When is a bestseller not necessarily a bestseller?
bbc.co.uk – Friday September 2, 2022
Authors and publishers all want to sell enough books to have a bestseller. But is a bestseller always actually a bestseller? Not necessarily if a publisher has paid to get on a shop's bestselling shelves, or staff base the rankings on what they predict might be popular.
Books are big business, and 2021 was a boom year. With more people buying and reading books during the pandemic, sales reached a record £1.8bn.
BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme has found that publishers often pay booksellers to be in their stores and, in one case, on its bestselling list.
WH Smith has racks of books in numbered positions under the heading "new and bestselling".
One publisher shared an email trail with Front Row that details its negotiations with the high street chain over a new book.
In the email, WH Smith asked for £2,000 in exchange for promotional space, including a position in the fiction chart - for as long as sales warranted it - and the book of the week slot.
The chain says its book charts are not solely based on how many copies have been sold.
When is a bestseller not necessarily a bestseller?
bbc.co.uk – Friday September 2, 2022
Authors and publishers all want to sell enough books to have a bestseller. But is a bestseller always actually a bestseller? Not necessarily if a publisher has paid to get on a shop's bestselling shelves, or staff base the rankings on what they predict might be popular.
Books are big business, and 2021 was a boom year. With more people buying and reading books during the pandemic, sales reached a record £1.8bn.
BBC Radio 4's Front Row programme has found that publishers often pay booksellers to be in their stores and, in one case, on its bestselling list.
WH Smith has racks of books in numbered positions under the heading "new and bestselling".
One publisher shared an email trail with Front Row that details its negotiations with the high street chain over a new book.
In the email, WH Smith asked for £2,000 in exchange for promotional space, including a position in the fiction chart - for as long as sales warranted it - and the book of the week slot.
The chain says its book charts are not solely based on how many copies have been sold.
How do you know if your writing is considered “literary fiction”?
authorlink.com – Thursday September 1, 2022
Generally, genre or category fiction is more plot-driven, while literary fiction is more character-driven. In either case, the story needs an arc or shape. However, I think of commercial or category fiction as being driven largely by action than by the character’s introspection. In literary fiction one usually finds more detail about how each character thinks and feels as it relates to the storyline. I’d be interested to know how others define the difference.
Wikipedia defines it this way:
New Publisher Listing: Ad Hoc Fiction
firstwriter.com – Thursday September 1, 2022
An award winning small independent publisher specialising in short-short fiction since 2015. Publishes anthologies of micro fiction, novellas-in-flash, and individual collections of flash fiction by local and international authors.
Six Things I've Learned About Writing In My Sixties
crimereads.com – Wednesday August 31, 2022
I’ve been writing all my life but for most of it, it was a secret indulgence, like swimming naked in the sea at night or eating chocolate belonging to my children. Most people who knew me didn’t realise that I wrote, and wouldn’t have been interested if they had. I wrote snippets here and there, short stories and even shorter things that didn’t even warrant the title ‘story’. Observations, notes for characters, there was no pattern to it and no discipline. I had five children and when they were little they slept in a crib on wheels. I could rock the crib with my foot while I lay on the bed propped on my elbow, scribbling in an exercise book.
Guess what, those children grew up! They didn’t fit in the crib any more and I had a bit more space in my life, so I joined a writing class and we formed a group. This was so important to me in those early writing years. Actually reading my work out, getting a response, knowing I’d made someone laugh or cry – they were the best feelings ever. My stories started to get longer and longer in response. Somewhere along the way I gained a Master’s degree in creative writing. I made some good friends but got distracted from writing novels, which was what I really wanted to do.
New Publishing Imprint Listing: Schiffer Fashion Press
firstwriter.com – Wednesday August 31, 2022
An imprint of fashion-related books that provides inspiration, historical reference, and instruction to all areas of the fashion community.
New Literary Agency Listing: Inscriptions Literary Agency LLC
firstwriter.com – Wednesday August 31, 2022
A boutique literary agency which offers representation services to authors who are both published and pre-published. Our mission is to form strong partnerships with our clients and build long-term relationships that extend from writing the first draft through the entire length of the author’s career.
What is a boutique literary agency? A small, but mighty agency that has less than 12 agents. We specialize in quality, not quantity. We limit the amount of clients we take on, in order to give each client our full attention!
Creative Writing and Performance workshops available on Zoom
bordertelegraph.com – Tuesday August 30, 2022
BORDERS Youth Theatre has announced the return of their Creative Writing and Performance workshops.
These have been a new venture for Borders Youth Theatre since lockdown.
The workshops take place on Zoom every Thursday between 18:30 and 20:00.
The first of these workshops is due to take place on September 1.
The leader for the workshops is Kath Mansfield who is a trained English teacher as well as being a published writer, an actor, director, and producer of many performances, both with young people and adults.
Jenny Brown Associates celebrates 20 years and plans debut prize for older writers
thebookseller.com – Tuesday August 30, 2022
Scottish agency Jenny Brown Associates (JBA) is planning to launch a new prize for debut writers over the age of 50, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.
Marking the anniversary at a party at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the agency celebrated its legacy spotlighting mainly Scotland-based writers of fiction, non-fiction and writing for children. To date, it has secured UK publication for 320 books for 90 debut and established writers, and sold rights to publishers globally.
JBA is now a team of four, with Jenny Brown, Lucy Juckes, who represents writing and illustrating for children, rights director Andrea Joyce and new London-based associate Lisa Highton, who was previously a publisher at Hachette imprint Two Roads. The agency will also announce details later this year of a new debut prize for authors aged over 50 "to address the recent bias against older writers".
I’m Starting a Print Magazine for Backpackers: Here’s Why
gearjunkie.com – Tuesday August 30, 2022
Other magazines are closing up for a reason. Trails Magazine is out to solve that.
Magazines like Backpacker have been a part of my identity since college. I started writing for that one in particular during my junior year. Then, I built a freelance writing career with it at the core.
It’s always been the example I’ve thrown out when asked what I do for work. So when Outside, Inc. (parent company for Outside, Backpacker, and others) announced this spring that they would lay off a lot of staff and shift to an online-only presence, I was gutted.
But here’s my dirty little secret: Even I haven’t subscribed to Backpacker Magazine in years.
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