Over the past two weeks, writers and publishing professionals have been riveted by coverage of the trial in which the U.S. Department of Justice is attempting to block Penguin Random House's purchase of Big Five rival Simon & Schuster. Read more
Six months ago, independent publishers Jacaranda and Knights Of were warning publicly that their income had fallen to almost zero. They weren't the only small publishers struggling. With bookshops and distributors closing, a survey from the Bookseller at the time found that almost 60% of small publishers feared closure by the autumn. Read more
I pronounced rather grandly recently that smaller publishers are the delicatessens of the publishing world. We don't publish that much but when we do, it stays with the reader and lingers on the taste buds of the creative mind that bit longer.
If you're in any way a member of the independent publishing community (or a former member, or a recovering member, or an aspirational member), welcome. I hope you and yours are staying healthy and staying home, if able.
A significant proportion of the UK and Ireland's smallest independent presses say their businesses are at risk as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, having seen sales plunge and cash quickly run out. Read more
Paul McVeigh and Kirsty Logan are authors you may have heard of. Both of their debuts were published by Salt, an independent publisher. Paul McVeigh's The Good Son was shortlisted for a bunch of awards, and won the Polari first book prize this year. Read more
"Small presses do take a lot of risks, but talking so closely to John Murray, for instance, they're just as passionate. Yes, they have to factor in a lot more things. They're still taking risks, albeit at a larger scale. There are mainstream presses doing the same thing and publishing new authors, which is great." On seeing The Loney's success, he says: "We have very mixed feelings. Read more
In honor of last month's National Poetry Month, Krystal Languell interviewed 11 poet-publishers for Literary Hub, asking them what it takes to run a small press.
Some highlights:
How many hours per week do you work for small press(es) or other poetry organization(s)? Of those hours, how many are paid? Read more
‘I always quote Kurt Vonnegut. He said in the early part of his career he was dismissed as a science fiction writer and that critics tend to put genre books, including sci-fi, in the bottom drawer of their desk... It's true. I get the New York Times every Sunday. In 37 novels, I've never had a stand-alone review. I'm always in the crime round-up.
A survey of 787 members of the Society of Authors (SoA) has found that a third of translators and a quarter of illustrators have lost work to generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Translators are also more likely to use AI to support their work, with 37% of respondents saying they have done so, followed by 25% of non-fiction writers.
The author Lynne Reid Banks, known for her novel The L-Shaped Room and her children's book series The Indian in the Cupboard, has died at the age of 94.
I launched my podcast Making It Up nearly three years ago with the goal of interviewing writers not for any particular work of theirs, but to talk to them about their lives. I didn't want to ask them what famous author they want to have dinner with or what their top five favorite books are ... yech. Read more
Until we have a mechanism to test for artificial intelligence, writers need a tool to maintain trust in their work. So I decided to be completely open with my readers