Optimism, it’s a beautiful thing
27 June, 2011
Tube advertising isn’t often the most riveting of art forms, particularly if you travel the same route day in and day out, and fall into the habit as I do of getting on and off in pretty much the same points on the platforms. So it’s nice when something does jump out at you among […]
Embrace an indie!
23 June, 2011
While Independent Booksellers’ Week is in full flow, the Guardian are flagging up the humble/brave/nimble (choose your favourite adjective – mine, ‘nimble’) small publishers and presses out there also doing their thang. Read the article here… And it just so happens that last night saw me speaking at the IPG Digital Quarterly meeting at Faber […]
Take the Naipaul test…
13 June, 2011
While I was on holiday the other week I came across an article about VS Naipaul’s recent comments about women writers. That he had the infinite gall to say that writing by women is ‘unequal’ to him is bad enough, but that he picked on Jane Austen in particular was sure to get my goat. […]
Morganville Vampires: The Big Picture…
31 May, 2011
There’s nothing I like more than a visit to the cinema. Big comfy seat, a bag full of my vice of choice (chocolate covered raisins) and a story unfolding on a huge screen – perfect. However, I might be slightly odd in that my favourite part of the cinema experience is usually the 20 minutes […]
Sugar and spice and all things nice…
24 May, 2011
Anyone who has met up with me in the past few months will be more than aware of the fact that I am a very proud Auntie. I am taking my responsibilities extremely seriously and understand that this involves me badgering complete strangers to look at cute pictures and, most important of all, assembling a […]
Bloody Brilliant Marketing
20 May, 2011
One evening last week, following a blood donation appointment, a vivid splatter of blood caught my eye on the undergound. Don’t worry, I wasn’t being picked off à la Morganville after ‘paying my taxes’, it was this rather bold poster advertising Charlaine Harris’ latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead Reckoning. And in a nice little touch, […]
More from Anthony Burgess
16 May, 2011
If you’re a big fan of an author who is now longer with us there’s that disappointing moment when you realise that there is nothing, nada, rien, more to read by them and nothing more in the pipeline. The metaphorical bookshelf has been ransacked and is empty. So good news for devotees of Anthony Burgess […]
Have you got a better title?
10 May, 2011
There’s something of an occupational hazard to working in the publishing industry – it becomes harder to treat a work of fiction as a complete, inviolable entity.
Writers and a Wage
6 May, 2011
I won’t be the first to say that for many authors, writing is not a very profitable line of work. When a book really works, it REALLY works but the number of books published every year (151,969 in 2010 according to Nielsen), nay every week, point us to a more accurate picture. Which is why […]
A Reading Census
28 March, 2011
The other night I dutifully sat down and read through our census forms. Frankly I thought there would be more questions, and more in-depth questions at that. So to fill this woeful lack of insight (or should that be nosiness?) by the Census people, I’ve decided to compile an A&B Reading Census and had a […]
Flipping heck…tomorrow is Pancake Day!
7 March, 2011
Ah, Lent approaches, so we’ll all be clearing out the rich food and other indulgences then? Well, maybe not, but in a nod to past traditions there will certainly be pancakes aplenty chez Crooks tomorrow night – to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, aka Pancake Day! And if pancakes weren’t great enough, chuck doing-some-good-for-charity into the batter-mix […]
An evening with Ayckbourn
1 March, 2011
I was about fifteen the last time I came across an Alan Ayckbourn play. GCSE Drama had many highlights (playing with sound effect tapes, silly drama games, a trip to see Saturday Night Fever with afro wigs all stand out in my memory) but I did thoroughly enjoy a performance we did from Ayckbourn’s Confusions […]
Crowdfunding – what project would you pick?
21 February, 2011
While washing up one evening last week (not glamorous I know, but occasionally one has to take time out from the giddy social whirl) my ears perked up while listening to Radio 4’s Front Row. No, Mark Lawson was not hilariously upsetting any more touchy Hollywood stars as he memorably did last spring, instead some […]
Close, but no cigar
15 February, 2011
There’s something a bit unnecessary about life-time achievement awards, or am I the only one who thinks that? A few weeks ago, Bruce Forsyth picked up a special recognition gong at the National Television Awards, which seemed to do nothing but more firmly cement to his ‘national treasure’ tag. Great actors and writers don’t always […]
Why I Pay a Licence Fee
7 February, 2011
Hoorah for the Beeb, who announced the details last week of their ‘Year of Books’ programming, and it looks like we have some corking programmes coming up. There’s the dramatization of Edwin Drood for one thing, which if it’s half as good as last year’s Little Dorrit will definitely see me tuning in. Anne Robinson […]
Zombies at the office
31 January, 2011
Having spent a good few weeks of my autumn working away on Dr Dale’s Zombie Quiz app, an accompaniment to his hilarious book Dr Dale’s Zombie Dictionary, I feel like my eyes and brain have been attuned to the rather gorier tid-bits one finds on the internet, I’m attracting stuff like a magnet now! And […]
Happy Burns’ Night
25 January, 2011
Burns’ Night (today 25 January) isn’t really my kind of shindig. There’s whisky for one thing, of which I love the smell but can’t stomach at all, and then there’s haggis (repress shudder and move on). And while a raucous célidh might be tempting, I’ll take pity on any prospective dance partners’ toes and bow […]
A bestselling birthday…
17 January, 2011
What do The Return of the Jedi, The Name of the Rose and Jane Fonda’s Workout Book all have in common? Not a lot you would be right in thinking, except for the fact that they all graced the New York Times Bestseller lists the week I was born. Was I born under an (in)auspicious […]
Bookie-quiz for a rainy lunchtime…
11 January, 2011
On a rainy lunchtime, while eating one’s BLT (uninspired and in danger of being trampled underfoot in Tescos at lunchtime, I made an autopilot lunch grab) what one needs is a bit of mental stimulation to chase the cobwebs away. And while browsing The Bookseller’s website I found just the thing – Bent’s Invisibooks (second […]
Getting 2011 off to the right start.
4 January, 2011
As I try to get my brain into gear that we are now in 2011, I realise that my New Year resolutions are a bit thin on the ground. Perhaps I’m a cynic/realist/have the will power of a new born babe but I don’t think there’s much point to my pronouncing commandments such as ‘thou […]
A great book to read, or wear, or…
13 December, 2010
We should stop thinking of ourselves as book publishers. That was one of the resounding lines echoed unnervingly in my head after an ebook conference last week. Too true, of course, when the rise of ebooks is plain to see and digital opportunities for publishers and authors abound. But this thought also coincided with a […]
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