Peter May on revisiting the characters and locations of his hit Hebridean trilogy
Links of the week September 16 2024 (38)
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:
23 September 2024
You're not the first writer to conceive a hero and a setting for a limited number of novels, and then to return to them. What has drawn you back to Fin Macleod and the Hebrides?
When I first wrote the Lewis Trilogy in the earlier years of this century, such was the success of the books - The Blackhouse, The Lewis Man and The Chessmen - that I came under immediate pressure both from readers and publishers to write more. But, in truth, I felt that across the three books I had told the story of these characters and their relationships, and that really there was nothing left to write.
There was, of course, also the fact that in reality, the murder rate on the Isle of Lewis - the setting for the books - averages about one a century. Which is why I had resisted pressure to turn the trilogy into a long-running series in the first place.
Time to move on.
Are book launches an essential marketing tool... or an expensive waste of time?
Like many authors, before signing my first publication deal I'd had a fixed idea of what being published meant.
And it all started off with an impressive launch - glitzy, glamorous, attended by the masses. Admittedly, my ideas were influenced at least in part by Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and the City" whose launch event brought together the great and the good from NYC, decked out in finery and gushing at her fabulousness.
Since those innocent times, I've realised this is far from the case. While prospective big hitters, lead titles and household names may still have publisher-funded launch events, the majority of authors have small gatherings - often self-funded - or opt out altogether.
Rundell wants her readers to love dragons - and John Donne - as much as she does.
LONDON - Dragons never go out of style; so naturally, one of them arcs across the cover of Katherine Rundell's "Impossible Creatures," wings unfurled for maximum glory. That seems to have done the trick: The novel, newly available in the States, was an instant bestseller when it came out in Britain last year. It would be easy to overlook the little guy at the bottom left of the illustration - a baby griffin named Gelifen. He is the last of his kind and the true heart of Rundell's story, in which two kids, Mal and Christopher, must save a magic realm from environmental catastrophe. Griffins are "joy birds," a scientist tells them. "Cornucopial life admirers."
That also describes Rundell, a fellow at St. Catherine's College at Oxford and the latest in that university's celebrated tradition of scholar-fantasists - C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Philip Pullman...
The One on One author describes her writing process, her favourite authors, and why she loves romance
What was the inspiration behind One on One?
When I decided to write a romantic comedy, it felt natural to incorporate sports because they've always been a huge presence in my life. Like Annie, the protagonist of One on One, my dad was a basketball coach for many years, and I went to university at a school with a prominent basketball programme. I knew it would be a fun setting with a lot of room for drama and tension.
Could you tell us about your writing process?
I write at night and tend to draft slowly, just a few hundred words a day. I start with an outline but don't force myself to stick to it fully - I adjust it as I go. I much prefer revising to drafting because I don't feel like I fully understand the book until I've gotten through at least one draft, and I love reshaping it into what I want it to be.
The inaugural International Summit of Audio Publishers (ISAP) drew 137 participants and exhibitors from across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America who discussed current market conditions, the impact of AI, and what is coming next for the audiobook industry. Organized by the Audio Publishers Association, the event was held September 10 in New York City.
The audiobook market in the U.S. is continuing to grow, with revenue increasing by 9%, to $2 billion, in 2023, according to the APA. In Europe the market is also gaining momentum, with 46% of German readers reported having listened to an audiobook or podcast in the past year, and nearly one- third of all French and Spanish readers having done so. Overall, the global audiobook market is estimated to be worth $6.83 billion in 2023 and sales are expected to reach $8.67 billion in 2024, according to Grand View Research.
A typical paperback book accounts for around 1kg of carbon dioxide, according to sustainability expert Mike Berners-Lee, external.
Perhaps that does not sound like much. But in the US alone, where 767 million paperback books were sold in 2023, this is equivalent to the electricity use of more than 150,000 homes for a year.
Forest loss, paper production and printing, and transport of books are generally the largest contributors to the carbon emissions of printed books.
