are over-priced

19/12/2007 | No Comments | Blog, General Discussion
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