Legend Press

Advent Calendar - Christmas Day!

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS from Lucy, Tom and Lauren

Advent Calendar - 24th December

 

Christmas Song of the Year: We wish you a Merry Christmas!

Christmas tip of the day: Prepare your vegetables tonight to save time tomorrow!

Company best bits of the year: We have enjoyed lots of events at the Phoenix Artists Club on Charing Cross Rd this year including Nick Griffiths two launches for In the Footsteps of Harrison Dextrose and Who Goes There and also a Legend Press and Paperbooks evening. Always friendly the bar's manager Maurice always welcomes us with open arms!

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 23rd December

 

Christmas Song of the Day: Good King Wenceslas

Christmas tip of the Day: It's time to start wrapping your presents!

Company best bits of the Year: This year I have enjoyed organising the Exclusively Independent Initiative to promote books from Independent publishers in independent bookshops. We organised an independent panel of 5 people and selected 9 titles to be promoted this month in shops across London. It is great to see the books on display and we are looking forward to choosing the January titles!

Lauren

Advent Calendar - 22nd December

   

Christmas Song of the Day: Once in Royal David's City

Christmas tip of the Day: Follow a star!

Company best bits of the Year: We have organised lots of successful events this year including the Small Press Fair on Tom's London home turf Stoke Newington! The event included several independent along with Legend Press and Paperbooks including Pluto Press, Maia, Picnic Publishing and Only Women Press. Despite the rain lots of people came to the event, even author Nick Griffiths popped in for a brief while and signed copies of Harrison Dextrose and Who Goes There!

Lucy

Advent Calandar - 19th December

   

Christmas song of the Day: Santa Claus is coming to town

Christmas tip of the Day: Around now is a reasonable time to put those Christmas lights up on the outside of the house...not too early, not too late

Company best bit of the year: Over the year we've had quite a few people on work experience placements with us. With placements varying in length, some have spent a couple or more weeks.  With loads going on each week I'm sure no one has been short of a task or two to do! The help has been greatly appreciated and hopefully all those involved felt their time spent worthwhile! So a big thank you to all those who helped out.

Lauren

Advent Calendar - 18th December

Christmas song of the Day: Mary's Boy Child

Christmas tip of the day: Make a Blue Peter Advent Crown!

Company best bits of the year: 2008 must be the year of heavy lifting at Legend Press and Paperbooks Towers with all the post and boxes going in and out of the office! We are indeed single handedly keeping the Royal Mail in business! This coupled with the almighty move of the office across the road earlier on in the year have lead to larger muscles for all! Tom is even entering himself for the World's Strongest Man after a couple of carrying incidents that almost left him in tears!

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 17th December

 

Christmas Song of the Day: O Little Town of Bethlehem

Christmas tip of the day: Order all your Christmas gifts on our fantastic online shops!

Company Best bits of the year: This year we have been spending lots of time developing the company websites including redesigning the Paperbooks site and expanding the online shops. This is a result of many painful hours of writing and editing html and much brain-ache! Thankfully all our work has paid off with hundreds of people visiting the site everyday, so keep reading to make all the hard work worthwhile!!!!!!!

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 16th December

 

Christmas Song of the Day: Silent Night

Christmas tip of the Day: It's time to finish writing your Christmas cards - Thursday is the last day for second class stamps.

Company best bits of the year: One of the exciting moments of the year was Salt and Honey by Candi Miller being listed in the World book Day top 10 must-reads earlier this year. This was really exciting news for such a brilliant book, with the book promoted in stores nationwide. Candi has continued to publicise the book this year with various events and readings.

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 13th December

 

Christmas song of the day: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Christmas tip of the day: Organise a Christmas party or just go to someone elses if you can't be bothered!

Company best bits of the year: This one happened very recently, but it is great example of a Legend-ism or even a Lauren or Lucy-ism. The other day we were discussing famous ginger people (mainly trying to decide who would play us in a movie of our lives) and Tom searched on the internet and came up with a number including Lenin... to which the normally super-astute Lauren replied 'what one of the Beatles?'

Lucy

Advent Calendar 12th December

    

Christmas song of the day: Away in a Manger

Christmas tip of the day: Time to seriously start thinking about Christmas pressies- Only two weeks to go!

Company best bit of the year: For the first six months of the year, all of our titles had front of shop promotion in a selection of high street stores including Waterstones and Borders. This meant great publicity for the titles and (hopefully) increased sales! What with all of the radio interviews and reviews we've had for the second half of the year, expect publicity to be bigger and better in the new year!