So, using less wood fibre, and shipping lighter loads, are important ways to reduce the emissions of print books (as well as the costs of producing them).
New research by the Booksellers Association, commissioned by Arts Council England, has revealed the "range and depth of bookshop contributions to our culture and society".
New research by the Booksellers Association (BA), commissioned by Arts Council England, has revealed the "range and depth of bookshop contributions to our culture and society", with 92% of indies running activities and events for their local communities, including author events, and 65% supporting local literary and arts festivals.
The Cultural Role and Value of England's Independent Bookshops report was commissioned by Arts Council England in December 2023, and 163 independent bookshops based in England were surveyed in February 2024. A series of in-depth interviews were also conducted with 26 bookshops, and members of a book club were interviewed. A small number of related discussions were conducted with library officials to "gain a closer insight around particular cultural and community collaboration with local bookshops".
The aim of the research was to determine how independent bookshops enrich the cultural and social lives of their communities, as well as identifying enablers and barriers.
New York Comic Con is adding more industry programming-and fewer comics publishers than ever are attending
New York Comic Con is coming back to the Javits Center Thursday-Sunday, October 17-20, and this year's event will be the biggest to date. Retailer Day, with programming aimed at comics retailers, has been added on Wednesday, October 16, on top of Thursday's annual ICv2 conference, presented by industry analyst Milton Griepp, and a full slate of library- and educator-focused programming.
The move inches NYCC closer to a full five-day show and makes it even more of a professional conference than it has been. Yet fewer traditional comics publishers plan to attend than usual, citing skyrocketing exhibiting costs. Of the top direct market publishers, only Marvel is attending. Notoriously high drayage fees at Javits, which make it one of the most expensive venues in the country, are a culprit, as are inflation in general and what some see as a diminished focus on comics publishing at the increasingly pop culture-focused show. That opens up the show floor to collectibles and video game companies, manga and book publishers, and comics startups looking make their mark by filling the empty spaces left by bigger companies.
As someone who has been following the growth of generative AI for a while now, I know that the technology can be pretty good (if not quite human-level) at quickly summarizing complex documents into a more digestible form. But I still wasn't prepared for how disarmingly compelling it would be to listen to Google's NotebookLM condense my recent book about Minesweeper into a tight, 12.5-minute, podcast-style conversation between two people who don't exist.
There are still enough notable issues with NotebookLM's audio output to prevent it from fully replacing professional podcasters any time soon. Even so, the podcast-like format is an incredibly engaging and endearing way to take in complex information and points to a much more personable future for generative AI than the dry back-and-forth of a text-based chatbot.
Google's NotebookLM launched over a year ago as "a virtual research assistant that can summarize facts, explain complex ideas, and brainstorm new connections%u2014all based on the sources you select." Just last week, though, Google added the new "Audio Overview" feature that it's selling as "a new way to turn your documents into engaging audio discussions."
Authors, editors, and booksellers discuss how to reinvigorate middle grade books in a tough attention economy
When market research firm Circana issued a report on the slump in the middle grade market in July, it was not so much a surprise as a continuation of disheartening news for the category, whose sales began trending downward in 2022. According to the research, print unit sales for middle grade books in the first half of 2024 slid by 5% compared to the same period in 2023 (amounting to 1.8 million fewer units sold)-a larger decrease than in the children's category as a whole, which had a 2% decline in the same period. Circana data shows that middle grade books remain the only category in children's that continues to underperform in comparison to 2019 numbers.
More disheartening was the company's consumer research, which indicates "a negative correlation between increased screentime and reading for fun." Professionals across the industry have been feeling the impact of this decline. "The reports don't lie, and I think it's important to acknowledge the data," says Cathy Berner, children's and young adult specialist and events coordinator at Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston and program director for Houston's Bookworm Festival, Tweens Read, and TeenBookCon.
Why the best-selling author has always moved across genres.
