firstwriter.magazine final issue - out now
firstwriter.com – Sunday January 21, 2018
This month sees the launch of the last ever issue of firstwriter.magazine.
firstwriter.magazine has been published twice a year since 2002, making it probably one of the longest-running online journals on the internet. All good things must come to an end, however, and issue 32 will be the last issue of firstwriter.magazine. Managing Editor, J. Paul Dyson, gave the following explanation about the decision to end the long-running publication:
Europe's major publishing markets all grew in 2016
thebookseller.com – Tuesday January 9, 2018
Europe's major markets - the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy - all experienced growth in turnover in 2016, according to a Federation of European Publishers' (FEP) report. However, the dive in the British pound following the UK's decision to leave the European Union in June 2016 resulted in flat total annual sales revenue for publishers in the EU and EEA in comparison to 2015, due to strong exchange rate effects.
How Scotland's most successful young publishers are shaking up literary world from their spare room and finding famous fans along the way
dailyrecord.co.uk – Monday January 8, 2018
PUBLISHERS. Gouty old guys in tweed jackets, right?
Wrong.
The days of well-connected chaps who go for long lunches then fall asleep behind the slush pile are over for good.
Scotland’s most successful new publishers are young women with tattoos and Twitter accounts.
Heather McDaid and Laura Jones, the livewires behind 404 Ink, produced the biggest-selling title at the Edinburgh International Book Festival from Heather’s spare room.
Sue Grafton: Alphabet crime author dies aged 77
bbc.co.uk – Sunday December 31, 2017
US crime writer Sue Grafton, best known for creating the private eye Kinsey Millhone in her 'alphabet mystery' novels, has died aged 77.
Her daughter Jamie Clark said she died in Santa Barbara, California, following a two-year battle with cancer.
"She was surrounded by family, including her devoted and adoring husband Steve," she said.
Grafton worked as a television screenwriter before finding widespread success as a crime novelist.
The Wardrobe Is Looking for Books By Women and Non-binary Writers of All Genres
firstwriter.com – Saturday December 30, 2017
As a part of Sundress Publications’ ongoing commitment to female and non-binary authors, Sundress Publications is accepting submissions for a year-round feature, The Wardrobe.
Sundress reads submissions of full-length books and chapbooks from female and non-binary authors year-round. Each week their rotating curators (including Sundress editors and authors) choose one book to highlight as part of their“Best Dressed” series. These highlights include five selections from each book, which are featured daily on the Sundress blog and shared through their social media sites.
The fantastic fiction app Great Jones Street is shutting down
theverge.com – Sunday December 24, 2017
2017 has been notoriously difficult for digital publishers, and the year has claimed a new victim: Great Jones Street, an app-based fiction magazine that curated a ton of great stories that spanned genres. In a post on Facebook, the app’s publisher, Kelly Abbott says that he will shut the publication down at the end of the year, saying that he ultimately “failed to convince enough readers to support it.”
US trade publisher sales flat in first half of 2017, reports AAP
thebookseller.com – Friday December 22, 2017
US publishers' trade book sales were flat for the first seven months of 2017, holding steady at $4,440.2m versus $4,442m for the same period (January - August) in 2016, according to statistics released by the Association of the American Publishers (AAP).
Talking audiobooks
thebookseller.com – Wednesday December 20, 2017
Audio is the "heatseeker" within publishing, and the recent FutureBook Conference was a watershed moment in championing the category. But many issues also surfaced. Expensive recordings, different marketing from print and a new supply chain are just a few; the consequence is that there are as many publishers losing money from audio as there are profitably growing.
Literary fiction under threat, ACE report concludes
thebookseller.com – Sunday December 17, 2017
Arts Council England has pledged to engage with more bookshops, fund more writers and lobby the government to provide tax relief to independent publishers following a report finding that “the general trend for literary fiction is a negative one”.
Fan sends 80s Nobel prizewinning book to modern publishers to make an important point about the book industry
independent.co.uk – Wednesday December 13, 2017
A literary fan has conducted a damning experiment.
Writer Serge Volle sent 50 pages of French author Claude Simon's 1962 novel The Palace, set during the Spanish civil war, to 19 French publishers under the guise of being fresh material.
12 outright rejected the book, while seven never replied, despite the fact that Simon won the Nobel prize for literature in 1985, Volle told French public radio on Monday (via The Guardian).
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