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News stories from the book world in January 2007

2007

Secrets of the ghostwriting fraternity

3 December 2007

Ghostwriting has been very much in the news recently, with the host of celebrity memoirs fuelled by the public desire to read the inside story of the lives of the rich and famous. In October last year the Bookseller reckoned that five of the ten bestselling hardback non-fiction titles in the UK to 9th September were written by someone other than the named author, and that they ha  Read more

Is the Kindle the future of the book?

26 November 2007

So have we arrived at what Evan Schnittman, Oxford University Press's VP of Business Development, called this week in Publishing News 'the most significant moment in the history of e-books'? He goes on to say 'the Holy Grail of e-books - Kindle + Amazon = the first consumer e-book success story'. But it is he right? It may still be too soon to tell.

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A paperback revolution - at last?

19 November 2007

Picador, the literary imprint of Pan MacmillanOne of largest fiction and non-fiction book publishers in UK; includes imprints of Pan, Picador and Macmillan Children’s Books in the UK, has just announced that it will in future launch its new fiction in simultaneous hard and paperback editions, in response to the very poor sales of hardback literary fiction. The majority of its titles will be released in a 1,000 copy hardback edition, with some of these ring-fenced for review purposes.   Read more

Writers Guild of America goes on strike

5 November 2007

At midnight on Saturday the Writers Guild of AmericaAssociation of writers in motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media.  http://www.wga.org went on strike, with what look like extremely well-organised plans to picket the studios. 90% of the Guild's 12,000 members had voted to strike in what has been a slow-brewing dispute.  Read more

Murder made public

29 October 2007

Why is there a compulsive need to write about dreadful real-life murders? And why are their perpetrators sometimes so keen to unveil their crimes?  Read more

No-show for Amazon's Kindle

22 October 2007

Is this just another false dawn for the e-book? Strong rumours that Amazon were about to launch their new Kindle device at the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two. appear to have been just that. But this is not the first time that much-anticipated e-book developments have failed to produce the expected outcome.  Read more

Books for children

15 October 2007

Two big promotions in the UK are doing wonders to promote children's books and children's reading.   Read more

Frankfurt - the global market place for content?

8 October 2007

This week the focus of the international book world will be on Frankfurt and its famous book fair, still the largest and most influential one on the planet. Starting on Wednesday 10th October, more than 7,000 exhibitors from over 100 countries will bring their staff to Frankfurt for several days of frenzied meetings and schmoozing.  Read more

Writing rated top job

1 October 2007

Why is it that becoming a writer has such a hold on the public imagination? As this week's Comment wittily points out, 'The modern writer's life is like a cross between that of the Venerable Bede and Naomi Campbell.'  Read more

'Storm in an agency teacup'

24 September 2007

In a week when the Sunday Telegraph has announced with horror that the latest book by topless model Katie Price (aka Jordan) was outselling the entire Booker shortlist (which will not surprise those familiar with the bestseller lists), London literati have been transfixed by an extraordinary saga involving one of the oldest literary agencies in the world.  Read more

Surviving the 'omnivores and the 'killer store'

17 September 2007

Last week News Review looked at how publishers are reacting to digitalisation. This week will concentrate on how it is affecting bookselling and the outlook for the future.  Read more

Digitalisation - opportunity or threat?

10 September 2007

Digitalisation has become such a huge issue in the book world that News Review will be investigating the latest developments over the next two weeks. First, what are publishers doing about it and how will this impact on writers?  Read more