April 2011 - Writers Magazine

News Review

• 'The two big spring book fairs in Europe, Bologna and London, have both gone rather well, with packed aisles and a lot of solid business being done. This is all the more surprising because the book business internationally is in something of a crisis. The two big English language markets are both down on book sales, the UK by 3% and the US by a worrying 9%. Although sales of ebooks are growing, especially in the States, this is not yet compensating for the lost print sales.' News Review reports.
• 'Self-publishing has been much in the news recently, with bestselling self-publisher Amanda Hocking deciding to sign up with a publisher, whilst author Barry Eisler has decided to continue self-publishing in spite of receiving a big offer.' News Review looks at the pros and cons of going it alone or signing up with a publisher.
• 'The recent Books and Consumers conference showed some surprising trends in British book-buying, which is catching up on the US as regards e-books. Ebook sales, whilst much talked-about, were still only 1% of the total in 2011. But Kelly Gallagher, Vice President Publishing Services of PubTrack Bowker, the US parent company of Book Marketing Limited, which presented the research, observed that in the US ebook sales had enjoyed a "hockey stick" moment, with a steep rise in sales once devices had become prevalent. News Review at the Books and consumers conference.
• 'In a stunning final judgement, Judge Denny Chin has this week rejected the Google Book Settlement, some 13 months after its final fairness hearing, saying: "In the end, I conclude that the [Settlement Agreement] is not fair, adequate, and reasonable." Chin set a date of April 25th for a status conference, and suggested his concerns with the agreement could be overcome with one simple change. "As the United States and other objectors have noted, many of the concerns raised in the objections would be ameliorated if the ASA were converted from an opt-out settlement to an opt-in settlement. I urge the parties to consider revising the ASA accordingly." News Review on the Google Settlement.
• 'World Book Night was brilliant and World Book Day its usual effective self. But what about the literacy campaign which lies behind the whole operation?
  It is a shocking statistic that one in six people in the UK struggle with literacy. The figure is better in many European countries and worse in the US and many others. What is clear is what a terrible loss this is for them, how it reduces their life chances in every way, barring them from decent jobs and sapping their self-confidence.' News Review reports.
• 'World Book Night is practically upon us, and thousands in the UK will help celebrate it this coming Saturday, 5 March. This year the organisers have broken away from the traditional Quick Reads and book tokens for children - although the traditional programmes are still there - to go for a much larger promotion.' News Review reports.

Comment

• 'Pay a fair price, e-whingers: Talent and experience should cost a just amount of money in a commercial marketplace. Professionals deserve a fair reward. This whingeing, petty, adolescent sense of entitlement to culture and entertainment for free has almost proved the death of recorded music. It must not happen with books.’ Boyd Tonkin, Literary Editor, in the Independent
• 'With a biographical novel you've got the basic structure of the life, you've got a mass of facts. The problem is to find a novel-shaped story to tell, there's no point telling the biographical story, it's been done… David Lodge, author of A Man of Parts on H G Wells, in the Bookseller.
• '"Consider the nature of what happens when we read a book... in private, unsupervised, unspied-on, alone. It isn’t like a lecture; it’s like a conversation. There’s a back-and-forthness about it. The book proposes, the reader questions, the book responds, the reader considers. We bring our own preconceptions and expectations, our own intellectual qualities, and our own limitations too, our own experience of reading, our own temperament, our own hopes and fears, our own personality to the encounter."' Anthony Horowitz quoting Philip Pullman.
• ‘Very often I'm brought to a halt by some ridiculous mistake that hasn't been picked up by an editor, which makes me think there can't be much line-by-line editing going on in publishing houses these days. I don't know that it matters all that much. It makes a lot of people absolutely furious so they can hardly enjoy reading. But for me if what is being said comes clearly across that's what matters. It is a bit pedantic to fuss too much about the editing of detail. On the other hand, it does offend my personal instincts, having been trained in the old-fashioned ways, which meant our texts should be perfect.' Diana Athill, author of Somewhere Towards the End in the Guardian

Writers' Quote

'And as to experience--well, think how little some good poets have had, or how much some bad ones have.'
Elizabeth Bishop