SnowBlog
31 Oct 2007: Prizes
There are 958 comments on this blog at the moment. Commenter number 1000 will get a Special Prize -a Snowbook of their choice! [Ooooooohhhhh, says the audience].
You have been notified.
posted on October 31, 2007 09:38 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2007: Every day they're getting prettier
The displays are getting more paper-like, the designs are getting sexier, the prices are slowly coming down. e-Readers keep getting better. And you know how fickle people are. Yes, they love books, but once upon a time they were little and they loved playing with a ball or using their imagination to make up games, and then they saw an Xbox and they never stirred from the sofa again. Once upon a time they loved their vinyl records and their cassette walkmans and their portable CD Discmans and their mini-disc players, and then they saw an iPod and now all that other stuff is up in the attic. Are we going to be like the out-of-touch grandparent trying to get kids interested in colouring and board games when what they want is a Playstation Portable loaded with games and a few movies on UMD? Are we expecting them to demand paper books no matter how shiny, jaw-dropping and expensively-marketed e-Readers are?
This one is a Cybook Gen3. It's still a bit tacky. I wonder what these things will look like in four years.
posted on October 31, 2007 01:14 PM | link | Comments (10) | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2007: Today's Alien Teutonic Spamthing
Here's a little more of the offworld Deutsche-spam that I've been receiving lately.
posted on October 31, 2007 10:05 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
31 Oct 2007: Snowcase #37
A special Snowcase today, for it's from one of our own: KatharineC, who keeps our comments rate so buoyant. Katharine is a Snowbooks devotee. Sooner or later she'll actually buy some of their books. (She wrote that, not me.)
The Apocalypse Experiment
This is the story of the last days of the human race, and a scientist's attempt to reverse disaster. It bears less resemblance than you'd think to the film Children of Men.
Continue reading "Snowcase #37" »
posted on October 31, 2007 09:26 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2007: Lists
Ah, lists. They rule my life. It's OK, though - I like them. I particularly like lists of things where the things are people who've done good things, and I'm one of the people. It's embargoed til the 25th, so I'm not allowed to tell you, but I had a phone call today saying I'm on a list that will be announced in November. It's not huge or anything, but it's sure nice to be listed.
Hint 1: it will be announced in a Sunday paper.
Hint 2: oh, email me if you really want to know and I'll tell you, but you're not to write it up anywhere.
//em's update: and it's not Richard and Judy or a book prize. It's just about me me me//
Rob's update:
Em (fidgeting): So can I tell people?
Person: No.
Em: Well, can I blog about about how I'm not allowed to tell anyone?
Person: Errrrrrr...
posted on October 30, 2007 10:56 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2007: No need to be so prickly
Rob and I have had a very pleasant evening talking about books, and when it came time for him to leave, look who was on the doorstep:
Leila has been after one for a while. Will this one do?
Rob's update: That's its dinner it's finishing up there. Which Em puts out for it in the evenings. Also, that's not demonic possession; it's flash photography.
posted on October 30, 2007 09:03 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2007: It does you good
Click
I'm doing a bit of writing at the moment. I've got my laptop set up in the kitchen. This is what I can see from my window. Sorry if it makes anyone jealous. It's pretty much perfect.
posted on October 30, 2007 01:49 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2007: Snowcase #36
Rupert Haigh’s work has appeared in various publications, including Gold Dust, the Ginosko Literary Journal and Twisted Tongue. He lives in Helsinki.
Pretty Girls Make Graves is a murder mystery with thirty-something relationship element. A seemingly fatal car crash draws Giles into an intrigue that leads to the uncovering of decades-old murder and the disintegration of his marriage.
Continue reading "Snowcase #36" »
posted on October 30, 2007 01:09 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2007: Old tech
To continue Em's gilded theme: a golden oldie. I've dug out my Sony Librié from a few years back. Any day now we're going to try the new Sony e-Reader, which I'm hoping will have an even better display. But as you can see, my slightly agéd Librié does very nicely in bright sunshine. It's infinitely better than a laptop or phone display, but there's still room for improvement. And before you all remind me that you'd rather have a paper book, you should know that this is a submission I'm reading, so my alternatives are either a laser-printed brick; break out the guillotine, nipping-press and glue to make my own reader's copy; or read the thing on a computer screen. Oh, and to follow on from our earlier discussions about reading in bed, this gadget doesn't have that verso/recto problem that comes with resting your book on the pillow, where you find that for every other page you have to balance it on its edge - which often leads to holding the book in both hands in the air, the result of which is libric brachial heat loss (or 'cold arms while reading' as it's sometimes known). Whereas with this gadget I can extend just a few fingers of one hand from under the duvet, tightening my grip occasionally to push the 'next page' button.
posted on October 30, 2007 11:34 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
30 Oct 2007: For I am Midas...
And everything I do turns to gold this week.
