By Candy Gourlay
Hilary Mantel (Photo: Harper Collins)
Go, Hilary!
After winning the Booker Prize a second time (with the second book of her trilogy), Hilary Mantel also grabbed the Costa Prize. £30,000 prize money. Blimey.
Sally Gardner of course won the Children's Costa for Maggot Moon.
Go, Sally !
Mantel's historic win brought back fond memories of the children's book industry's own
The Royal Observatory at Greenwich is a magical place. It houses London’s only planetarium, together with some great spacey exhibits. It’s also where east properly meets west at the Prime Meridian, and home to a wonderful array of telescopes, as well as a splendid earthly view looking out towards Canary Wharf. Finally, you can get there via the Docklands Light Railway which means, if you’re very lucky, you can sit in the front of the front carriage and pretend you’re driving the train out to it.
The daytime view from the Royal Observatory
On Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited there for the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Awards 2010 (thanks to my friend Anna who worked on a series of astrophotography Tutorials to accompany the exhibition). I’m fortunate that in my day job (when I’m not writing Johnny Mackintosh books) I get to travel the world, going to many scientific conferences, so can reveal that all the other scientists are jealous of astronomers because of their beautiful photographs and the way they can capture the public’s imagination.
Fuel Cell Photo, courtesy Avni Argun and Nathan Ashcraft, MIT
The Horsehead Nebula
Would you rather look at this MIT photo of a new fuel cell membrane (of course enormously important research) or of the Horsehead Nebula? However important the science, it’s no contest really. This Horsehead Nebula image won the 2009 Competition for amateur astronomer Martin Pugh. It helps show that, even now in the twenty-first century, amateurs can and do make a great contribution to this particular science.
There were several categories:
Earth & Space
Our Solar System
Deep Space
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Great post, Candy!
Fascinating post. It has made me think a lot and I still know that I am not confident enough to self publish. I need that publisher to validate my writing. I think that says more about me than anything else though.
Fab post - I recall very clearly Greg Mosse telling all of us Creative Writing MA graduates to remember that the industry needs US - not the other way round. As for the gritted teeth bit - oh yeah! It makes me reluctant to say too much about any good news, though.
I have argued often for publishers to work better with their authors, in partnership, not with the publisher occasionally patting the author on the head and saying "Run along now." I've done some self-publishing and it brings me a nice/modest regular income but it has stopped me writing because the publishing/distributing/selling side is so time-consuming. And that has taught me
Great post, Candy - interesting and thought-provoking. I know that Nosy Crow have done an infinitely better job than I could ever have done at packaging, marketing, publicising and selling my book. But I'm sure that the more people are talking about books, buying books and reading books, no matter who wrote them or who published them, the better it is for all of us, because it all creates a
It's interesting, the idea that publishers are the ones with a self-confidence problem - it turns the usual model on its head! I'm a publisher and a writer - how neurotic does that make me now?!?
Bookmarks ... which reminds me to have some more made!
Thanks for the thoughtful ramble. The publishing world is a fascinating mix of the commercial and the sublime ... by definition I guess it's hard to combine doing things for money with doing things for love (something we authors know only too well). When publishers get the balance right it's just magic.
Tis true ... but so much also depends on writing the right book at the right time. How many rejections have you had saying it's not right for their list? I was chatting to an editor friend the other day about a book we both loved which editor friend sadly passed on. The reason? It really wasn't right for their list because it was too similar to a book they'd only just signed.
The good news with this expanding digital world is now more than ever there's a huge need for storytellers.
Yes! I was surprised too! But it didn't surprise me that much... the changes our industry is going through are seismic. Hugely heartened though by the verdict that a lot of great books are getting published anyway.
Independent publishers like Nosy Crow are quickly building author cred because they appear to have more personal engagement with their authors and look positively fleet of foot next to more corporate publishers!
Thanks Colleen!
Lets cheer their success as without the best sellers there won't be any bookshops to sell in<br />And then what?<br />Cheery thought for the day
I found that interesting too. There's probably been quite a few meetings that have begun with 'Right, guys, Amanda Hocking. Discuss.'<br /><br />And Nick - you're doomed.
I've had the 'not right for our list' line quite a few times in the past - then after the fact once met one of the editors who told me just what you said (it resembled the work of another author so they couldn't do it). So perhaps not just a line all the time!