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Comment from the book world in June 2006

June 2006

'Famously nice to all they meet'

26 June 2006

'What is the X-factor that turns a book into a bestseller? They don't just happen by chance. Publishers put their efforts into marketing and publicising a book in a way that will make it stand out from the 200,000 others published every year. Booksellers are wined and dined and critics courted to get the buzz going long before the book appears. At the centre of their efforts is the author, who nowadays has to put as much work into selling themselves as they did into writing their book.

So what do this elite bunch have in common? It's simple. Rankin, McCall Smith and Binchy are famously nice to all they meet, as are Joanna Trollope and Jacqueline Wilson. They are prepared to wait until the last fan's copy of their latest books is signed, and to visit libraries, schools and book festivals in the back of beyond to talk to tiny audiences of enthusiastic readers who will spread the word about them. The result is huge loyalty among booksellers and librarians who are willing to push their work.'

Danuta Kean in the Independent on Sunday

'A slow, frustrating process'

19 June 2006

'Sometimes I fear that some writers want to get published more than they want to write. Being a successful writer is a long apprenticeship. Writing a novel is a slow, frustrating process. It takes time and patience to get it right. Don't send out your work to publishers and agents when you are feeling impatient and frustrated with it. Send it out when you're happy and confident in the work - the difference will show in the writing, trust me. If you play the long game, perhaps go on a course or join a workshop, get some feedback and apply it, you are already giving yourself a better chance of success. In the end write for the sake of the writing, to make the writing, your writing, the absolute best it can possibly be, only then is it really worth reaching for the jiffy envelope.'

Julia Bell in MslexiaStylish and lively site for quarterly UK literary magazine read by 12,000 'committed' women writers. Good range of quality writing, information and advice with news, reviews, competitions and interviews, all presented in a friendly fashion. Praised by Helen Dunmore as 'astute, invigorating and above all an excellent read.' www.mslexia.co.uk

'Publishing is a fortunate business'

12 June 2006

'The tensions between taste and commerce have perhaps never been more stark than they are at present. Many would argue that the pursuit of the supermarkets by the high street chains has disenfranchised whole groups of readers who may well be happy to buy this month's big commercial read or celebrity cook at a discount but also want - and want brought to their attention - work of a more substantial nature, fiction or non-fiction...

'In many ways, publishing is a fortunate business. Technological advance increases the range of opportunities for publishers without making redundant the age-old activity of reading itself. "Delivery" is the vogue word of the moment, and whether it's downloadable, audio, print-on-demand or a good old-fashioned hardcover, the means by which publishers can get closer to their readers has never been greater. That this returns publishers to their own roots - as booksellers - cannot escape attention for long.'

Peter Robinson of newly set up Robinson Literary Agency

Fiction, general non-fiction, popular culture

Documentaries and TV presenters.

No reading fee. Will suggest revision.

in Publishing News

Only a bestseller or a flop

5 June 2006

'Publishing a book in England felt generally more relaxed than America, in the way that Hay is more relaxed than Austin, and Vauxhall than Manhattan. People in England chatter more, and have more outlets in which to do so - Start the Week, newspaper columns, book programmes. Americans simply don't consider books (or culture generally) to be that newsworthy or debatable. And when they do, it is invariably because Oprah Winfrey is somehow involved. Therefore, America seems like a place where you can only write a bestseller or a flop - you're either on Oprah, or you're not. In England, however, it looks easier to be acceptably successful on the back of a review in the Observer simply because so many people read the same paper, and subsequently everyone chats about the same things. In America, there is only one national paper, USA Today, which has roughly the cultural capital of the Daily Mail.'

American author Wesley Stace in Publishing News