This is how it's meant to be! Orders piling up, customers getting themselves sorted out and putting our stock out in the right places, cover design work flowing in at just the right level, bit of sunshine, new bag of coffee, everything's right with the world.
Except for one thing.
Continue reading "For I am Midas..." »
posted on October 30, 2007 09:10 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
29 Oct 2007: Never too busy to bring you a bargain
I got this, and they say there's no restriction on the number of people who use it so print it out and fly, people, fly to Borders! Also, whilst you're printing it out, I imagine the rest of this webpage will go with you to Borders. So here's a message to take with you:
Hello, treasured Borders' store manager! You are kindly promoting some of our books this Christmas. They are Cooking with Booze, How to Worry Friends and Inconvenience People, The Red Men, Crafter's Companion, The Fall, Deep Hanging Out, The Killing Art and Monster Planet - all mighty fine books. Please give them extra love, reserve pride of place for them and treat them as your own first-borns - although, of course, be happy to sell them for cash money. Happy Christmas! Love from Snowbooks, your publisher pals. xxx
posted on October 29, 2007 12:20 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
29 Oct 2007: Why I'm posting this when I clearly have other things to do I don't know
Em's bones
but I'm quite excited to report that I appear to be doing well retraining my posture. I am an awful slumper, and I've been trying really hard over the last few weeks to pull my chin in and keep my back straight. Normally I think about it, find that I'm slumping and pull my chin in. Just now, I thought about it and discovered my chin was already in! I was sitting nicely!
Hooray. I have narrowly avoided being a hunchback in my eighties. Phew.
posted on October 29, 2007 11:03 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
29 Oct 2007: Update from Ops
Em
How does it happen? Last Monday I was not doing too badly at all on the tasks front. Now I am SWAMPED.
Continue reading "Update from Ops" »
posted on October 29, 2007 10:21 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2007: Time for some honest sexism
Something for the ladies
Yes, it's probably time for me to admit to being a bit of a sexist. For instance, I'm not an unreserved fan of equal gender rights. I tend to think the world would be a better place if the current gender ratio in high places was reversed rather than equalised. Testosterone is just such volatile stuff that equal rights might be a luxury the world can't afford.
But perhaps more shocking are my views about the attraction between men and women. To my mind, the facts are these: most women spend most of their time feeling cold, especially in bed. Most men aren't much bothered by cold, especially in bed. Men like women because they are nice to have around and attractive-looking, and women like men because they need something to warm their chilly extremities on.
Yes. What I'm saying is that most women are frigid. Just not sexually. And that, I think, explains why the post I wrote about having chilly arms in bed has inspired more comments than any other - and all of them from women.
posted on October 28, 2007 09:59 PM | link | Comments (12) | Leave a comment
28 Oct 2007: More spamthings
I thought I'd share today's unidentified German spam picture. It does look a bit like a desk lamp with a wheel - but instead of a bulb there's a red tube. Is it possible that I'm now getting spam from another planet? In German?
posted on October 28, 2007 01:40 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
27 Oct 2007: Computers. [Hur.] What are they good for? Absolutely...
The solution?
... nothing when it comes to proofreading.
Answer me this, linguistics fans. (That'll be you then, Rob. We really should find some other way of communicating rather than via this blog. If only there were some sort of cable-based system where individual handsets, incorporating both a speaker and microphone, could be allocated a number, and if entered on an associated keypad the handsets could connect to each other? Maybe in the fantastical, far-off future. But I digress.) Is written language so blinking complicated that a computer can't be told all its rules? I thought not. So why do I still have to spend 48 hours proofreading a book manually?
Surely - surely - there must be a program somewhere that automatically flags up things like missing punctuation, capitalised letters where they shouldn't be, inverted commas the wrong way round, hyphens where en dashes should be, doubled up words, words that shouldn't be next to each other and so on?
I should really get on with my Java coursework, then write an application to do it. It can't be that hard.
posted on October 27, 2007 09:16 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
27 Oct 2007: Christmas pricing
So this is one of those posts that I implore you to comment on so I don't have to make decisions on my own. This is the question: how much do you want to pay for our books?
