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Comment from the book world in November 2021

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November 2021

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Why indie publishers are better than conglomerates

29 November 2021

‘By the time you get to a company that's bigger than, say, 300 or 400 people, an amazing amount of the energy that's expended is internal, it's all about filling out forms and attending meetings and setting standards and training and it's got very little to do with publishing. As an editor with a book you really believe in, you don't tell the world about it...

You have to put all your energy into persuading other people in the big companies to do this for you...

We're nimble, we're flexible, we're not numbers driven in the same way, so we can publish books at the optimum time which is best for the book and best for the author and not because we have to fit it in as the 1,000th book that has to slot in with 999 others...

Those in independent publishing have much greater involvement with our authors, and everybody knows what's going on. Everybody meets the authors [and] everybody can read all the books...

It's much more fun... it's much more rewarding and it's much more satisfying.'

Andrew Franklin, publisher of UK indie Profile Books, speaking at a recent IPG (Independent Publishers Guild) conference

https://profilebooks.com/about-profile-books/

 

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What Hollywood needs

15 November 2021

‘What Hollywood needs is more and more content because of all the outlets, but in many cases, before studios buy the rights to a book, they need some form of validation, so they know something is good.

I don't think [exclusively] writing books ever was a way to make a living. I mean, in the old days, authors were doctors and lawyers and had real jobs. Writing was rarely considered a full-time job. The difference is now, there are so many other opportunities for authors to write.'

Peter Gethers, Knopf editor-at-large, who co-produces projects for Universal Studios, STUDIOCANAL and Food Network and previously ran Penguin Random House's book-to-film department.

 

'Writers do not need to be charismatic'

1 November 2021

'One of the shining exceptions in personalities is that writers do not need to be charismatic in their own persons; they are free to be dull by each of the human senses as a void for other, more powerful realities. Some have the ability to dwell almost completely in their imaginations, living vicariously through the stunning characters and fascinating worlds they create by using only words on paper. In this way, people are much like books: we can try judging them by their covers, but alas, there is always the possibility of our being deluded in doing so.'

Criss Jami, author of Killospophy, Healology, Venus in Arms and 4 other books

https://crissjami.wixsite.com/criss-jami