Lauren

Advent Calendar - 11th December

 

Christmas song of the day: Fairy on top of the Christmas tree

Christmas tip of the day: Buy a fairy for on top of your christmas tree

Company best bit of the year: One of the revelations of the year was Tom finally learning how to dress. A couple of months ago Tom invested in a pair of jeans that don't have holes in them. He also invested in a new winter coat, which we were impressed by until we actually saw it and realised itwas three sizes too big and second-hand!

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 10th December

 

Christmas Song of the day: In the Bleak Midwinter!

Christmas tip of the day: Watch a Christmas film... my favourite is Miracle on 34th Street!

Company best bits of the year: This year we have been doing lots of events with libraries across the UK to promote ur books. These include two talks by Mo Foster at libraries in the Kensington area, Candi Miller in Walsall and Wolverhampton, Nick taking part in a bizarre Doctor Who day at Ealing Library and a series of Legend Press group author events as well. We are also working with London Libraries to promote our ReadGeneration and Exclusively Independent campaigns.

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 9th December

 

Christmas Song of the Day: Christmas Time Mistletoe and Wine!

Christmas Tip of the Day: Find a group of carol singers and try to stay and listen to at least one song!

Company best bit of the year: One of the highlights of the year was the success of the first Luke Bitmead Writer's Bursary that was awarded to author Andrew Blackman in July. Andrew will be publishing his debut novel 'On the Holloway Road' with Legend Press at the end of February. It was really exciting to read the work of so many brilliant writers who entered for the bursary. The winner was chosen by Luke's mother and sister (Elaine and Tiffany), Legend Press and best-selling authors Sam Mills and Zoe Jenny.

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 8th December

 

Christmas Song of the Day: Have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Christmas tip: find the most ridiculously lit building near you to give you that Christmas feeling!

Company best bits of the year: One of the exciting advances of this year was creating publishing partnerships with a number of publishers including YouWriteOn, Picnic Publishing and Kingston University Press. We also have a joint venture with the Shashoua Fund and will be publishing our first of series of business books together in 2009.

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 6th December

 

Christmas song of the day: All I want for Christmas is you (Lauren's choice!)

Christmas tip of the day: hang your Christmas wreath on your front door

Company best bits of the year: This year we published our first non-fiction title 'Who Goes There' by Nick Griffiths in October. The book has been getting lots of publicity with Nick doing several BBC interviews, including an interview on the Radio 4 programme Excess Baggage. The book is also been featured on lots of Doctor Who and Sci-fi websites across the world.

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 5th December

 

Christmas song of the day: Fairy on top of the Christmas Tree

Christmas Tip of the Day: Start thinking about buying Christmas presents... there is always the Legend Press and Paperbooks online shops!

Company best bits of the year: Legend Press and Paperbooks have been out and about on the road this year doing lots of different events. One of the most entertaining was our sales day at Eton College with William Coles, author of The Well-Tempered Clavier. It was really interesting to look around the college and meet all the pupils on their college day. The unfortunate side to the event was that it poured down with rain almost the whole day, but despite this we broke our sales record! This was probably down to Bill and Tom's charming sales technique as Lauren and I huddled over the money tin! However, the real hero of the day was Lauren's sister Lily who unwittingly got roped into helping!

Lucy 

Advent Calender - 4th December

 

Christmas Song of the Day: Hark the Herald Angel Sing

Christmas tip of the day: It's time to make your christmas pudding, or buy it from M & S!

Company best bit of the year: One of the exciting advances of this year was Legend Press and Paperbooks beginning to be sold overseas. Our new Irish Sales Rep Geoff has been busy promoting our books across Ireland. This included getting Fire Horses promoted front of shop in Irish airports and getting A Son Called Gabriel named BookCentre Irish book of the month for November. Who Goes There by Nick Griffiths is also being promoted and sold on Doctor Who and Sci Fi sites in Australia and USA.

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 3rd December

 

Christmas song of the day: The Holly and the Ivy

Christmas tip of the day: It is time to get your Christmas tree, whether it be a real one or the traditional plastic one in the loft!

Company best bits of the year: One of the most exciting things this year was in September when we given some Arts Council funding to help us organise two innovative projects which have made headlines in the trade press. The first is a scheme called 'Exclusively Independent' that promotes the talents of Independent publishers in Independent book shops and the second 'ReadGeneration' promotes reading for 18-30 year olds (an often forgotten generation for major publishers). Lauren has been working very hard in the last few months arranging and attending events - she also gave her first ever presentation to a massive crowd in Leeds!

Lucy

Advent Calendar - 2nd December

 

Christmas Song of the day: Frosty the Snowman

Christmas Tip of the day: Wrap up warm its freezing outside!!!!!!!!!!