Continue reading "Christmas pricing" »
posted on October 27, 2007 03:43 PM | link | Comments (16) | Leave a comment
27 Oct 2007: Booze, and cooking with it
Aw, lovely Nora's reviewed Cooking with Booze. With pictures, and everything! Thanks, N xx
posted on October 27, 2007 03:40 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
27 Oct 2007: Better than biscuits
Oh, you have to admire it. There's a lot to like about Stephen Fry and I posted a link here when he wrote on his shiny new blog (still with its new-blog smell) about mobile phones, paying particular attention to the complicated kind. Now he's been asked to do a bit more of it for the Guardian. And don't you just love this sort of thing? Before he can get to discussing SmartPhones a few preparatory remarks are called for:
"When WH Auden produced his collection of critical writings, The Dyer's Hand, he first laid out a list of his preferences and predispositions, believing it right that the reader should know what sort of person they were encountering and be able thereby to form a judgment of his opinions in the light of his prejudices. I ought to do the same."
I'm sure he knows how all that looks. Using Auden as a guide for a mobile phone review. I'm sure he realises how preposterously delicious that will seem to a certain sort of person. If, like me, you are that sort of person, then read on: here
And frankly the whole thing is a lot more highbrow than the sort of links Em will steer you towards (see below).
posted on October 27, 2007 07:59 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
26 Oct 2007: Crying with laughter
I know, I'm so sorry - this is not publishing related. And by god I do try (very slightly and with no success) to keep this blog on message, as it were. But please, watch this. It is... funny.
Continue reading "Crying with laughter" »
posted on October 26, 2007 10:48 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
26 Oct 2007: Maintaining the harmonious balance of the universe (amended and moved)
I shouldn't really offer to depress you all (see my previous post) without also offering to cheer you up a bit. Six sentences won't take you long to read. Click here.
I've linked there to a contribution by the amazing Jenn Ashworth, but there are many others to choose from. Reading a six sentence novel/story/thing is something one can do in a tea break and still have time for the tea. More here. Maybe scroll down before you start reading. Pick something you like the look of.
posted on October 26, 2007 12:20 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
26 Oct 2007: Having too much fun
Maybe a later SnowBlog post will mention what I've been up to this morning, but it's been very funny. When life gives you lemons, created a lemon-powered marketing machine, that's my advice. Anyway, enough of being cryptic and silly, I'm afraid this post is actually one of my perennial downers. Sorry for the shift in tone, but this is where the lighthearted bit ends. I want to mention something compellingly unfunny.
Continue reading "Having too much fun" »
posted on October 26, 2007 11:46 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
25 Oct 2007: World of Spam update
But which one is the cat?
Was reading about how one way to cut down on spam comments to blogs is to have people choose all the cats from some pictures of cats and dogs to prove that they're humans. Apparently people prefer clicking on kittens to typing in warpified strings of text. And spammy robots find it difficult to tell a cat from a dog. Stupid robots. There's also a less PC version where you're asked to select the 'hot' people from a grid of photos. Not sure about that. Lowers the tone of the internet if you ask me.
posted on October 25, 2007 06:31 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
25 Oct 2007: The Spam Age
Weird that no one's cracked down on spam yet, isn't it? Either by catching the culprits - because presumably if they remain totally anonymous they can't cash in on their spam. Or you might have expected us to change the way we use e-mail to make spamming more difficult.
Spam is annoying and a fair amount of it you wouldn't want kids (or your mum) to read. But I'm not the first to spot that the way in which spam text constantly evolves to foil spam filters can occasionally result in some surreally zen-like prose. One item I got today actually was poetry. No mention of V1$$agra that I could see. And lately I've started to get a lot of German spam. And since I don't speak German it's even more pointless than most. The picture above was included in the most recent e-mail. I don't even know what that is. Apologies if it turns out to be something rude, but really, spam for things I can't identify in languages I don't speak surely has to be a side-effect of the internet that no one predicted.
posted on October 25, 2007 11:21 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
24 Oct 2007: SnowSnippets
Remember that Fast Show sketch - "You like cheese? You like peas? Well you'll love Cheezy Peas. " I have a similar, although book-related, proposition.
You like the Snowcase? You like Free Things? Well you'll love new SnowSnippets - extracts from our own books. Read this - I bet you a million pounds (well, maybe not a million pounds. I bet you loads) you'll want to buy the book afterwards to read more.
The Needle In The Blood
by Sarah Bower
Epiphany
14th October 1066
The voice doesn’t sound like his, though he can feel its vibrations in his throat. It sobs and growls, bellows and screeches like a cacophony of demons. My name is Legion for we are many. Odo is afraid he’s lost his reason, but if the rumours are true, and William is dead, it might be better to be out of his mind. If Godwinson finds him.
