SnowBlog
30 May 2007: What's with all the dalek pictures?
Just when you think you've eradicated all traces of nationalism/patriotism from your psyche, along comes Doctor Who. Now granted, the readers of this blog are too mature and complex in their tastes to watch early-Saturday-evening family TV. They're probably thrilling to Rigoletto, or penning a wine review; that sort of thing. They might not even know the TV program to which I refer. Most likely they don't even own televisions. On the other hand, among the riff-raff, and others who should know better, it's surprisingly popular.
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posted on May 30, 2007 04:16 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
30 May 2007: We took the plunge
Last night, Stacie Lewis' launch party for Taking the Plunge was a grand success. Look, even Buffy turned up!
Well, not really Buffy - Stacie's best friend from home who flew in especially. What a star. She features in the novel - full marks to anyone who can guess which character.
It was a great night. Huge thanks to the wonderful Julian and his Pan Bookshop who I left with the washing up, and Anthony who kindly supplied about a year's worth of Mateus Rose. Took me back - and it was, in fact, very refreshing.
AND - because a particularly interesting lady turned up, Stacie might be on't'telly as a result! Watch this space...
posted on May 30, 2007 08:53 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
29 May 2007: 3:AM goes Brazilian
3:AM Magazine, whose Edgier Waters anthology Snowbooks published last summer, has just launched 3:AM Brasil, a Portuguese-language version of the site dedicated to new writing, music and culture from Brazil. In these translation-poor times (the UK has one of the lowest proportions of literature in translation in the developed world), it's great to see such a promising new venue for cultural exchange.
Go check it out - and if you are Brazilian, or know any Brazilians, spread the word.
posted on May 29, 2007 10:44 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
29 May 2007: You are cordially invited...
...to the launch of Stacie Lewis' wonderful novel Taking the Plunge, tonight at The Pan Bookshop. Come one, come all - it will be a great evening!
posted on May 29, 2007 08:38 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
24 May 2007: Second wedding anniversary
I know, it's not publishing. But it is my second wedding anniversary tomorrow (Friday 25th May). There is a link, in a way: without Andy I wouldn't have Snowbooks because my pathetic salary wouldn't even cover the cat food. Or, at least, the cats would be thinner. Also this is a public service announcement: I am having the day off! Repeat, I am having the day off! That means no email, no blogging, no checking sales, no work at all. I am starting to get the cold turkey shakes just thinking about it.
We got married at Polhawn Fort on the south coast, which is the picture here. It was the best day of my life - although I love being married so much, so I have had some pretty smashing days since. We shall spend the day going for a nice walk and a pleasant lunch somewhere, and maybe go to a nice pub in the afternoon.
So happy weekend, everyone. Mine is going to be extra nice.
posted on May 24, 2007 08:20 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
24 May 2007: Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
Well it's all go here, I tell you. Guess what? Both Gilly and James are leaving Snowbooks. Both! They are leaving for entirely different reasons but isn't it just typical that their departures should coincide? In fact, they coincide so precisely that they are both leaving on the same day: Friday 1st June.
[small, choked sob.]
But although it's sad, I am insanely proud of them both and feel a bit like a mother lion watching her cubs growing up. If you see what I mean. I can never do analogy.
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posted on May 24, 2007 04:42 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
24 May 2007: Crafter's Companion: our secret weapon
Check this out. This is the most recent of many excellent reviews of The Crafter's Companion.
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posted on May 24, 2007 09:52 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
24 May 2007: Eye spy
Ooh! Thanks, John AW, for pointing out that Private Eye picked up James' blog post. What fun!
posted on May 24, 2007 09:25 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
23 May 2007: "Endearingly funny, candid and intelligent"
Oh, you.
So although I try to avoid posting things relating to cute overload, because, you know, this is a professional, grown-up publishers' blog, and you don't come here for fluffy 'tocks or spooning ferrets, here is a photo from their site. I like it because although the site owners live in the US, the photo includes a Hackney council tax form. I am getting one of them cages, and a hamster to go with.