Company best bits of the year: Maybe not a best bit... but something we make look back and laugh about in the future (well maybe!) The heating in our new office has been broken for the last week and it is absolutely freezing! Our core body temperatures have dropped so low that we are working in hats, scarves, gloves, many jumpers...basically any woollen product we can get our hands on. I chose this picture today in the hope that the handy man will come soon and save us... hopefully the picture is a prophecy of what is to come...

Lucy

Christmas Advent Calendar - 1st December

 

Christmas song of the day: Jingle Bells!

Christmas tip of the day: It is time to eat your first mince pie... of course assuming that you haven't already!

Company best bits of the year: One of the best moments of the year was when we acquired Paperbooks in April! It is fantastic to be working on their fantastic and broad range of titles and we have enjoyed meeting all the new authors throughout the year. One of the highlights has to be organising and attending our first Paperbooks book launch of Fat Tuesday by Gary Davison in Newcastle! Fun was had by all and Tom even let us travel first class on the train... which I am assured will never be happening again!

Lucy

Emma Seaman debates the Booker

Legend Press author Emma Seaman has been invited to take part in one of Waterstones ‘Great Booker Debates’ next week, to coincide with the announcement of this year’s Man Booker Prize winner.

Six local authors have each been given one of the shortlisted books to read and on Tuesday evening will go head-to-head in a public debate - after which the audience can vote for their Booker winner.

Emma chose Devon-linked author Phillip Hensher’s ‘The Northern Clemency’, a huge 738-page doorstop of a novel which covers 20-odd years and dozens of characters…

"I'll be working hard to win the debate," says Emma, "Booker prize blogs show that 'The Northern Clemency' is lagging behind in the popularity stakes, maybe because readers are intimidated by the sheer size and scale of the work! But the Booker is never predictable, and with some really unusual novels on the list this year, it's going to be a fun evening for the speakers and the audience."

The event takes place at Torquay Library on Tuesday 14th October - from 7pm.

The Man Booker Prize 2008 shortlisted novels are:
Aravind Adiga The White Tiger (Atlantic)
Sebastian Barry The Secret Scripture (Faber and Faber)
Amitav Ghosh Sea of Poppies (John Murray)
Linda Grant The Clothes on Their Backs (Virago)
Philip Hensher The Northern Clemency (Fourth Estate)
Steve Toltz A Fraction of the Whole (Hamish Hamilton)

This year's judging panel is chaired by Michael Portillo former MP and Cabinet Minister. He is joined by Alex Clark, editor of Granta; Louise Doughty, novelist; James Heneage, founder of Ottakar's bookshops and Hardeep Singh Kohli, TV and radio broadcaster.

YouWriteOn to Publish 5,000 Writers for Free

Arts Council funded YouWriteOn.com (YWO), a UK site with leading publishers involved to find and develop new literary talent, is offering to publish the first 5,000 writers who contact them for free. Utilising advances in technology, YWO has launched the offer to make the dreams of thousands of writers a reality and to help revolutionise the publishing market.

YWO was funded in 2006 by the Arts Council as the first literary site of its kind to discover new writing talent through feedback from writers and readers from the general public. It now works with publishers such as Random House and Legend Press, and each month the site’s highest rated writers receive free feedback from publishers, as well as YWO adding a number of other services.

Boasting over 10,000 members, the site’s recent successes include a six-figure Random House deal for writer Douglas Jackson with his novel Caligula, a two book Penguin deal for a novel called Bufflehead Sisters as a result of online paperback sales alone, and a three book deal for another writer with Costa Award winning publisher Quercus.

Edward Smith, the YouWriteOn Manager comments “Publishing is changing, YouWriteOn.com was the first literary site of its kind, and publishers like Random House and Legend Press quickly saw the potential of writers and readers themselves finding and developing new talent. YouWriteOn has seen writers achieve success through traditional and non-traditional means. We now intend to break the traditional mould of publishing itself. The first 5,000 people who email us at youwriteon@legendpress.co.uk will be able to have their paperback published for free by Christmas and we plan to discover more bestselling writers.”

Lucy

Free samples of each book now available!

As a new feature on the online shop you can now browse and read the start of each book before you buy! We hope these free samples will get you to try something you wouldn't normally read, or even send to others to sample!

Why not sample the start of the fantastic 'In Dependence' by Sarah Ladipo Manyika, out on 27th September by  clicking here!

Happy reading!

Lucy

New online book club!