“You said this couldn’t happen,” he yells, in this voice like a cracked bell. The air is thick with smoke where fire tipped arrows have set the grass smouldering. “You were the Wrath of God. How could you die?”
Continue reading "SnowSnippets" »
posted on October 24, 2007 03:51 PM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
24 Oct 2007: It's all relative
Sometimes I think I do a terrible job of running a publishing company.
Continue reading "It's all relative" »
posted on October 24, 2007 02:29 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
23 Oct 2007: Invent me this
Too short
It's getting chilly at night. I suppose I could just turn the heat up and hang the expense but it's quite nice to be tucked up snugly in bed, under warm covers, in a cool room. The problem of course is that books don't hold themselves up, and my arms get cold if I extend them outside the protective cocoon of duvet. I think what is needed is some sort of fingerless opera glove, perhaps made of fleece, that extends all the way up to the shoulder. Do North Face or maybe Arc'teryx make a thing like that do you suppose?
posted on October 23, 2007 09:24 PM | link | Comments (17) | Leave a comment
23 Oct 2007: From Mslexia with love
Thought you might like to read this article from Mslexia:
"Indie publisher Snowbooks is blowing the case for open submissions wide open: using their Snowblog, they are inviting prose submissions to the aptly termed 'Snowcase' and are publishing entries on a weekly basis. "We operate an open submissions policy anyway," says Snowbooks' MD Emma Barnes. [hey, that's me!] "But we get about 30 submissions a week and just can't publish them all. The immediate intention was to give the writing a wider audience - and some extra feedback."
Continue reading "From Mslexia with love" »
posted on October 23, 2007 07:44 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2007: Frankfurt report
So I have bided (bid? bod?) my time in reporting our news from Frankfurt until I had firm things to say. Lots of follow up is still being done, so doubtless more things will be reported on as we go, but here are the main things so far. Guess what's going on here?
Continue reading "Frankfurt report" »
posted on October 22, 2007 06:02 PM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2007: Just step away from the font, sir.
It may sound dramatic, it may sound unimportant. But it is not. Do not use these fonts, ever, for any reason. Why? Because they offend the laws of design. I'm not going to explain any further; it's like having to explain why something's funny to someone with no sense of humour. Just... don't... do it. Please.
//update - I've had to move the picture of the first offending font below the cut because I can't bear to have it on the blog.//
Continue reading "Just step away from the font, sir." »
posted on October 22, 2007 04:57 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2007: I see your glorious sunrise and I raise you a stunning autumn afternoon
Over the weekend Andy and I went to Rousham.
(In reference to the recent discussions about blogs going off on a tangent, this post is publishing-related because a rest is an important part of being productive at work.)
If you look carefully, there's a deer at the end of the lane.
Continue reading "I see your glorious sunrise and I raise you a stunning autumn afternoon" »
posted on October 22, 2007 08:51 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2007: Snowcase #35
Samantha Tonge still chuckles at the memory of her first book. She chuckles at her second - ‘Moon in Taurus’ – but hopefully for the right reasons. It is a romantic comedy.
Charley is suffering from Emperor’s New Clothes Disorder – the signs are all there, she IS in love… Will she see the truth before Miles departs?
Continue reading "Snowcase #35" »
posted on October 22, 2007 08:20 AM | link | Comments (7) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2007: Snowcase #34
Paula is unable to stop herself writing, much to her family's obvious irritation. She lives atop a Brecon Beacon and blames her inability to be sensible on the thin air.
In 'The Adventures of Xanthe Culpepper', Xanthe loses both husband and job to younger women in the same week. Everything seems to be ending. In fact, her adventures are just beginning.
Continue reading "Snowcase #34" »
posted on October 22, 2007 08:18 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
22 Oct 2007: Unsolicited career advice
This morning's dawn
Click to enlarge.
It's been a lot more difficult to sell books this year than last year. The only consolation - if it is a consolation - for what seems like a backward step for us is that everyone else seems to be having a tough time at the moment too. At least among those we speak to, returns are waaaay up.
So every now and again I tease Em about how difficult publishing is and suggest that we both might like to return to our previous jobs where we made tons of money without any real responsibility towards the companies we worked for.
