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Comment from the book world in May 2009

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'Women under the radar'

25 May 2009

'Writers like Jeanette Winterson have resisted the lesbian label, but it's never felt like a problem to me. I'm very lucky. I have a lesbian audience but a mainstream one as well...

I use a period landscape we all know well, and put lesbians in it. I think it makes for quite an interesting experience - for straight and lesbian readers alike - to go back into the past, and think, "oh yeah, it's not actually all heterosexual".'

Gays have such an obvious historical record - think about Oscar Wilde. I think this is because male homosexuality was illegal; men were arrested for it, executed for it. Whereas women were under the radar a little. In a way, it was always easier for the mainstream to ignore them.'

Sarah Waters, author of The Little Stranger, in the Sunday Times

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'Free maximises your reach'

18 May 2009

'The enemy of most authors is not that they are not making money, it's that they are not being read. Eighty or 90% of authors don't make a living from it, so why do they write? For other reasons that don't pay the mortgage: attention, reputation and expression. For them, free is great because it minimizes the barriers to entry. Let's say I give the e-book version of Free for free, and 95% of the people experience it for free and then 5% decided they like it so much they want to buy the hardcover to have on their shelf, or give it to someone. You may say: "Well, gosh, that's not very much." But what if it's 5% of 10 million people? That's not so bad. Free maximizes your reach.'

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and Free: The Future of a Radical Price, in the Bookseller

Books in the recession

11 May 2009

'My guess is that it will be 'all change, all stay the same'. The notion that the economic environment will change people 's taste in one sweep I think is fanciful. The usual five celebs will have their 'autobiographies' fight it out at Christmas and everyone will be looking for a zeitgeist humour break out - nothing last year interestingly. In 'serious' non-fiction, there will be the usual motivations for buying: narrative, terrific individuality to the writing, the stories of lives... but here, like everywhere, sales numbers may be allied to keen pricing and awards won . I think there may be a mid year drift toward escapism and jollity. Fathers Day may spearhead this with lots of books about bad behaviour.

Commercial fiction will be interesting. I have a feeling there's changes in taste afoot: a move back to more 'big', 'airport' novels; historical moving into different eras; a real reduction in 'chic'. The established brand authors will be a safe haven and it will be more difficult to persuade retailers to take a chance on new authors. But smart, well packaged, well written books of all types will still sell. How many? That's largely up to us.'

Trevor Dolby, Publisher of Preface at Random House UKPenguin Random House have more than 50 creative and autonomous imprints, publishing the very best books for all audiences, covering fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, autobiographies and much more. Click for Random House UK Publishers References listing

'A dumbed-down genre'?

4 May 2009

So, Cheryl Cole is to write a series of 'chick-lit' novels... Ms Cole is gorgeous and talented... as a singer and celebrity. But can she hack it as a novelist? Does she actually know what it entails? Where's her track record of being able to write 100,000+ words of original fiction?...

I take this very seriously. It's not about 'slagging off Cheryl Cole' (she's seems lovely) - it's about protesting at the decisions made by our leading publishers. My concern is that talented, promising, as-yet-unpublished authors may be ignored because publishers are investing their funds elsewhere, where literary quality does not figure. Tell me that Ms Cole's fine UK publisher won't now reject and forfeit fine unknown novelists on account of having spent a vulgar amount on her advance?

We all know the adage of 'everyone has a book in them' - but how many truly have the commitment, courage, tenacity - and skills - to write a series of novels? Writing a novel is not about 'burning ambition' - where ambition is solely about publication or money or fame. For a novel to be a good novel - and worthy of the generous readers who part with their cash to buy it - it can only arise from the author's absolute desire to write that story out of their system - and being blessed with the necessary talent to do so...

Above all else, we object to the assumption that it's 'easy' to write commercial fiction - that 'chick-lit' (an umbrella term I've always loathed...if anyone called me a chick I'd belt them...) is but a dumbed-down genre that 'anyone' can turn their hand to. It's great commercial fiction, it's perennially popular and there should be quality controls!!!'

Freya North, in a Bookseller blog