 

Legend Press and Paperbooks are launching a new online book club, where members can purchase books half-price and can discuss the monthly book of choice via an online forum. Special editions of books will also to be arranged. We hope all authors will be able to get involved.

Those interested in joining simply need to email bookclub@legend-paperbooks.co.uk for full details and to register.

 

We're always looking to be as interactive with the reader as possible and see the growth of book clubs as fantastic news for the book market. That’s why we’re excited about creating our online book club and look forward to lively and informed discussion, as well as understanding more about what today’s reader wants.

 

Lucy

Paperbooks News

As many of you may know Legend Press recently acquistionned fellow independent publisher PaperBooks. This is an exciting new venture for both the businesses and authors with a planned 50% increase in the number of titles published each year until 2010!

PaperBooks have an impressive array of titles including Jessica Gregson's internationally acclaimed The Angel Makers, Mark Hayhurst's comedic Friday at the Nobody Inn' and the excellent Cry of the Justic Bird by Royal Society of Literature prize winner John Haylett.

We are also pleased to announce three new titles are also to be published by PaperBooks after the Summer; Gary Davison's Fat Tuesday (30 August), Paul Burman's Snowing anf the Greening of Thomas Passmore (27 September) and Mike Martin's Three Jumpers (25 October).

Beth

Future Legend Press events June-July

28th June - Re-release of White Summer by Luke Bitmead.

28th June - Catherine Richard's, co-author of Heading South will be doing a book-signing at Birstall Borders from 1pm.

5th July - UK Indepedence Day - Legend Press authors will be travelling to Speaker's Corner Hyde Park to do readings!

24th July - Winner of Luke Bitmead Bursary announced.

26th July - Launch party of Josie Henley-Einion's novel Silence at Waterstone's Cardiff.

And the Legend Press Author of the week is...

Congratulations Rob Ainsley for winning Legend Press Author of the week. Rob's book 50 Quiky Bike Rides is published by Eye Books and is out now!

How does it feel to be Legend Press Author of the week?
Hooray for small-publisher networking – there’s so much great stuff out there

Describe your book in 10 word
My favourite 50 biking experiences in England - hopefully yours too

If your book could have a theme tune what would it be?
Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues. Shame he was too busy to write 50

Tell us one fact about yourself that we won't believe?
I was on Blue Peter in 2001 for having been to all the places called Bath in the world

If we weren't asking you questions right now, what would you be doing?
Sitting in a pub or cafe after a bike ride, waiting for Rebecca to choose something that’s not quite on the menu.

Who would play you in the movie of your life?

Stephen Fry. Or possibly Rowan Atkinson.

Lucy

Complete our Legend Press national reading survey...

At the moment we are conducting a survey to understand the reading habits of the UK, to aid our future marketing and publicity activities.

It would be great if you could take a few minutes of your time to fill in our short questionnaire. Results will be collated later this month. Thank you for your time.

Click Here to take survey

Lucy

And the author of the week is...

Congratulations Josie for winning author of the week! I spoke to Josie earlier to get her reaction:

How does it feel to be Legend Press Author of the week?
I’m ecstatic! And may I say about time too. I imagined that I’d be nominated a lot earlier than that Coles bloke.

Describe your book in 10 words?
Caffienated roadtrip through time&space featuring murder&mayhem, sex, politics and cats. (think I may have cheated a bit with the contractions but it was hellishly difficult to get the whole thing into ten words!)

If your novel could have a theme tune what would it be?
Victims by Culture Club.

Tell us one fact about yourself that we won't believe?
I used to be a young Christian (shocking isn’t it?)

If we weren't asking you questions right now, what would you be doing?
Going to view an allotment that we are planning to rent.

Who would play you in the movie of your life?
Pink for the earlier years, Madonna for the later, and if I could choose for the future me, that would be Sandi Toksvig.

Pre-order your copy now - £5.99 

Lucy

And the author of the week is...

 

David Caddy the poet poet, whose latest collection 'Man in Black' is published by Penned in the Margins. David is dubbed the ‘Robert Frost of the Blackmore Vale!'

How does it feel to be Legend Press Author of the week?
Good, now where's the champagne?

Describe your book in 10 words?
A localised study of cultural memory featuring men in black

If your novel could have a theme tune what would it be?
The Wanderer by U2 featuring Johnny Cash

Tell us one fact about yourself that we won't believe?
David is very good in bed

If we weren't asking you questions right now, what would you be doing?
Eating a brie and watercress sandwich listening to Test Match Special

Who would play you in the movie of your life?
Daniel Day-Lewis

Lucy

And the Legend Press author of the week is...