Continue reading "Unsolicited career advice" »
posted on October 22, 2007 07:21 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
20 Oct 2007: Blog tip
I have something to add to Em's suggestions regarding prudent bloglore. In fact it's the main function I perform at Snowbooks. Make sure your blog posts include pictures. I have to confess, though, that it's Anna's rule; I just enact it.
posted on October 20, 2007 07:37 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
20 Oct 2007: Better
The balm of sleep
Amazing what a good night's sleep can do. I have felt wretched - sick, shaky, emotional, fuzzy - all week because last weekend we were still in Frankfurt, and it's been one long unending week since then. And then there was a week's worth of emails to deal with, plus the follow up from Frankfurt, plus a few deadlines for prizes and so forth that needed doing urgently, plus a few meetings that overran massively... it all added up to a bit of an ordeal.
But falling asleep at 8pm and waking up at 9.30am seems to have put it all into perspective. And so, to the dramatic declaration: I am going to have the weekend off. I figure I need a bit of a break. So forgive me if I haven't replied to your email yet; forgive me if there were things I've promised to do by Monday; forgive me if I don't reply to future emails promptly. I'm going to go for a walk to Rousham now, and then Andy and I are going to make soup. I'm going to play with the cats, and see if I can build a shelter for the hedgehogs I saw last week. I may scuff some leaves. I am not going to check emails; I'm not going to check sales figures; I'm not going to blog; I'm Officially Having A Break.
See you on Monday!
posted on October 20, 2007 11:42 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
19 Oct 2007: Important publishing-related video
Er, not really publishing-related. But extremely high quality.
//update// OMG, his name is Snowball! //
posted on October 19, 2007 08:36 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
19 Oct 2007: Well-Red
Congrats to Matthew De Abaitua. Last night was the launch party for The Red Men and it all went very well. In attendance were lots of writers and journalists, all of them passionate readers. Plus I met a couple of slightly crazy girls (who were nevertheless fascinating company) and learned a considerable amount about the art of film direction and the pitfalls of the modern novel as a result. Then Matthew read a little of the book to the grateful throng. And we weren't just paying attention because Matthew had chosen a smutty bit either - smutty but full of literary merit I'd like to stress.
Now looking back on it, I can't imagine why I didn't have a camera with me so that you'all could see what went on. But then again I don't really leave the house that much, never mind haunt urban dens of literary iniquity and hard liquor, and I think I must have been too startled by the bright lights to remember my duty to the SnowBlog readership. Next time though I'll make sure I get some incriminating negatives for our files.
posted on October 19, 2007 05:49 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
19 Oct 2007: More blogging
Here are some of the questions, and my rough responses, from the blogging chat yesterday
Continue reading "More blogging" »
posted on October 19, 2007 08:55 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
18 Oct 2007: Why blog?
So I've been asked to give a talk on blogs. Some really nice people who are running a seminar called 'Reaching Readers Online' have very sweetly said that the Snowblog is quite good, and the other online things we do are quite good too, and so have invited me to talk at it.
It being a talk on blogging, and me having a blog, I thought I'd get a bit fancy. I'm using this blog entry as a way to present the things I'd like to get across. What can possibly go wrong with that, writing (or at least, posting - I'm not typing this live, or that really would be a very dull talk) a blog post in front of an audience of 40-odd, in a hotel where the internet connection is bound to not work when I need it to, when I am completely unable to multitask so can only write or speak at one time - not both? Well, we'll see, won't we?
//update - yup, the internet connection kept failing! Ah, the modern world. Hotels haven't joined it yet.//
Continue reading "Why blog?" »
posted on October 18, 2007 07:01 PM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
17 Oct 2007: Snowcase #33
Alison Bacon left it until she was fifty to set about her ambition of writing a novel. 'Her Father's Daughter' is her second attempt. Her next ambition is to get published!
Who can save Ailsa, as her search for the truth about her father becomes a road to self-destruction?
Continue reading "Snowcase #33" »
posted on October 17, 2007 03:28 PM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
17 Oct 2007: Welsh Lit Abroad
Look at this lovely page celebrating Richard Gwyn's Deep Hanging Out. As an aside, I wonder whether England counts as 'abroad' if you're in Wales.
posted on October 17, 2007 12:15 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
17 Oct 2007: I have absolutely had enough
of returns. I am seriously furious about them today - because of the sheer, utter, bloody wastefulness and stupidity of this industry to still be operating in such a mindless, thoughtless, incompetent way. It's SO RETARDED to print thousands of books, send them on a lorry somewhere, let them sit unboxed in the back room, send them back, pulp them, raise a credit note, publisher doesn't get paid.
Continue reading "I have absolutely had enough" »
posted on October 17, 2007 11:29 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
17 Oct 2007: International Plotting
Look at this superb photo of Sue Hepworth (second on the right) and a book group in Redwood City, California. Sue was over there talking to the group who certainly look thrilled with it.
