Indie publishers unite for new podcast
thebookseller.com – Sunday August 19, 2018
Canongate, Faber and Profile imprint Serpent's Tail are launching a fortnightly podcast to champion independent publishing, authors and bookshops.
Read Like a Writer is hosted by journalist Anna Fielding and each episode will feature authors recommending their favourite books, often around a theme such as childhood favourites or favourite classics, and talking about their own work. They will also discuss their favourite local independent bookshop and its importance in their lives.
The first episode, featuring Matt Haig, has been released, with Shaun Bythell, Gina Miller, Sarah Perry, Elizabeth Foley and Beth Coates all lined up for future episodes.
ICM Promotes Three to Agents
variety.com – Tuesday August 7, 2018
Talent agency ICM Partners has promoted three to agents.
ICM upped Celestine Au and Madeline Feder to agents in the talent department, and Viviane Telio to agent in the motion picture literary department.
Au started at ICM in 2015, spending two years as a talent department assistant before being promoted to talent department coordinator last year. Au was recognized as one of Variety’s 10 Assistants to Watch in 2017 and is part of Time’s Up Next Gen. She was born in Hong Kong and raised in Shanghai before moving to the U.S. to attend UCLA, where she completed 12 internships and graduated with a degree in communication studies. She is fluent in Mandarin and has traveled to China with ICM agents, acting as an interpreter, and helping the team close deals and sign clients.
Marjacq to push further into the heart of the action in its 45th year
thebookseller.com – Sunday July 29, 2018
Despite concerns about the "Spotification of literature" and the unknowns of Brexit, Marjacq’s director Guy Herbert is in an upbeat mood as he welcomes me to the central London office of the boutique literary agency, which turns 45 this year.
What follows is a more chaotic interview than the average company profile for The Bookseller, as his six-agent team piles into the small meeting space along with their leader. We are forced to conduct the interview in two stages as there are not enough chairs to fit all the staff in, but the conversation that follows is peppered with the words "collegiate" and "collaborative", and it is clear that these phrases are not merely paying lip service.
US audio booms by 29% but overall publishing sales dip
thebookseller.com – Tuesday July 24, 2018
American publishers’ total industry sales dipped slightly in 2017, but audio downloads continued to boom, rising by 28.8% year-on-year.
The Association of American Publishers' (AAP) annual StatShot puts 2017’s industry sales at $26.23bn, showing a slight decline from $26.27bn the year before.
The figures contain publishers’ net revenues from trade, higher education, course materials, school instructional materials, professional books and university press, across all formats from all distribution channels and do not represent retailer or consumer sales figures.
Robertson to leave Faber to start new literary agency
thebookseller.com – Friday July 20, 2018
Charlotte Robertson, sales and marketing director and paperback publisher at Faber, is to leave the company to become managing director of a new literary agency in association with Arlington Management.
Robertson will leave the company at the end of the year and start her own literary agency with Arlington Management, a talent agency which represents people such as Kirstie Allsopp and Ben Fogle. Faber will announce plans regarding the appointment of a successor in due course.
New edition of award-winning mystery writing guide
firstwriter.com – Wednesday July 18, 2018
A new, revised edition of G. Miki Hayden's award-winning guide for mystery writers has just been released, and is now available to buy both in print and as an ebook.
G. Miki Hayden is a long-time member and former board member of Mystery Writers of America, and regularly teaches a mystery writing workshop (and other courses) at Writer’s Digest online university. This third edition of her book, Writing the Mystery: A Start-to-Finish Guide for Both Novice and Professional, provides invaluable step-by-step advice on shaping plots, developing characters, and creating a fast-paced and compelling mystery for the modern market. It includes practical exercises, guidance on how to approach agents and publishers and get your novel to market, and a whole new section on the self-publishing phenomenon that has exploded since the publication of the first edition.
Noirwich Crime Writing Festival set to return for fifth year
edp24.co.uk – Tuesday July 17, 2018
Benjamin Black, Val McDermid, Nicci French and Paula Hawkins are among the authors taking part in the festival which will run from September 13 to 16.
Noirwich is run by the National Centre for Writing (formerly Writers’ Centre Norwich) and the University of East Anglia, and it will see events taking place across Norwich, England’s first UNESCO City of Literature.
Stormzy Launches New Publishing Imprint Called #Merky Books
mixmag.net – Friday July 6, 2018
Grime favorite Stormzy teamed with publishing leader Penguin Random House to create his own publishing house called #Merky Books.
Revealed first on his Instagram, Stormzy also confirmed the first book to be published under #Merky Books will be called Rise Up: The #Merky Journey So Far, which is due out November 1. He's also revealed that he plans to open submissions as well as offer paid internships for students for his publishing channel, all with the shared goal to encourage the next generation of writers.
Writers and publishers trade blows over plummeting author pay levels
theguardian.com – Saturday June 30, 2018
The Society of Authors has issued a sharply worded challenge to the UK’s biggest publishers after the chief executive of the Publishers Association questioned new figures revealing the plummeting incomes of writers, describing them as “unrecognisable”.
A survey of more than 5,500 professional writers for the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) revealed earlier this week that median earnings for professional authors had dropped by 42% since 2005 below £10,500 a year, with the average full-time writer earning just £5.73 an hour, well below the UK minimum wage for those over 25. The number of professional authors, defined as those who spend more than half their working hours writing, also fell, from 40% of all published authors in 2005 to 13.7% in 2018.
Publishers are paying writers a pittance, say bestselling authors
theguardian.com – Thursday June 28, 2018
Philip Pullman, Antony Beevor and Sally Gardner are calling on publishers to increase payments to authors, after a survey of more than 5,500 professional writers revealed a dramatic fall in the number able to make a living from their work.
The latest report by the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS), due to be published on Thursday, shows median earnings for professional writers have plummeted by 42% since 2005 to under £10,500 a year, well below the minimum annual income of £17,900 recommended by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Women fare worse, according to the survey, earning 75% of what their male counterparts do, a 3% drop since 2013 when the last ALCS survey was conducted.
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