Not a Legend Press author... confused? Well we have decided to open up the prize to other independent publishers, awarding the authors who we think best deserve the prize. We feel it's a great way to get people visiting publisher websites, including our own, and showcase exciting writing talent. So the winner of this week's author of the week is Michael Bollen whose brilliant comic novel 'Earth Inc' is published by Picnic Publishing. I spoke to Michael late last week about winning the prize:

How do you feel about being Legend Press's author of the week?
I’m only just getting used to being an author.  And as I’ve never been anyone’s anything of the week before, frankly it’s all a bit startling.

Describe your book in 10 words?
That’s quite a challenge.  In one of the many re-writes I did, I cut the novel from 125,000 to 90,000 words, which was difficult enough.  And now I have to go from 90,000 to 10?  How about, “Inequality, rampant consumerism, dangerous new technology and lots of jokes”?

If your novel could have a theme tune what would it be?
I’m considering the Grandstand theme tune, because it’s fantastic and it doesn’t get played much since the show itself got cancelled.  But Computer World by Kraftwerk or Money Makes the World Go Around would probably be more appropriate.  Maybe I could have a trendy futuristic remix of both of them together.

Tell us one fact about yourself that we won't believe?
I once appeared on stage at the Victoria and Albert Museum dressed as Posh Spice.

If we weren't asking you questions right now, what would you be doing?
I’d probably be answering similar questions to promote my other project.  I’m one half of comedy cut and paste ‘band’ Cassetteboy, and our new album ‘Carry On Breathing’ is released on the same day as ‘Earth Inc.’ (June 2nd).  If you ever think it might be fun to release an album and a novel on the same day, take it from me, you’re wrong.

Who would play you in the movie of your life?
As I haven’t finished living my life yet, it’s a bit hard to say.  But if in a few years time you see “Starring Whoopi Goldberg as Michael Bollen”, then it’s safe to assume I've made some unusual choices later in life.  At the moment I’m tempted to say Johnny Depp, but I don’t think he’s attractive enough.  (Note to Legend Press – this piece doesn’t come with an author’s photo does it?)

Lucy

Learn about writers contests with Kudos

Everybody always remembers that amazing moment they actually won a prize, but writers cannot lose, when entering competitions encourages inspiration, motivation and organisation.

Kudos's listings are a convenient way to make use of all the information you need to know, allegedly: current UK writing competitions plus an increasing number of Overseas contests. Also includes news items and information about markets, outlets and opportunities for all kinds of writing.

Read more at www.kudoswriting.wordpress.com

Would you like professional advice on your writing?

If you're a writer, there's a great new chance to have a publishing professional provide a personal critique of your work. Arts Council-sponsored site, YouWriteOn, who we announced a partnership with last month, have launched a service through which you can choose the literary professional of your choice to provide detailed feedback on your writing. You can select from a list of top editors and agents, both independent and from major publishing houses, and they have a range of packages on offer.

There are a lot of author-to-author feedback sites, many of which are fantastic, but this is the first I've come across where you have a way of getting a full critique service from within the publishing industry - which should hopefully be invaluable towards becoming a published author.

YouWriteOn were also battling against Amazon in the press recently, so definitely a site growing very fast! Have told them I expect them to be inundated with this great new service.

Tom

Advance warning: the book rabbits are coming

There seems to be lots happening online at the moment as the publishing world cottons on to the potential there. As always a lot may appear and disappear with little notice, but one new initiative that has caught the imagination a little is Bookrabbit.com (see also this feature  on the Bookseller website this week).

I was kindly invited to the launch and while it is only open to the trade at the moment (why you can't get much further on the website - goes out to public end of April), there has been a lot of big talk from the inventors and it seems to offer a mix between book groups, bookshops and social networking, so ticks at least a couple of current trend boxes. One memorable point is the technology to scan in a photo of your bookshelf and it will match up the titles, and also link you to people/shelves with similar taste. Can see the book rabbit filth headlines now.

So, we'll wait and see how it pans out but definitely one to keep an eye on (plus liked the fact that we were given carrot cake when leaving  - although took me around 100 paces away from the door before realising the link...)

Tom

PS While being someone who when people say 'isn't he/she cute' I will occasionally throw in a half-hearted 'yes' without really getting it, the rabbit picture above does somehow break though my clearly cold heart - very 'cute' (there said it, though that was tougher than you'd imagine).

More: is the book going to survive?

Following on with the current hot potato of whether the book, in its traditional form, is going to survive in the future or whether we'll be tripping over people engrossed in e-readers on public buses in just a few years' time, here's an interesting article discussing the matter with Scott Pack.