It gladdens my heart to see such a lovely scene.
posted on October 17, 2007 07:36 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
17 Oct 2007: It's as if they *want* the Booker to be cancelled
I'm secretly rather glad that the Booker winner is such a depressing and inaccessible book - it means my track record of hating most winners of the last 20 years is unbroken.
I'm choosing, today, to see it as a symptom of the publishing industry's malaise. Self-obsessed, inward-looking, we have chosen our book of books and it's "a story of family dysfunction, made distinctive by an exhilarating bleakness of tone". God forbid that anyone should think reading is about enjoyment.
And we wonder why literacy rates in the UK are so low, and why only a fraction of adults read for pleasure.
posted on October 17, 2007 07:13 AM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
16 Oct 2007: Welcome, Mslexians
'Parantly there's a mention of Snowcasing in Mslexia - so welcome, friends, if you're new here. Here's the original snowcase post, and here's more info about it.
Behold! Submit! Enjoy!
posted on October 16, 2007 08:14 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
16 Oct 2007: People just love City Cycling
There's another good review of City Cycling here.
posted on October 16, 2007 09:29 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
15 Oct 2007: Aylett fans get more
STEVE AYLETT and Lord Pin (of LINT fame) are doing stand-up at the Troy Club at CROBAR, Manette Street, Soho, London (near Foyles) on 21 October (with Paul Foot). Books/comics for sale. From around 7.30pm.
(nearest tube Tottenham Court Road)
posted on October 15, 2007 05:10 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
15 Oct 2007: Back!
Hello! Hello! I'm back! Did you miss me?
SO many things to report, but all in good time. I am knee deep in 5000 (count 'em) emails (only 200 of which are not spam, thankfully) so give me a day or two to mow them down. In the meantime, I have only this to say to you:
I have Sarah Bower's new manuscript, all to myself, on my computer, it's mine, mine, mine and I get to read it first. Being a publisher is great.
More sensible posts later.
I'm very pleased to be home.
posted on October 15, 2007 05:04 PM | link | Comments (5) | Leave a comment
14 Oct 2007: FrankfurtFatigue
Carole Cadwalladr has written a bleak and damning and rather nice little article in Guardian Unlimited today about the howling soulless wastes of the Frankfurt Book Fair. I have to say, when she reiterates how few publishers accept manuscripts unless they come from an agent, and then explains that most agents don't accept unsolicited manuscripts either, it does give you momentary doubts about the efficiency and openness of our industry.
Continue reading "FrankfurtFatigue" »
posted on October 14, 2007 08:00 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2007: Congratulations Albert!
Al Gore got a Nobel Prize. W00t! Em and I were talking the other day about whether it was far fetched for Jed Bartlet to be a Nobel Laureate President. Well, if I can't have Jed Bartlet as President, can I please have Al Gore? No? Well, I'd like him anyway.
posted on October 13, 2007 12:44 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2007: Real but difficult to picture
Nothing to do with books, but do you ever find yourself fuzzily recollecting that San Francisco is on a major geological fault? Something stirs up a memory from a textbook or an old documentary and you think to yourself, "Oh yes, that's right. They're due a giant earthquake some day soon, aren't they?"
Continue reading "Real but difficult to picture" »
posted on October 13, 2007 12:18 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2007: (straight) Ladies (and gay men) Only
OK. I think I may have cracked it. I've been trying to figure out ways to persuade people to read Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine and it's not been easy. How best to win people over? Well I think I've finally hit upon a plan that could work for as many as 30% of the book-reading population - nearly all of them women. So, Ladies, you're nicely brought up, you read a lot, maybe you work in publishing - so when it comes to lusting after Hollywood pin-ups do you go with the crowd and choose Brad Pitt or some similar chunk of beefcake, or do you demand a little bit more? Do you instead favour John Cusack? He's smart, he's funny and he has good taste. If he met you, he'd probably like you, right? Oh, but there's a problem. Check out the YouTube video below and you'll see what I mean.
Continue reading "(straight) Ladies (and gay men) Only" »
posted on October 13, 2007 08:53 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
12 Oct 2007: Tracks and trackers
When I moved to the countryside, Em lent me her book of animals tracks and signs so that I could figure out what sort of critters were visiting my garden. I'm a big fan of Ray Mears and was delighted to have one of his books to refer to. Click on the thumbnail and take a look at the cover. There's Ray, and there's his name in bold. But look closely and you'll discover something that it took me more than a week to notice. There are a couple of other names on the cover, in much smaller letters than Ray's name, and they are... the authors. When you see a book with Ray Mear's picture on the cover, it's about tracking and his name is by far the largest on the page, you assume he wrote it. Well I did anyway.
