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Comment from the book world in November 2013

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November 2013

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'Every book is a different country.'

24 November 2013

'Work is the only interesting thing for me if I'm working out on the edge of the unknown. The immediacy of discovery, that's what's interesting to me. Every book is a different country. When I start my fourth, it will be as if I've never written a book before. I'll be completely at sea, and nothing I've ever done before in my life will help me at all.'

Donna Tartt, author of The Goldfinch, in the Sunday Times' Culture

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'Nothing stops from this point onwards.'

18 November 2013

'Contrary to what some media outlets reported last week e-books haven't killed off any publishers: in fact in the main they have led to increased profit margins.

E-book growth has largely sustained trade publishers during the latter years of the big recession, and even if they do now, as some say, 'plateau', profit margins may continue to grow as publishers learn to better manage their inventories and working capital across the rest of their business.

Whatever the look of it, digital is more than just a growth curve. It is a complete re-wiring of the system. In this context the word 'plateau' is not inaccurate, but if it is taken to mean everything stops moving or that we are reaching a stable period, it is an unhelpful term. Nothing stops from this point onwards.'


Philip Jones, editor of the Bookseller, in Futurebook

'Don't ever imagine your mother reading your book.'

11 November 2013

Women should write from the heart, and because they can't not write. I don't think that there is a chick-lit formula: you come across some heroines like Bridget Jones, but mine tend to be bitches. Entertain yourself and don't ever imagine your mother reading your book.'

Adele Parks in The Times

'The nice thing about agenting...'

4 November 2013

'The nice thing about agenting is that you can carry on until you annoy everyone. I'm going to do it until I don't enjoy it. And I do enjoy it, not every single minute, but more than 90% of it. Even the negotiating is good fun up to a point. And that moment you get your authors' new manuscripts, and your heart is in your mouth because you want to be able to love it - that's still the most exciting part...

Publishers as people aren't risk averse, as corporations they are. Often editors would like to buy books that they aren't allowed to. . Years ago, if you wanted to move an author you could always find a publisher who would say "We can do better" - now you get that British builder's response: the sucking through the teeth, the shaking of the head. The thought is "If they can't sell him, how can we?" rather than, 'We can reinvent this author". So all the money goes to the big bestsellers, or debuts, because a debut author has never failed.'

Carole Blake agency Blake Friedmann in the Bookseller