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22nd November 2024

22nd November 2024

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Opinion from The Bookseller and other columnists. To pitch a comment piece email Molly Flatt.

Editor's Letter

HarperCollins and AI: a brain-training deal to watch closely

This week, HarperCollins became the first of the big trade publishers to agree to a licensing arrangement with a company developing artificial intelligence. It won’t be the last.

READ LETTER IN FULL

Don't just wait

Don't just wait

by Catherine Balavage Yardley

Stuck in querying hell? It’s the perfect time to work on your writing CV.

Listen UP

Listen UP

by Anthony Cond

The university press sector is a courageous and trailblazing part of the books ecosystem—and the breeding ground of many a trade publishing success.

Mind, Body, Spirit books deserve more respect

Mind, Body, Spirit books deserve more respect

by Tania Ahsan

Why is publishing still so sniffy about the Mind, Body, Spirit category when it drives so many sales?

Editor‘s Letter

HarperCollins and AI: a brain-training deal to watch closely

This week, HarperCollins became the first of the big trade publishers to agree to a licensing arrangement with a company developing artificial intelligence. It won’t be the last.

READ LETTER IN FULL

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Most Commented

Free but not easy

Free but not easy

by John Bond

Freelancers are more vital than ever to the book trade, and we need to lift up the best.

After the shock: Kingsolver and Everett win at hope-filled 75th National Book Awards

After the shock: Kingsolver and Everett win at hope-filled 75th National Book Awards

by Gayle Feldman

Barbara Kingsolver and Percival Everett announced winners at the 75th National Book Awards, held in New York.

Popularity contest

Popularity contest

by Chris McCabe

What can we learn from the poets the UK public have voted their favourites?

Making more of microhistories

Making more of microhistories

by Roly Allen

Struggling to categorise that quirky piece of non-fiction? This might just help.

Prize politics

Prize politics

by Bénédicte Eustache

What do this month’s award-winners tell us about the literary landscape?

Ecologies of connection

Ecologies of connection

by Gemma Cairney

Most of history is told through a traditionally colonial and often patriarchal lens, but there are other ways of sharing stories.

We need to talk about redundancy

We need to talk about redundancy

by Sam Humphreys

It’s happened to me twice. Here’s what I’ve learned.

Gravity

Gravity

by Philip Jones

This week, the Booker Prize was awarded to Samantha Harvey’s Orbital (Jonathan Cape), the first time a book set in space has won the award.

Stealth literacy

Stealth literacy

by Rebekah Polding

We need to think differently if we are going to lure kids back to books.

Taylor made

Taylor made

by Kat McKenna

Can publishing learn some lessons from Taylor Swift’s approach to her book?

Category error

Category error

by Elspeth Wilson

Retail categories used for neurodivergent authors are limiting their scope.

Help us thrive

Help us thrive

by Rebecca Gray

Neurodiverse employees have many talents to bring to publishing, if companies are willing to adapt.

All Comments

A wider audience

A wider audience

Nov 8, 2024by Alex Fane

Fane Group’s head on challenging the traditional model of book events, rebuilding post-pandemic and reaching an untapped demographic of readers

The party crashers

The party crashers

Nov 8, 2024by Philip Jones

The publishing industry itself should decide which technologies are allowed into its space.

Uni presses make clean sweep of Oddest Book Title shortlist

Uni presses make clean sweep of Oddest Book Title shortlist

Nov 8, 2024by Horace Bent

The shortlist for the 46th annual The Bookseller’s Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is now ready to be voted on.

A celebrity crime spree

Nov 6, 2024by Penny Batchelor

Covertly ghostwritten books from household names are crowding out professional talent.

The backlist bonus

The backlist bonus

Nov 1, 2024by Anna Hervé

It’s time that literary estates learned from the children’s trade and put their considerable classic backlists to work.

What are publicists to do?

What are publicists to do?

Oct 30, 2024by Lamorna Elmer

The end of "Open Book" offers yet another example of how difficult broadcast media for authors has become.

Full circle

Full circle

Oct 25, 2024by Steph Thwaites

I, together with others, felt there was a need for a Jewish community in publishing to come together, in a way I hadn’t felt before. This was the beginning of The Jewish Publishing Circle.

Is Super Thursday still super?

Oct 14, 2024by Penny Batchelor

Does publishing’s biggest day simply help the same few titles to rise to the top?

Bookshops cannot do what they do in a vacuum

Bookshops cannot do what they do in a vacuum

Sep 20, 2024by Meryl Halls

Bricks-and-mortar stores have proved their worth, particularly since the pandemic, but publishers need to do more to aid the sector.

Double mirror

Double mirror

Aug 5, 2024by Natasha Tripney

With both stage and film versions premiering in Edinburgh, The Outrun showcases different adaptation styles.

Most Read

The most popular pages across the site

New publisher Spines aims to 'disrupt' industry by using AI to publish 8,000 books in 2025 alone

Colm Tóibín’s ‘masterpiece’ named Waterstones Irish Book of the Year 2024

New writing award for authors aged 60+ to prove it’s ‘Never Too Late’

After the shock: Kingsolver and Everett win at hope-filled 75th National Book Awards

Agatha Christie fans gather in Golden Age dress for HarperCollins' sold-out 'A Christie for Christmas'

TikTok owner ByteDance to sell print books from 2025 under publishing imprint

Reshuffle at Hachette for Russell Evans and James Linney

Microsoft launches its own publishing imprint 8080 Books

Richard Flanagan becomes the first author to win both the Baillie Gifford Prize and the Booker

Spredges effect: why books are becoming more beautiful

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