Scott was a great help to myself and Legend Press when first starting out and he was at the helm of Waterstone's, and I agree with a lot of what he says in the article. Again, feel free to add your own views - need to find out whether to try and put some money aside for a special, future Legend Press Reader.

Tom

The book in any form?

I heard an interesting talk yesterday from Gail Rebuck, Chair and CEO of Random House, UK's largest fiction publisher, declaring that its an exciting time in publishing on the cusp of digitalisation and 'the essence of what I am selling will be the same, whatever the technology transmitting it. I think there is an irreducible quality to reading that means the book will never die'.

I agree that we must work with these changes and think if we do there is still room for the book in 'hard copy' form, though also have some separate points with regard to how I believe publishing needs to evolve to survive and flourish. But what do you think? Would the digital form still be a 'book' to you? Does this move towards digitalisation excite or worry you? How do you see the future of reading? Would you read from an 'e-reader' as you currently see them?

Look forward to hearing your views.

Tom

Need support of the book chains

As you will probably know, Queer Fish in God's Waiting Room officially launched last weekend and in recognition of its huge potential and interest both Waterstone's and Borders put the novel into their front-of-shop price promotions. Quite a rare coup for a first novel and promises excellent things for a great book.

However, having dropped into a couple of branches on the way back from meetings, has been a bittersweet week. Yesterday (5 days after launch) I was told at both a Waterstone's and Borders branch that it wasn't out yet due to unpacking backlog and an unnamed Borders member of staff told me last weekend, assuming I was a random customer, that it was because they were 'bone-a*sed lazy'.

Fair play for honesty I guess but after the hard work to get the books into the promotions, and with the chains wanting major publicity to run with the launch, as a small publisher (or any publisher) we need the support and organisation all the way down to the individual shops. After all, it will cost them business but us, with so much planned and invested, a whole lot more. A bit disappointing – also as we will be judged on first week sales, taken out of our hands in this case, and February is a short promotion month after all so lost days vital.

But to end on a more positive note, put my head round the entrance (quite a feat) of the major Charing Cross Road Borders today and there is was, the first book I noticed on the front table. Hopefully will now make up for lost time.  Actually, as it's Friday and a nice day - a special weekend promotion: if you buy a copy, take a picture in the store and send it in I will send you an extra signed copy absolutely free. Email to tomchalmers@legendpress.co.uk

Have a good weekend and take those pictures.

Tom

Join the debate

Couldn't help but join in an interesting Guardian blog yesterday, in which Richard Lea questions the Spread the Word Top 10 announced that morning (including the Legendary Salt & Honey by Candi Miller). Well, not so much questioning as unsure of the criteria and uneasy with the absence of any of the 'traditional prize-winners'. I wanted to point out that this was the idea - whether they got it all right is slightly irrelevant; the point is selecting new books for the public to discuss and there is no doubt that there are many, many worthy ones out there.

Feel free to add your own views - very interested whether other people agree or disagree and to hear others' thoughts.

A final point as part of a new game I've devised – out a t*sser. I wrote the comment very quickly as, while very busy, wanted to hopefully add to the discussion with my own reaction to the blog. While confident that I can write very well, I thought that this was more important in this case than making myself aroused at my own writing style. Though apparently that isn't 'lucid' enough for one sarcastic commenter. Sadly for him I reside in the modern world of publishing and such pathetic and irrelevant pretense (to part-steal a line from Frank Debin & Police Squad - that's culture for you) is either dead or dying. And thank goodness for that. 'SeanMurrayDublin' - idiot.

Tom

Still a fan of Borders...

As those seasoned blog readers (as in having read it for a long while rather than those having just prepared themselves for cooking) will be aware, over the last year I have became a big fan of Borders bookshops. Being vocal in the fact the high-street chains need to drastically alter their approach and heave their huge structures into line with the modern market, Borders seemed to be first on the ball with fast-moving initiatives such as the Best of Independents bay and a selection of Polish titles.

It was therefore of great interest to hear that they will shortly be trialling an on-demand facility in some branches. With so much talk of the move to digital, it is great to see a company working with the trend and being imaginative rather than sticking their head in the sand, or bookshelves in this case, and hoping that if they ignore it, it will go away. I hope the initiative will work very well for them.

And at the time of writing I have just heard that they will be launching their new website with Gardners. I look forward to finding out more and hopefully working with their new offering. Hopefully many more positive initiatives are ahead from all in the publishing industry in 2008!

Tom

Not content with book domination, we're now helping those looking for romance!

Move over Cilla Black. We're constantly looking for new initiatives and promotions and recently in an Edinburgh pub, our William Coles and I were discussing how important it is to create word-of-mouth and that this is fundamental to the future success of the book in society.

