Blog
One Foot Wrong and Room – two books, same story?
13 August, 2010
Last year we published the uniquely memorable book One Foot Wrong, by Sofie Laguna – a novel both exceedingly dark and exceedingly beautiful, and the kind which lingers with you once you’ve turned the last page. It was (as we never failed to say to anyone we’d speak to about it) unlike anything we’d read […]
Rediscovering Julia Child
12 August, 2010
Earlier this week, I watched the movie Julie & Julia – in which Meryl Streep brilliantly plays the larger-than-life character and American National Treasure, Julia Child. Being the food-lover that I am, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie – not least because I grew up seeing the Joy of Cooking (mentioned several times in the movie […]
Wednesday Cover Story: The Very Many Lives of Pi
11 August, 2010
Not long ago I wandered into Waterstone’s on Gower Street over lunch and lo and behold, who was sitting there merrily signing books, but Life of Pi author Yann Martel. Admittedly, Beatrice and Virgil has not set the publishing world alight, but the author looked unperturbed, happily watching customers stroll past, seemingly unbothered by the […]
The pleaures of direct customer contact
10 August, 2010
The People’s Friend magazine recently picked A Moment of Silence as their Book Club choice for July (including a reader offer if the public bought the book direct from us) and we’ve since been bombarded with calls, cheques and online purchases of said book. Besides the obvious thrill of knowing the moment one of our […]
Interesting public publicity stunts…
9 August, 2010
A few stories have caught my eye recently about publicity stunts in public places, many of which were in New York city (co-incidence? You decide.) First of all, a troupe of improv actors are trying to brighten up everyone’s day by acting out scenes from famous films. Read more here… I don’t know about anyone […]
Root canals, fillings and….fangs.
5 August, 2010
As I thumbed through my free copy of Stylist on the tube yesterday, I came across a rather surprising news story. Apparently, teenagers across the United States have been flocking to cosmetic dentists this summer in order to get….vampire veneers. Yes, you heard right – that’s fangs – at $200 (£135) a pop. The result […]
Wednesday Cover Story: Petition to change a cover
4 August, 2010
Some book covers delight readers, others disappoint, and more often than not there are mixed views on the same one – some like it, some don’t. It’s par for the course. What you don’t expect, is for readers to reaction so strongly to a cover that they set up a petition to change it! but […]
Did you know…?
3 August, 2010
…when not scribbling away on her latest Miss Dido Kent mystery, our author Anna Dean works as a guide showing visitors around William Wordsworth’s house, Dove Cottage? And it looks like it’s going to be a busy summer in Grasmere: poetry workshops, free talks (focusing on the Lake District as seen through the eyes of […]
I'll have a Russian Stoat, please.
2 August, 2010
Doom Bar, Iron Horse and Smild (the latter probably accurately pronounced with a bit of a slur). ‘Why are you throwing these strange words at us Lesley’, you may very well ask, ‘what on earth are they? ‘Beers, of course’, would be my worldly and slightly superior reply. About a week ago I enjoyed a […]
Does my computer do it on purpose?
30 July, 2010
This week has been a bit of a more technical week for me…ie I’ve been glued to the computer working on a lot of web related content ready for our August highlights and also on one of our fab Morganville Vampire Competition prizes, the Morganville Yearbook (School Diary). That means a lot of work in […]
Wednesday Cover Story: The Crash of Hennington
28 July, 2010
An example of a book I picked up solely because of the cover. It lept out at me – how could anyone miss these big and bold colours? The bright pink, offset by a softer band of blue, plus the contrasting yellow of the title – it all works brilliantly together. And then, once your […]
Cathy Lamb and Chocolate-eyed Labs
27 July, 2010
I’ve been chatting on email to our author Cathy Lamb, whose next book Julia’s Chocolates will be available soon. Cathy lives over in the US and was telling me about her recent stay on the Kindness Ranch where her sister is a ranch manager. She described the place so beautifully and sounded like she had […]
Not for the needle-phobic
26 July, 2010
Today, in amongst the usual post that arrived at 13 Charlotte Mews (and the not so usual – a Russian food delivery service also caught my eye…) was a leaflet from the NHS Blood Donation people. Now I am the not- so-proud possessor of a Donor card given that in the past 6 or so […]
Where the Sidewalk Ends
22 July, 2010
I was incredibly suprised to read in The Bookseller that Penguin will be publishing Where The Sidewalk Ends, by Shel Silverstein for the first time in the UK this autumn. Surprised, because I couldn’t believe the book had never been published here before! This book – a collection of quirky, funny and imaginative poems inextricably […]
Wednesday Cover Story: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
21 July, 2010
I can’t get on the tube these days without spotting a poster for the new DVD release of the film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And of course, you will also find the obligatory film tie-in version of the novel by Stieg Larsson in bookstores. The film poster makes an equally effective cover to […]
Market research and free wine…
20 July, 2010
I’m a bit of a sucker for market research. A few years ago I remember being very pleased with myself when I got paid to spend an hour talking about women’s deodorant, but hey, that’s just me. I also spent hours in a MRA scanner doing brain experiments at university, an easy way to make […]
Wedding Fever
16 July, 2010
It’s that time of year when there seems to be a wedding every second weekend and I find myself regularly oohing and aahing over pictures weeks later. But when a friend of mine sent me her wedding photos recently, I was snapped out of white dress ennui. Up and coming photographer, Paul de Vries, is […]
Non-Psychic Pet of the Week
15 July, 2010
Anyone following the World Cup last week will have noticed that by the time the day of the final arrived, team selections, player form, tactics and anything actually football related had been eclipsed by the acres of newsprint and cyberspace granted to Paul, the psychic octopus of Oberhausen zoo who had correctly managed to foresee […]
Colouring in the World Cup
12 July, 2010
So, that it then. The World Cup is over and everyone around the world, even those who detest football, probably won’t be able to avoid the news and pictures of Spain’s win. What many people may not know is that England’s lacklustre performance has had a ripple effect in the publishing world – news is […]
It’s official: I am a Survivor
9 July, 2010
Last night, the rest of the A&B girls and I, sauntered off (yes, we sauntered) to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith to attend the hit show How to Survive A Zombie Apocalypse – an interactive seminar on surviving the undead. If you haven’t seen this show – all I can say is G0. Go now. […]
Fishy reads… (literally)
8 July, 2010
There are a number of anglers in my family. My dad, my husband and my father-in-law are all keen anglers which has its up and downsides. The gutting of fish being one of the latter. But on the plus side, buying birthday presents for any one of them is actually quite easy as I can […]
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