Continue reading "Tracks and trackers" »
posted on October 12, 2007 10:25 AM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
11 Oct 2007: Genre Fiction...
...we're doing more of it. After the fact, it's easy to come up with reasons for that - reasons that sound a bit like strategy. For instance, we're planning to do more non-fiction because it's easier to assess the demand for a title like City Cycling than it is for a general fiction title. And you could say the same about genre fiction. If your target readership already know what they want, then it's a lot easier to give it to them. Whereas trying to titillate the jaded palates of the general fiction reader can - in the nicest possible way - be a little like trying to tempt a grumpy child (or cat*) to eat something. Moreover, 'general fiction' can be a dumping ground for everything that doesn't fit into an established niche, and that makes for a pretty big and disorganised category. The size of the general fiction section makes for tons of direct competition and its use as a catch-all makes it a challenge for the reader to navigate. Arranging authors alphabetically offers no help whatsoever if you don't already have an author in mind - it's just that no obviously superior arrangement suggests itself.
Continue reading "Genre Fiction..." »
posted on October 11, 2007 07:04 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
10 Oct 2007: The un-Britishness of the zealot
So, Em and Anna are in Frankfurt now, and I am left in charge of feeding Em's cats. While they were getting themselves from the Flughafen to the Gasthof I was at the Cheltenham Literary Festival listening to an author speak. Having raved about her recent book, I was delighted that Naomi Klein had decided to make her way from Canada to the Cotswolds so that I could hear what she had to say in person.
Continue reading "The un-Britishness of the zealot" »
posted on October 10, 2007 06:59 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
07 Oct 2007: Making matters worse
Fire extinguisher?
I just sent Em an e-mail and got an out-of-office reply which told me to contact me if it was an emergency. I fail to see how that is helpful. In fact it seems to me like it's asking for trouble. A good job I only wanted to show her a picture of a kangaroo from the newspaper.
Continue reading "Making matters worse" »
posted on October 7, 2007 06:19 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2007: Frankfurt: an out of office blog message.
Frankfurt Book Mess, er, Fair
Anna and I will be at Frankfurt Book Fair from Tuesday night until Sunday night. I will check my email every now and again but won't reply to many on account of being Completely Busy. My phone will work, and the office phone is on divert to my mobile, but again, I won't really have time to chat because of that Busy status we've just talked about. And doesn't it cost a fortune to receive calls when you're overseas? And I prob'ly won't post at all here - you know why.
So if you need anything from me, or need anything doing, before Monday 15th, this is your final chance. Bear in mind that I am going to be frantically busy over the next two days doing all the things I should have done already and haven't. Oops.
Wish us luck!
posted on October 6, 2007 07:43 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2007: Stacie's done it again
Honestly, that woman is amazing. She's got Taking the Plunge mentioned in You & Your Wedding Magazine, "The UK's Best-Read Bridal Magazine".
They write up TTP in their Wedding File at the start of the mag, in their "3 of the best Wedding Day Books". They say: "For an entertaining break, pick up Taking the Plunge by Stacie Lewis (£7.99, Snowbooks) which chronicles her rollercoaster ride of planning her big day."
You and Your Wedding is huge! What a coup!
posted on October 6, 2007 06:40 PM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2007: Choices
I have sent 380 emails this week. Two of them were at opposite extremes.
posted on October 6, 2007 09:12 AM | link | Comments (7) | Leave a comment
05 Oct 2007: Electricity and me
At Leila's (possibly not very serious) suggestion, I thought I might share with you a few electricity-related stories - including times that I have been electrocuted. Disappointingly, the dictionary insists that electrocution is fatal, so perhaps I've only been slightly electrocuted.
Continue reading "Electricity and me" »
posted on October 5, 2007 12:39 PM | link | Comments (10) | Leave a comment
05 Oct 2007: Snowcase #32
Claire is a twenty-nine year old deputy head teacher who has a passion for writing. She is currently working on her second novel.
Under the Ice
As Josh struggles to uncover the mystery surrounding his brother's disappearance on a New Zealand glacier, he reveals a seemingly impossible chain of similar cases tracing back almost a century.