He praised the Book Crossing initiative and fuelled by normal drive not to do anything by halves, and also several pints of reassuring Duchers, I suggested that why shouldn't we start our own version? Out of this came the idea for 'Book Lovers', a whole series of initiatives to drive the importance, enjoyment and value of reading.

One other point that came out, initially as a joke but then given serious consideration, was that the book could be the perfect 'ice-breaker' in starting conversation - a little sophisticated and doesn't involve tripping over a bar stool, spilling coffee or making up some dreadful 'line'. And out of this we were approached by UK dating expect Lorraine Adams, owner of dating agency Gorgeous Networks, and came up with the fist initiative - ' branded Fiction Flirting'. (Feel free to ignore my quickly made-up picture...) To help its launch, we' agreed to offer two free copies of The Well-Tempered Clavier for each one ordered for the promotion (all signed and marked with their unique message and tracking code).

We're already had a huge amount of interest in this unique initiative and for full details just see our Legend Press' Book Lovers page. If you're single, give it a go. With Valentine's Day and 29th Feb approaching, we're hoping to be able to buy a collective Legend Press hat in the very near future.

Poor Jane Austen

I know we're an increasingly materialistic society and how things look are seemingly more important than ever - in possessions, clothes, personally, people wanting to fit into a chosen pre-packaged 'image', the celebrity obsession providing an outlet etc etc - but I was slightly disturbed this morning to hear of the fate of poor Jane Austen. The publishers of a new edition have decided to give one of the most famous British writers in literary history a makeover for the cover, as the original image was deemed 'too ugly'.

I know about books judged by covers etc, but surely this is one step too far? Personally, I would be more interested in seeing what Austen actually looked like (see right, makeover version on left), having heard so much about her writing, and would probably be more likely to pick up a cover depicting her actual likeness out of interest.

If we do, as a public, prefer the 'madeover' version then that highlights an even more worrying fact - that we would prefer delusion and to be shown what fits into what we want to see, apparently, than the actual truth. This would be a very worrying trend but one that sadly does seem to be sneaking into aspects of society. I could go on but will leave it there, you may be relieved to hear, though am tempted to launch a one-man campaign to re-publish with the original picture.

If you have any thoughts on this, please let me know them!

Tom

Author branding

Very interesting dialogue on author branding from Danuta Kean's blog - have read a few of her blog entries and she offers some very interesting and often refreshing views. Particularly like the discussion of the publishing industry's understanding of the general public. It's one the main threats to the industry but we seem to often keen to overlook it to hold onto some form of 'status quo'. Not one to stay quiet for too long so you'll notice I left my own comment.

Tom

PS At the other side of Legendary Towers, Emma will be furious at this post as she is far more proactive at keeping up with the best online blogs and sent this one to me to read. And now I've made it look like my own idea. That makes a change I can already hear being said.

'Digitisation and all that' - a blog post from Crockatt and Powell booksellers

I've spotted a blog post on the Bookseller website by Adam Powell, of Crockatt and Powell bookshop fame, that lays out his views on e-readers, espresso book-printing machines and the place of a good bookseller. Read the blog post here.

I must say that having visted the Crockatt & Powell shop (and actually held a launch party there for Heading South) I have utter faith that whatever changes in the industry and in the way people read books, Crockatt & Powell will still be there doing what they do so brilliantly well.

Emma

Branding authors

If you haven't already seen it, there's a really interesting post on the concept of author branding on Danuta Kean's excellent blogsite. Click here to have a read -- there are some really good issues raised and the comments left are worth a read too. It's something that we are continually prioritising and working on here, but we know that we can still do lots more - there's never ever a cut off point.

Have a good weekend (I'm actually for once not going to do any work this weekend, I'm decorating our stairs and landing instead so hoping I won't get into too much of a mess!)

Emma

Recent news from the world of publishing

5th November 2007
Tesco shifts gear
Tesco has taken its Christmas campaign up a notch this year, introducing more hardbacks into more stores, launching its first-ever Christmas books catalogue and setting itself an ambitious target of selling 25% more hardbacks between now and the end of the year. (for full story see www.publishingnews.co.uk)
Legend Press says: great to hear they might be giving more new books a chance.

2nd November 2007
Richard & Judy in talks over book show
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan have confirmed that they are in talks to continue presenting books-related programmes, despite their decision not to continue their Channel 4 "Richard & Judy" series. (for full story see www.thebookseller.com)
Legend Press says: glad to hear this as their book shows are vitally important in promoting reading on a wide scale.

