Links of the week April 22 2013 (17)
Our new feature links to interesting blogs or articles posted online, which will help keep you up to date with what's going on in the book world:
22 April 2013
For both of them, it was the lack of creative control and the mismatch between their vision of their work, and that of their respective publishers, that caused them to walk. 'I got a deal with Penguin after 54 rejections,' Ross told the standing-room only session full of new writers and small presses. 'I thought - great, this is it, the golden ticket'. But where I saw my novel as an Irish family story set against the Easter uprising, they saw pink and chic lit.'
Courtney's erience with HarperCollins was similar. 'I tried traditional publishers with my novel Golden Handcuffs in 2004, but they turned it down. So I decided to publish it myself - successfully - which led to an approach from HarperCollins. But their packaging for my second book was completely wrong, so I walked out.'
Rebecca Smart, CEO of Osprey Group: 'The start-up is rapidly becoming the business model of our times. From Silicon Valley to Silicon Roundabout, it seems that everyone wants to emulate the way of working that transformed Google from a bright idea based out of a garage into a verb in less than a decade. The world of publishing is no different. Trade publishers have a long tradition of innovation and of independence - there are many companies which have forged their own destinies in very challenging economic conditions. What we are seeing emerge today, however, is a new breed of start-up publishers who are taking the best practices and principles from the publishing and technology sectors and using them to create companies that could provide the future model for the sector as a whole. 'If the future of publishing lies in more publishers behaving like the start-ups which have shown that a good idea, well executed and with a clear idea of its audience, can conquer the world, then here are five ways they can do it.