Bibliopique, n. The feeling one experiences when gifted a large pile of good books and although wanting only to lie on a sofa and binge read one is obliged to work instead. For example, ‘I had a terrible case of Bibliopique the day after the Bookollective party.’
Continue readingA wonderful evening at Waterstone’s Tottenham Court Road for the Bookollective Summer Party – an eclectic mix of publishers, publicity people, authors and other book folk: great to see so many old friends and meet new ones. Someone I’ve known of but never really spoken to before was West Camel, editor at Orenda Books, who […]
Continue readingIt’s that time of year again: forget the Man Booker, the Diagram Prize is my favourite book award of them all. The prize celebrates the Oddest Book Title of the Year, and the first winner, back in 1978 is still one of my favourites: Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. The Bookseller (‘the organ […]
Continue readingI was out for a drink with an English teacher tonight, and we discovered a mutual love of the subjunctive. The other women around the table looked at us utterly blankly. While the subjunctive is big in Latin and French (and maybe other languages too, that’s the edge of my knowledge), in English it’s somehow […]
Continue readingOne of the hardest days of the 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge is Day 5: author biography. It’s like writing your CV for that first job: how to come across as confident and credible without sounding cocky? Part of the problem with writing the ‘About the Author’ piece is seeing yourself as an author in […]
Continue readingI was preparing Monday’s podcast today – it’s longer than usual, and chewier too: Cory Doctorow on copyright and creativity. If that sounds like your bag, make sure you listen to the full interview in The Extraordinary Business Book Club on Monday. But in the meantime, here’s one gem from Cory on writing, and why […]
Continue readingOf all the live videos I do in the 10-day Business Book Proposal Challenge Facebookgroup, today’s is always the best attended. Because this is the day of the Big Reveal: when I announce the winner of the publishing deal from all the completed proposals submitted ahead of the deadline earlier this week. Having a prize […]
Continue readingI caught a snippet of Open Book on Radio 4 this afternoon while driving. Mariella Frostrup was complaining about books without chapters. ‘How are you supposed to know when to stop? How do you know when to turn off the bedside light?’ she raged. Good points, well made. Myself, I like short chapters. I like […]
Continue readingAccording to Henry James, anyway: ‘Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.’ And on a day like today you can see where he’s coming from. My Facebook feed is full of people (mostly commuters) complaining about the heat. I have been quietly drinking it […]
Continue readingChild 1 has been desperate to travel home alone from school on the train for months now, and I’ve resisted, driving into Basingstoke to pick her up after every after school club activity. Today, finally, I relented. But rather than let her fly solo immediately I took the train to meet her, and then shadowed […]
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