I am a bad boy. I have spread mustard on a sandwich as much as ten days after its use-by date. I have loitered where signs are posted that forbid loitering, not because I wanted to loiter; I was in a hurry to be elsewhere, but I wasn't going to let anyone tell me where I couldn't loiter. I have washed garments that I was commanded to "dry clean only." Really, when it comes to obeying the rules, I am a dangerous nonconformist. This has also been true in my writing life, and while I'm not proud of it, I'm not ashamed, either.
When I began to write cross-genre novels with Strangers in the early 1980s, my publishers knew I was doing something unconventional, and they knew they didn't like it, but at first, they couldn't put a name to it or explain why such work made them uneasy.
My debut psychological suspense novel, The Bookseller, sold to Harper in 2013 in a pre-empt. I'm not going to lie-it was an amazing deal. The type of deal that compelled me to ask my husband, when I called to break the news, "Are you sitting down?"
By the time The Bookseller released in 2015, Harper had been throwing around the marketing and PR muscle that every author dreams of. They sent out hundreds of advance review copies. They got reviews in major trades, arranged interviews, pitched the book diligently to booksellers in hopes of seeing it make the Indie Next list (which it did), and ran strategically placed ads. For my part, I hired an outside publicist to help me with social media, because I knew exactly zero about building a platform. I cultivated a loyal following, particularly among book clubs. Librarians and booksellers wanted to get to know me-and with my foot in those doors, I fostered now-longstanding relationships with both groups. None of that turned me into a household name, but it was significantly more than a middle-aged, unknown author from Denver would have ever expected.
It also gave me a sense of having "made it." By all appearances, I had. My agent sold international rights in eighteen countries. For a few glorious weeks, The Bookseller was on the New York Times bestseller list. Julia Roberts's production company, Red Om, came calling, and I happily signed an option agreement.
Easy street, right?
In 2007, after my manuscript had been rejected for the 44th time, a colleague offered to introduce me to a published novelist. It turned out to be Mantel - and I was fortunate enough to soak up her wisdom for the next 15 years
In 2007 I was an aspiring young novelist with a manuscript that had been rejected by 43 literary agents. This was at a time when every single submission - which included a personalised letter, three chapters, a synopsis and a self-addressed envelope enclosed for the rejection slip - had to be printed out and sent by post. Nevertheless I remained optimistic, because the 44th agent I contacted wrote back to me, requesting to read my manuscript in full on an exclusive basis. I was certain this was going to be my big break.
A couple of weeks later, I experienced a whole new level of rejection when my manuscript was sent back to me again, with a polite and emphatic thanks-but-no-thanks cover letter.
The unwanted parcel had arrived just as I was on my way out to work and when I got there, I wept. I firmly believed at the age of 28 that my dream of publication was over. A colleague asked me what was wrong. I told her and she was surprisingly sympathetic. "I know a published novelist," she said. Before I could think to ask, she had offered to facilitate an introduction for me. Perhaps this person could give me some good advice?
Alice Hoffman, author of numerous adult and young adult books including Practical Magic and Aquamarine, has a new middle grade book, When We Flew Away, a historically based imagining of Anne Frank's life before the family was forced into hiding. Young Anne is grappling with her developing identity within her family and community, at times blissfully happy and others deeply contemplative. As she navigates crushes, friendships, and insecurity around her seemingly perfect sister Margo, the shadow of the war and coming danger looms. Hoffman spoke with PW about her relationship with Anne Frank's diary and what the story has meant to her, as well as the challenge of bringing such a well-known historical figure to life.
When did you first discover Anne Frank and how did her diary impact you at that time?
I first read the diary at the age of 12, which I think is a very important age for readers. What you read at 12 affects you more than anything else will. I read her book as the story of a writer and of a Jewish girl. Before this I hadn't seen writing as a possibility for me-in school we only read male authors-so that had a huge impact on me. Her voice is so immediate-it made me feel close to her. I think her voice is the best in literary history.