2nd November 2007
Retreat where Dickens stayed to be sold
Sherborne House, an 18th-century stately home in Dorset which once hosted Charles Dickens but has since fallen on hard times, is to be sold after failed attempts to transform it into an arts centre. (for full story see www.booktrade.info)
Legend Press says: if only we had the cash, wouldn’t it be wonderful to make something like this into 'Legend Press Towers' or, even better, 'Legend House'.

31st October 2007
Coffee the draw for reluctant readers
New adult literacy programme the Six Book Challenge is being launched by Costa Coffee and the Reading Agency next year. (for full story see www.thebookseller.com)
Legend Press says: another great initiative.

29th October 2007
City launches non-fiction MA
City University is launching a new MA in Creative Writing Non-fiction, which kicks off in January 2008. (for full story see www.thebookseller.com)
Legend Press says: sounds great as all too often a non-fiction book can have a fascinating subject but lack the creative finesse to back it up.

29th October 2007
Making the supply chain greener
Following a successful pilot event in July this year, the Publishing Training Centre is planning to make Greening the Supply Chain a regular fixture in its training programme. (for full story see www.publishingnews.co.uk)
Legend Press says: a vital issue for the industry.

Round-up of the trade's recent news stories

22nd Oct 2007
Surprise! Internet is actually a boon for books
So much for longstanding predictions that the Internet would crush the book publishing industry with digital readers and online sales of used books. (for full story see www.booktrade.info)
Legend Press says: this is why we've never lost any sleep over the so-called 'death of the book' - as long as publishers support each book with as much additional and online content as possible, people are still going to want to buy the book in its traditional form.

19th October 2007
Literacy plea from R&J’s Ross
Amanda Ross, producer of the Richard & Judy Show, is spearheading a petition signed by authors and calling for all children to be 'taught to read in school, for an hour every day'. It will be presented to the Prime Minister during Channel 4's Literacy season which begins this Monday. (for full story see www.publishingnews.co.uk)
Legend Press says: we've already forwarded this petition to all of our authors - it seems set to make a really great impact.

15th October 2007
Genius declared: Wilde tops the wit list
According to a new collation of Britain's greatest wits, the wry observations of both Oscar Wilde and Liam Gallagher are among the cleverest of all time. (for full story see www.guardian.co.uk/books)
Legend Press says: interesting combination?!

15th October 2007
Deals and rumours
Liz Thomson from Publishing News reports from Frankfurt. (for full story see www.publishingnews.co.uk)

12th October 2007
I boiled my girlfriend's flesh, says novelist
An aspiring horror novelist has been arrested after police discovered his girlfriend's torso in his closet, a leg in the refrigerator and bones in a cereal box. (for full story see www.booktrade.info)
Legend Press says: think this is taking author research slightly too far…

11th October 2007
Doris Lessing wins Nobel Prize
Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2007. The Swedish Academy described the English writer as "that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny". (for full story see www.thebookseller.com)
Legend Press says: been admirers of her work for a long time, as we're sure most others have too, so this is great news.

11th October 2007
Bye-bye (or is it byebye?) to 16,000 hyphens
The new edition of The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has done away with about 16,000 hyphens. The editors of the dictionary have decided, in an awesome display of ruthless language modification, that the conventions of hyphenation were arbitrary and needed simplification. (for full story see www.booktrade.info)
Legend Press says: oh dear, we’re normally in favour of using hyphens – will have to review our writing habits.

10th October 2007
Chains vie for position ahead of Christmas
The chains are beginning their jockeying for position ahead of Christmas. Waterstone’s is running a buy-one-get-one-half-price offer on all children’s books throughout October which follows WHSmith’s decision to run a 3-for-2 offer on all books in September. (for full story see www.publishingnews.co.uk)
Legend Press says: perhaps if they found better, more innovative ways of competing (like choosing and backing new, exciting fiction for one!) it would be a less boring story in the run up to Christmas and also we’d all benefit – especially the customer.

MD Tom Chalmers shortlisted for UK Young Entrepreneur of the Year

*****BREAKING NEWS*****

Tom is delighted to have been shortlisted for the prestigious annual Young Entrepreneur award which is part of the Real Business/CBI Growing Business Awards. Gordon Brown has described these awards as 'The business equivalent of the Oscars' and Peter Jones, "dragon" and founder of the Phones International Group says: 'Entrepreneurs don’t often get that pat on the back to take them up the ladder even further; and that’s what we need'.

Shortlisted candidates will meet the panel of judges on Monday 15th October, and the winner will be announced at the Awards Night on 28 November. We'll keep you posted.