In late-2019, I was asked to give a lecture at Kingston University as part of the Masterclass series for their MA in Publishing and Creative Writing about an aspect of the future of publishing. I chose to talk about how publishing can find its place and survive in a world of neoliberal economic ideals – and now I’m totally thrilled that the talk is going to be published!
“Understanding Our Place: Publishing’s role in the reading ecosystem under neoliberal economics” will appear in Essays on Contemporary Publishing and The Culture of Books edited by Richard Bradford, Alison Baverstock, and Madelena Gonzalez, published by Routledge in June 2019. This is my first ever academic publication and I’m pretty blown away by it to be honest. Huge, huge thanks goes to Alison who called my paper in and asked me to give the lecture in the first instance!
Last weekend, Kindle celebrated it’s 10th anniversary (that’s right, we’ve had a whole decade of eBooks now!) In honour of the occasion, I penned a little read-to-read opinion piece for BookBrunch that links together backlist, time travel, and the famous eReading device itself! Don’t forget to click the link for the full FREE article…
This month in publishing, there has been much news from across the pond as BookExpo took place, with tweaks promised for 2018 to try to find the right balance between Expo and Con. The big books of the BookExpo show have been slightly overshadowed, however, by the continuing fuss over the size of advances being paid to American politicians for their books, including $795k for Bernie Sanders and former FBI Director James Comey is looking at a rumoured $10m bidding war.
Big news from Amazon once again this month, as it hit an all-time high in the stock market and revenue from Q1 is up, prompting CEO Jeff Bezos to sell some of his stocks in the business for the largest sum yet. The tech giant’s Japanese expansion continues apace and they are widely considered to be “eating the world”, but all is not well with Amazon’s relationship with publishing. The introduction of a new buy button programme has drawn criticism from publishers and authors alike – including in the independent scene. What’s more, Amazon has this month announced and released a new book chart system, in which – perhaps unsurprisingly – their own books are notably faring better than anyone else’s.
Young describes The Art of Reading as having three strands: autobiographical, philosophical, and “vaguely” sociological. But it quickly becomes clear that his analysis of reading is going to step outside the box…
Yep, that’s right, after a year and a half, over 1700 articles, more than 60 interviews, and literally hundreds of thousands of words, I’ve decided to move on from freelancing and from BookBrunch.
This month in publishing news, there has been an unusual obsession with the smell of books. Not only did scientists pin-point that distinctive smell of second-hand bookshops, but the Guardian discovered what you can tell about an individual book from its smell – and why the scent is so addictive.
It’s the time of the month where I round up all the internet’s top publishing stories and stick them in one place on the BookMachine blog for your perusal! Here’s a sneak peek – don’t forget to visit the BookMachine blog for more…
When BookMachine asked for an opinion, I couldn’t not comment. Read the full article 