Continue reading ""Endearingly funny, candid and intelligent"" »
posted on May 23, 2007 01:42 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
23 May 2007: Lint - Paolozzi Tribute
From Steve Aylett, author of the peerless Lint, we receive news of a recently-discovered Jeff Lint tribute.
Eduardo Paolozzi, the famous sculptor and artist, was apparently a great fan of Lint's work, taking inspiration from books including Jelly Result and One Less Bastard when creating such iconic works as the British Library's Newton, after William Blake, and the proto-Pop I was a Rich Man's Plaything.
However, surely Paolozzi's greatest work is that most derived from Lint's work, and shown above: a representation of The Caterer, Jeff Lint's most baffling creation, in his famous mosaics at Tottenham Court Road Station.
Compare and contrast at Steve Aylett's website, of find out more about Jeff Lint at his Wikipedia page.
posted on May 23, 2007 11:04 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
21 May 2007: Slathering themselves in glory [updated]
So, two organisations who are confounding me at the moment. First is the BBC and second is the International Group for Electronic Commerce in the Book and Serials Sector or the IGECIBSS for short. No wait, they're not called the IGECIBSS for short; they're called Editeur for short and they're the Onix people.
Continue reading "Slathering themselves in glory [updated]" »
posted on May 21, 2007 10:17 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
17 May 2007: What would you do?
I genuinely need your advice. Stop lurking, lurkers, and pitch in.
We really want to print all our books on recycled paper - not just FSC because it still requires perfectly healthy trees to be killed. We asked for a quote from our favourite printers. Here are the two quotes for the same number of units:
FSC: £3,648.67
Recycled: £4,974.88
That's a difference of £1326, which is a lot of money, in anyone's book.
So what would you do if you were me? Go for the not-actually-evil-but-not-ideal FSC? Or shell out for the go-straight-to-heaven-do-not-pass-go recycled? And don't just say 'recycled' without thinking about it. Put yourself in my shoes. Our margins are miniscule; my salary is less than £4000 a year; survival is pretty tough.
Squeaky clean conscience or slightly less crap margin? Principles or profit? You decide.
posted on May 17, 2007 11:50 AM | link | Comments (16) | Leave a comment
17 May 2007: Streetcar
They are the greatest.
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posted on May 17, 2007 09:36 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
16 May 2007: "A tradition of trouble-making stylists from Greene and Dekker through to Defoe and beyond..."
Thanks very much, TO. Memphis Underground is available now from all good bookstores, or you can order it online from Amazon or Abe Books.
In the same issue of Time Out, be sure to check out the excellent interview with friend of Snowbooks, Paul Ewen, some of whose stories appeared in our Edgier Waters anthology last summer. His complete and frighteningly hilarious works are now available (with tasters) at londonpubreviews.co.uk.
posted on May 16, 2007 10:31 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
16 May 2007: "A very interesting blog"
Aw, shucks.
posted on May 16, 2007 07:11 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
15 May 2007: No one minds if I talk about politics, right?
I'm sure politics isn't everyone's cup of tea, as we say here in Edwardian Britain, but it's something I think about a lot, so I thought maybe I'd start sharing the occasional snippet of interest that I come across. If your politics are anything like mine, you might even enjoy that - although you're probably living in a commune without Internet access, so good luck to you. And if your politics aren't like mine, I'm going to put this here green 'P' next to the post to warn you off.
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posted on May 15, 2007 09:51 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
12 May 2007: In which, once again, the effects of caffeine are evident
Have you ever had one of those awkward conversations, where you can see you've upset the person you're talking to and you don't really know why, but you'd still like an answer to the question you asked, but they've gone quiet, so you push them to speak and they say angrily, "Look, just drop it will you!" ?
Well, that's how I feel whenever P.M Blair or Pres. Bush are asked a question about how we got to where we are in Iraq. And it's how I'm starting to feel about climate change.