Continue reading "Snowcase #32" »
posted on October 5, 2007 08:43 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
04 Oct 2007: Book-matic? Book-tron? iBook?
CD sales are way down. Just thought you should know. It seems that internet downloads to MP3 players are taking a hefty chomp out of the buy-a-disc-at-the-shops market.
So, that there in the pic is an Irex Iliad. You read books with it. It's get one of those fancy electrophoretic screens. What that means that is that it doesn't look like a computer screen at all. It looks like paper. Not exactly like paper, but as much like it as (say) Bulky News does. The review I just finished reading said that it looks fake - and they meant that in a good way. That's to say you think instead of a screen, someone's stuck a printed label on there instead. But you realise it's not printed paper when the display flips to the next page. It doesn't light up; you read it like a normal book and sunlight doesn't cause it any problems. You can also do other stuff with it like take notes or download new books using its wireless (wi-fi) connection. It's pricey and the software sounds a bit naff, but it's getting there.
Continue reading "Book-matic? Book-tron? iBook?" »
posted on October 4, 2007 08:24 AM | link | Comments (3) | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2007: It's my birthday...
...today, and, as you'll know if you've been paying attention, I am 33.
33 is a good age because of the fact that there are two of the same digits. Like 22, or 11. Next one will be 44, then 55, 66, 77, 88, 99... er, 111! I hope cybernetic* science makes some big leaps of progress soon.
Continue reading "It's my birthday..." »
posted on October 3, 2007 08:13 AM | link | Comments (15) | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2007: Perforate at your peril
Mmmmm
I have a theory that perforations often make a piece of card stronger. The people who make PG Tips, boxes of Tunnock's Tea Cakes and packs of Daily Disposable Contact Lenses might like to consider the implication of that idea vis a vis opening their packaging versus peeling it.
posted on October 3, 2007 07:50 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2007: Good news for a change
Good riddance
You know, I tend to have a bad habit of talking about gloomy or depressing things. My motivation is good: I think that the more people who know about something bad, the more likely it is that it will get fixed. But still, it's a downer. So, for a change I thought I'd share a few items of information calculated to lift the spirits. Firstly, there seems to be good news ahead for all those people, like myself, who can't stand polar bears. Perhaps you find their cubs annoyingly roly-poly, or you think they're too fat-looking - or perhaps you've lost a relative to one of them. Well, help is on the way in the form of man-made climate change. Within thirty years, there'll be no ice at the North Pole in the Summer and the annoyingly pallid bears that live there will be long since extinct. Good riddance to bad bears, I say.
Continue reading "Good news for a change" »
posted on October 2, 2007 04:19 PM | link | Comments (4) | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2007: Whatever
Orion's pants?
So the Bookseller reports on a piece of marketing that Orion are doing for their famous author Lisa Gardner. Sadly the piece is subscription only so I will judiciously choose extracts here to illustrate the point I may get round to making soon.
posted on October 2, 2007 10:50 AM | link | Comments (1) | Leave a comment
01 Oct 2007: Review copies, getemwhilethey'rehotthey'relovely
Hey hey! It's October, so it must be Christmas! And with Christmas comes peace, love and presents.
This week's present? Review copies of our Christmas books! Yes sirree, if you maintain a blog, or magazine, or habitually scrawl your views on life in chalk on the pavement, you are entitled to whichever Snowbooks you like. You're not obliged to like them (although you will) and you're not obliged to talk about them (although, come on, you should) - just email me with your choice (and you're welcome to have more than one!) and I'll pop it in the post.
The Christmas range can be seen in the lovely SnowGlobe on snowbooks.com's homepage.
posted on October 1, 2007 04:32 PM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment
01 Oct 2007: More wonderfulness
Snowbooks' authors (and snowbooks' authors' boyfriends) have been very busy this weekend... just in time for its publication today here's a wonderfully revamped website for How to Worry Friends! Visit www.worryfriends.com now (but only in Firefox as IE is still being tested. [edit: new IE7 is fine.] You should not be using IE, anyway).
(See in that screen grab? Dave Gorman? Dave Gorman contributing to the book? That is the Actual Dave Gorman and *that* is an indication of the highness of quality that you will experience if you click on the Google checkout button NOW.)
posted on October 1, 2007 10:33 AM | link | Comments (2) | Leave a comment
01 Oct 2007: This is going to win awards
This is, in my view, the best promotional campaign for a book that has ever been. Introducing Cooking with Booze and its awesome website and blog - featuring videos like these!
Whisky Glazed Mushrooms from stml on Vimeo.
Buy now: see, no postage or packing charges!
posted on October 1, 2007 10:21 AM | link | Comments (0) | Leave a comment