Another thing that impacted me was seeing that it is possible to write the truth and for a book to be so intimate. I felt that I knew her but also that she knew me. And that's what books are about for me as a reader-and at that age especially it is so important to feel known.
I have a small confession to make: I've never been told I need to cut words from my manuscripts. In fact, I'm the author envious of anyone who needs to do so because I'm the one struggling to get my manuscript up to my target word count. And for a long time, I feared I was the only writer with this issue. So many writing articles and discussions focus on how to cut down an overly wordy novel to fit standard word counts, but I hadn't seen much advice for how to bulk up a manuscript that fell below those expectations.
But over the years, I've found writers with similar struggles. I'm not the only one who starts with a lean first draft that needs to be built up to create a well-rounded story. Neither way of writing is right or wrong-it's truly about what works for you and your process. The important thing is that you understand your genre's word count expectations and why those expectations exist and that you put in the work to add or cut words to create a deep story.
While writing lean can sometimes feel like it's wrong approach, there's absolutely value in it. Writing a lean first draft allows you to see the main points and events that are most central to the story and work to enhance them, rather than having to uncover those main points underneath a mountain of excess words. I'm often told my writing is clear and easy to follow, which I credit to the fact that I write lean initially and build the story from there.
As the Guardian's fiction editor, I've been writing about the Booker prize for years. Now, as a judge, I've seen behind the curtain
As the Guardian's fiction editor, I've been writing about the Booker prize for years. But this time, I was privileged to go behind the curtain, as part of the judging team along with artist and writer Edmund de Waal, musician Nitin Sawhney, and writers Yiyun Li and Sara Collins. The longlisting stage was a delight: choosing the books we wanted to spotlight. (Though of course we'd happily have produced a directors' cut of 30 books or more.) Losing some of them at the shortlist meeting was harder, though as we talked about each book, unanimity fairly quickly evolved. Each of these six novels does something unique; weighing them against each other to find a winner will be trickier still.
For children's authors whose books have been challenged, the repercussions are various and vexing.
Amid the nation's culture wars and deep political divisions, conservatives' drive to control what young people can read has taken on new intensity. The record number of challenges and bans levied on children's and YA books has created an occupational hazard for authors, teachers, and librarians. We asked several authors how having their work targeted has affected their livelihood and their well-being.
Ann Patty on the life of a a successful young editor in New York publishing's golden days
Last spring, Henry Bean, with whom I hadn't been in touch for at least 30 years, sent me an email to tell me that McNally Editions was reissuing his first and only novel, False Match, under its original title, The Nenoquich, as part of its series of "hidden gems." What thrilling news! Most first novels, unless the author goes on to write more, vanish and are never heard of again. And now, 41 years later, the signal novel of my career as a young editor was making a comeback.
As it happened, that email was bookended by the deaths of two book publishing titans who were my models and inspirations: Dick Snyder, the tough, brave, unbookish marketing genius who made his publishing house function like a business; and Bob Gottlieb, the brilliant, erudite, and highly eccentric editor who was without a doubt the most important editor of the second half of the 20th century.
Publishers are starting to catch on to dyslexia-friendly books for adults; now we need more shelf space.
The narrative has changed at last for adult dyslexia-friendly books, and we can't stop now! It is full steam ahead. In 2021, we at BOTH Press started publishing dyslexia-friendly books for adults, and now have more than 21 publications from authors such as Bernard Cornwell, Peter James and Garth Nix. I have been campaigning furiously all this time, to encourage the Big Five UK publishers to do more. I challenged the industry to publish dyslexia-friendly books with my comment pieces for The Bookseller in 2022 and 2023, with the latter asking publishers to produce 1% of their fiction in dyslexia-friendly formats.
At last, one of the Big Five UK has done so, and I am excited where we can go from this. Well done, Bloomsbury-you should be congratulated, and rightly so. This should be a starting gun for more of the leading publishers to follow suit. When 10% of the population has dyslexia, it not just a niche thing, nor a moral thing, but the right business thing to publish a wide range of dyslexia-friendly books for both children and adults.