Anecdotal evidence suggests men are more likely to hold senior positions in UK publishing, despite women making up the majority of the workforce. But what are your experiences?Are things getting worse for women in publishing? Insiders speakA 2016 survey in the US found that 78% of the workforce were female, but 40% of senior and…
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Voices from within an industry overwhelmingly staffed by women speak out about senior management that appears increasingly dominated by menHave you experienced a gender gap in publishing? Tell us your storiesWhen Edie and Eddie started work as junior editors in the same corporate book publisher, they had much in common: firsts from Oxbridge and career…
Sarah Perry crowns a much-garlanded year for her gothic romp, honoured alongside authors including Kiran Millwood Hargrave and JK RowlingTwo word-of-mouth bookselling success stories – Sarah Perry’s novel The Essex Serpent and Kiran Millwood Hargrave’s young adult book The Girl of Ink and Stars – have taken the top prizes at the British Book Awards.A…
The President Is Missing will see the former US leader make his prose fiction debut in collaboration with his golf partner the crime writing mega-sellerIn one of the most unexpected literary collaborations to date, former US president Bill Clinton is to publish a novel with bestselling crime writer James Patterson. Titled The President Is Missing,…
The far rightwinger, dropped by the publisher following his comments on child abuse, vows to make lives of ‘professional victims a living hell’After his memoir Dangerous was very publicly dumped by his publisher, hard-right professional provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has announced he will instead self-publish the book – and that he will sue Simon & Schuster…
City of Friends author claims Harry Potter creator’s ‘insatiable desire’ to air opinions on Twitter is threat to literary industryThe author Joanna Trollope has criticised JK Rowling, comparing the Harry Potter writer to Kim Kardashian because of her “insatiable” appetite for social media.Trollope described artists who air their opinions over platforms such as Twitter as…
One would think well-educated, literate people, such as those who are attracted to and working in book publishing, would be able to write a rejection letter without using the dreaded “alas” word. But it’s always there, in letters written by veterans and rookies alike. I’d like to suggest we break the pattern and either use…
On each page of A Universe Explodes by Tea Uglow, owners are required to add one word and remove two – which amounts to an odd reading experienceIt opens with a woman reaching up for a cereal bowl and closes with a new beginning – or at least it does for the moment. By the…
Judge says unauthorised biography ‘deeply violates’ retired politician’s personal rights and sullies his reputationHelmut Kohl has been awarded a €1m (£842,875) in damages over an unauthorised biography that a judge said had “deeply violated” the former German chancellor’s personal rights.Judges in the western city of Cologne ordered the book’s two authors and their publisher to…
After the Scandi noir boom, dark tales from British authors are making waves abroad. Publishers, agents and authors take up the caseWhen ex-paramedic Daniel Cole signed with agent Sue Armstrong, he was “delighted”. When Armstrong bagged him a six-figure, three-book deal from a British publisher he was “in shock”.But after a fierce fight between German…