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Comment from the book world in June 2010

June 2010

'The intensity of a short story'

21 June 2010

'I've always loved short stories. The process is probably less anxious than writing a novel. There's something about the intensity of a short story that I love... You can reinvent them all the time (whereas) with the novel there's the huge weight of tradition. There's something about modern life that suits the short story. It's a bit snipped up and jagged and raw and I think stories are like that...

There is a perception that short stories don't sell. But they love them in the US and Canada, and it's changing with the web and webzines. Young people love them. It's time we got rid of that cliche.'

Michele Roberts, author of Mud, in the Bookseller

'Books are not dead'

14 June 2010

'Books are not dead. They may appear besieged, ever more so as fragile retailers hunker down to re-examine their own business models. There may be fewer new titles published over the next several years, which would be no bad thing, and perhaps the opportunity will be open for new writers to self-publish their work in digital form. This may well deprive book publishing of a little of its vitality, but I am confident that the book business will evolve, as it has done for hundreds of years, and will occupy a considerable position as a ongoing and valued medium.'

Laurence Orbach, CEO of Quarto, in the Bookseller

Having mass appeal

7 June 2010

'It's nice! But there is something disillusioning about anything you achieve. It is always a bit of a disappointment when you get something you thought you wanted. I get nervous about characterising myself as successful, because it seems vain and I don't want to frighten the success away.

But it doesn't get me out of running when I don't feel like it. Doesn't solve any marital problems I might have. Doesn't bring my older brother back to life... Literary success only pertains to a slice of your life. It's not really going to make you happy. Happier perhaps.

I do try and remember what it was like writing books in the void, back when I had to worry about whether they were even going to see print. That was not a good place. I am very grateful not to be there. I feel I not only narrowly escaped obscurity but also having to give up writing novels altogether, which would have broken my heart. It is easy to be blase about having a bigger audience. I don't take it for granted.'

Lionel Shriver, whose new book is So Much For That, in the Sunday Telegraph's Seven.