Continue reading "In which, once again, the effects of caffeine are evident" »
posted on May 12, 2007 06:35 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
10 May 2007: Just for a moment, for a sweet, sweet moment...
That's what two days of getting into the office for 7am gets you. Sweet...
posted on May 10, 2007 05:06 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
09 May 2007: An odd day...
...all in all. Woke up at 5.45am thinking pygmies were playing bongoes at the bottom of the bed. They weren't - it was the cat smashing stuff up, as is her wont.
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posted on May 9, 2007 06:13 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
08 May 2007: This Post Will Save You Two Hours Per Scale Out
...if you happen to be a publisher who receives scale out orders from large retailers and need to send them to LBS. Obviously this is a select population, so more details below should you require them.
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posted on May 8, 2007 03:21 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
08 May 2007: Sarah Bower - guest blogger
Needle author Sarah Bower is the current guest blogger on this month's Historical Romance blog where she talks about 'Needle in the Blood'.
posted on May 8, 2007 11:30 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
08 May 2007: They'll eat your brains for that
Not for the first time I find myself in agreement with Scott Pack. Nick Cohen was searching for an angle for his piece on judging the Blooker, and came out with this charmlessness in the Observer on Sunday:
Continue reading "They'll eat your brains for that" »
posted on May 8, 2007 10:42 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
03 May 2007: Needle launch
Last night we held the launch of Sarah Bower's debut novel Needle in the Blood in the suitably named Hog in Armour pub in Norwich. The turnout was fantastic with over a hundred people crammed into the room. All the copies were snapped up and Sarah was kept tied to her chair, signing the copies whilst being plied with wine.
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posted on May 3, 2007 12:41 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
02 May 2007: BBC interviewing authors from beyond the grave
You'll like this one. I just got a phone call from a very nice lady at BBC News 24, who said they were looking for one of our authors to come on the channel and discuss a recent news report. Cue one very excited publisher, thinking, most likely, of Mark Ames.
Alas, the news report in question concerned the general increase in stress in everyday life, and ways to combat it. Naturally, the BBC wished to turn to an authority in the field, and what greater an authority than the peerless Jerome K. Jerome, author of Snowbooks' bestselling anthology The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow
Sadly, I was forced to relate that Mr Jerome had passed away some time ago, at which the lady expressed her shock and most sincere condolences.
I was, however, able to recommend the services of Tom Hodgkinson, author of the really quite good How To Be Idle
posted on May 2, 2007 04:07 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
02 May 2007: Boo
Boo, I didn't win the young publisher thing. But congrats to Clare C. of The Friday Project who did. Oh well - at least I don't have a hangover as I had to get up early today to get back to London to go to Norwich to launch Sarah's Needle In the Blood - hooray!
Also, it means I don't have to be away for a month and a half - which was part of the prize. I'm sure it would have been fascinating, but six weeks in India, when I can't usually find a spare five minutes, would have been a bit of a challenge. Plus I start every plane ride believing that it's going to end in a firey fireball of fire, so hooray on that count too. (I suppose it is possible to read all this as 'don't want no stupid award anyway' bad grace, but I prefer to see it as looking on the bright side.)
Anyway, you should get back to work. Gill and I won't get back from Norwich until gone midnight, so more tomorrow.
posted on May 2, 2007 11:48 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
02 May 2007: Jon Stewart, I salute you (sometimes literally)
Apologies, but I can't think of any way to make this post relevant to the practice of book publishing (or 'librogenics', as I have just this second decided to call it). Nope. But that shouldn't stop me gushing with gratitude for Jon Stewart, which is what I want to do.
In case you don't know, he's a comedian and hosts The Daily Show (More4, 8:30pm weekdays) over there in America. He's not a 'real' journalist; he presents a fake news show, played for laughs. Except that somehow he does all the things you want real journalists to do. He asks the questions you wish 'real' journalists would ask. And that's where he gets a lot of his humour from, so you can imagine how liberating it feels. So look, just look at what kind of a rough ride he gives U.S. Sen. John McCain here. Wouldn't you pay ready money to see 'real' journalists challenge the P.M. or President Bush that way? And don't you wish that 'real' journalists were half so eloquent?
posted on May 2, 2007 06:57 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment