Audio books
Did you know that audio books are a fast-growing sector in publishing? Between 2008 and 2013, revenue grew by 12 per cent annually to a
Did you know that audio books are a fast-growing sector in publishing? Between 2008 and 2013, revenue grew by 12 per cent annually to a
Recently the Guardian reported on a study on retention of digital reads versus paper reads. Researchers gave participants an Elizabeth George short story. Twenty-five readers
I love book bloggers! I love book bloggers because of their passion, their hard work, their integrity, their sensibility and their support for authors; and
We’re all familiar with serial dramas on the television, but books? Once, reading a story one instalment at a time was wildly popular. Back in
I have bookshelves bursting with books at home – with old, well-thumbed titles whose authors are long-departed, and with smart, new books whose authors are
Once upon a time, a man named Jeff Bezos decided to jump aboard the Internet business boom. He looked for a product he could sell
In my novel The Echoes of Love the hero, Paolo, explains: ‘I spend a lot of time reading about beautiful things and like to surround
I’ve always loved this song: The tune is haunting, and the main lyric ‘Where have all the cowboys gone?’ strikes a chord about how society
This was the question posed by Mslexia writing magazine in its most recent reader survey. Author Terry Pratchett famously wrote: ‘There’s no such thing as
Dear Margaret, We regret to inform you that your husband is missing in action… Dear Mother, Finally, I can write the words: Born this morning,
Visitors and residents of Scotland are to be envied by book lovers worldwide: a creative collaboration there has come up with a fantastic application for
It’s 1980, and you’re reading a novel set in a futuristic world that is astonishingly different to the world as you know it. For one
I write fiction for adults, but that doesn’t for a moment mean I don’t appreciate children’s fiction as well. Classic children’s books: Take me back
Once upon a time, books were books, only books. Then along came the motion picture, and books – for so long the foundation of culture
I confess, I have a real passion for book- and writing-related gifts. If I’m not giving the gift of a book itself, a gift that
Bookshops, sadly, are in decline. According to an article published in the Guardian in February: ‘The number of independent bookshops gracing British high streets has
The BBC News magazine recently published an interesting article entitled, ‘Should unfinished works be left untouched?’ The article was inspired by a new adaptation of
Along with some 200,000 people, I’ve been following with interest Observer associate editor Robert McCrum’s attempt, on the Guardian Books blog, to draw up a
Picture the scene: You’re back at school, in English class. Your teacher hands out sheets of paper and pens, writes ‘Le Grande Romance!’ on the
I came across a mention of this book in the latest edition of Mslexia magazine, and was intrigued. Literary cocktails? Marrying the joy of literature
Authors are often, by nature, solitary sorts. We have to be in order to carry out the work of writing – many hours alone in
When I say ‘a writer writing’ to you, what image flits into your mind? You may see a person bashing away at a typewriter, or
Lest we modern writers forget, there was a time when female writers faced a good deal of prejudice when it came to being taken seriously
San Antonio, USA. Home to the famous San Antonio Spurs, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, the Alamo, the Tower of the Americas, Marriage
I was delighted recently to discover a new adaption of my favourite English novel, Jane Eyre. Have you seen the 2011 movie, which stars Mia
I’m commonly asked, ‘How much of yourself do you put into your writing? How far are your
I was born into a family that loved books. There were books in each room of our house – of all shapes, sizes, genres and
Ten years ago, being an author was, in a sense, fairly straightforward. You wrote a book. You attempted to sell that book to agents/publishers. If
November has come to an end, and with it National Novel Writing Month, known in the industry as NaNoWriMo. The concept is simple: writers across
Picture the scene: It’s a quiet Saturday in your local town, and the heavens have opened. Thankfully, you’re near your favourite book store, so you
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