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Archive
Behind-The-Books Blog
Wednesday Cover Story: Do you see a trend here?
Wednesday, June 30th, 2010
January 2007 August 2008
April 2010 June 2010
The success of The Interpretation of Murder (one of Richard & Judy’s Summer Reads) certainly has spawned similar cover designs on subsequent books. That publishers look to ride on the success of a previous titles by evoking similar designs on their new books is standard practice, but the [...]
World Cup woes..
Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
So, that was it then, England’s (belated) exit from the World Cup. Humph, well can everyone now please put away the plethora of flags, please? Yes, even you Mr Cabbie with your rather ingenious St George flap sock contraptions that go over your wing mirrors.
In a tournament where England really didn’t dazzle, the few goals [...]
Spotlight on The Lit & Phil
Monday, June 28th, 2010
The Guardian ran a lovely little piece over the weekend about The Lit & Phil (a.k.a .The Literary & Philosophical Society). It flagged up this Newcastle Library as a wonderful example of a library which has retained its traditional aura as a sort of home outside your home - a place “where you are implicitly [...]
Hot Guys Reading Books
Friday, June 25th, 2010
Are brains and beauty mutually exclusive? And are good-looking men who are well read a complete contradiction?
On the search for conclusive evidence to prove this is not the case, this website Hot Guys Reading Books has scaled bookshops, libraries and public transport to get to the bottom of this weighty (and very PC) conundrum…
Enjoy!
Lara Crisp, [...]
If it was my home.
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
There’s obviously been a lot in the press recently about the BP oil spill, but as with many things, if it isn’t on your doorstep it’s quite easy to be blazé about the impact. Which is why I’m so impressed with this website which puts the spill into startling perspective. Visit www.ifitwasmyhome.com and you’ll find [...]
Wednesday Cover Story: The new look for Mary Russell…
Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010
There’s a little frisson of excitement in the office this morning, as the new titles in Laurie R King’s bestselling Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series have arrived from the printers…sporting the new cover design which we all adore.
I can tell you the screen shots do not do them justice. In fact, I wasn’t entirely [...]
Roll up, roll up – get your publishing tour here
Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010
There are always some novel ideas being floated as to alternative ways for us publishers to make some money. Could marketing a grand tour of our offices could be one of them? Read this article on Publishing Perspectives.
This piece made me smile, though I’m not completely convinced it would work in practice. Yet it begs [...]
The World’s Smallest Library?
Monday, June 21st, 2010
With evermore cuts placing some libraries under threat of closure, and traditional red phone boxes becoming a thing of the past, I was delighted to come across the news of a community in Somerset with a fantastic idea of combining the two…
They clubbed together to buy the phone booth for just £1 and fill it [...]
Changing Faces
Friday, June 18th, 2010
How people change…
Check this out. Give this familiar-faced darling a guitar and he would have made a respectable frontman for an indie band. Instead, he went into politics.
Lara Crisp, Managing Editor
Wednesday Cover Story: In a Strange Room
Wednesday, June 16th, 2010
The Hidden Dance - the debut novel by actress Susan Wooldridge - was recently reviewed in The Lady magazine (25th May). I’ve already raved about the cover to this book here, so I’m not about to repeat myself. I mention this because I was immediately intrigued by the cover of the book featured next [...]
Father’s Day Treats
Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
With Father’s Day fast approaching, I’ve been wracking my brains trying to think of a suitable present for my lovely dad.
Dad’s always had a bit of a sweet tooth, and recently in Hertford there’s been a bit of excitement about Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe opening, complete with weighing scales, sweets I haven’t seen in [...]
Tough acts to follow
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Working on this side of the publishing industry’s fence I know how difficult it can be to be a debut author. There are so many hurdles to cross and people you need to win over, starting with your agent, to your editor, to the all-important sales team (I would say that wouldn’t I?!) before the [...]
News from the Morganville Vampire Tour…
Friday, June 11th, 2010
It doesn’t have to be ALL about the World Cup you know…
No, there are other exciting things happening this month - such as the Morganville Vampires 2010 UK Tour.
Rachel Caine, bestselling author of the Morganville Vampire series, has been busy for the past two weeks traipsing around the country meeting her legions of Morganville-mad fans. [...]
Kick-ass Literary Girl Power
Thursday, June 10th, 2010
In a world dominated by Katie Price and Amy Winehouse, it’s sometimes difficult to find good role models for young women. Fear not though, because the Brontë sisters are back as you’ve never seen them before!
(For our own gutsy heroines, check out Louise Nightingale in Elizabeth Corley’s books or Charlie Fox in Zoë Sharp’s series)
Lara [...]
Wednesday Cover Story: The age-old issue - UK v US covers
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
It seems this is a recurring theme - the comparison between UK and US covers.
The Book Butterfly blogger recently featured a post which compared UK and US covers for various hit vampire series. Read the post here. We’ve certainly had plenty of comments about our new look for the Morganville Vampire series with the [...]
Is fact stranger than fiction?
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010
I wasn’t sure I believed this image when I first saw it – it looked too much like a film poster or an advert for the latest episode of Dr Who (come back David Tennant, please…!), and if I read about it in a book you’d hear me ‘hmm-ing’ as I flicked the page thinking [...]
Sign of the times?
Monday, June 7th, 2010
Last weekend, I had a lovely but all-too-brief wander through my favourite city, Cambridge. The market square was packed, the sun was (briefly) out and the gorgeous John Lewis (Robert Sayle for those of a certain age it now seems) and Arcade development are still a wonderful novelty to me.
As time was quite short, I [...]
Books and Runner Beans
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Proof that you don’t need a sprawling garden or allotment in order to grow your own veg, Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road has started its very own ‘Urban Garden’ window. Boasting peas, radishes, lettuce and tomatoes, it’s an inspiration to city dwellers and shows you don’t need acres of space to grow your own. [...]
International Towel Day
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010
Last week, in memory of Douglas Adams and his world-famous book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (one of my all-time favourites), people all over the globe carried with them ‘the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have’ – in other words, a towel.
Perhaps more useful in outer space than on the Victoria [...]
Currently we are...
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...reading
The Slap , by Christos Tsolkias Lara: An excellent reading group choice as there’s much to discuss. Clever, yes. Would I recommend it? Not so sure. Very interesting subverting of characters but it’s taken me till around the middle of the book to start really getting in to it.
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