Wednesday Cover Story, Author at Allison & Busby

Wednesday Cover Story: The Success of The Summer House

28 March, 2012

When we first published Mary Nichols‘ charming novel The Summer House, little did I expect it to be one of the stand-out sellers on our list. Not that it doesn’t deserve its success, let me quickly add, but when we started to see it climbing Amazon‘s charts, I did wonder what had prompted such a […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Having a yellow moment

21 March, 2012

I think this blog warrants a soundtrack… (hit play) It’s fair to say that our Art Editor, Christina, seems to be going through a ‘yellow’ phase. We’ve just released Monsieur Pamplemousse and the Militant Midwives (£2 off this month!) and today we received advance copies of The Stationmaster’s Farewell (the new hardback in the Railway […]

Wednesday Cover Story: The Girl on the Beach

14 March, 2012

A little anecdote for the day. The editor of Booksmonthly, Paul Norman, recently requested a copy of The Girl on the Beach, by Mary Nichols for review. I dutifully set about sending him one. And, as life and its little coincidences would have it, whilst waiting for this copy to materialise in the post, he […]

Wednesday Cover Story: When more is more

7 March, 2012

I was making a list over the past few weeks of books I’d seen in The Bookseller or around town that I might want to stock up on for holiday reading. Of course, when I actually went into Waterstone’s I managed to completely ignore said list and was lured up, down, and side to side […]

Wednesday Cover Story: A bit of déjà vu…

29 February, 2012

Today I came upon the cover of The Greatcoat – a ghost story by Helen Dunmore – and a striking cover at that. The book has just come out this month, but I could have sworn it was an old title as I was sure I’d seen the cover before, some time ago. My original […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Don’t read this book if you’re stupid

22 February, 2012

I bought this collection of short stories by Tibor Fischer, some years ago and must admit, purchased it solely on the basis of the title – the most blatant and yet brilliant marketing ploy I’ve ever seen. It’s a challenge, encouraging you to think: ‘well, I’ll prove to you I’m not stupid by reading it!’. […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Yes, it’s A NOVEL

8 February, 2012

Whilst recently browsing the reviews on I Love A Mystery I was struck by the eye-catching cover to At the End of the Road, by Grant Jerkins – love the colours, the layout, the bird overlapping the text, and the general atmospheric image. And, I like how they’ve played with presentation of the book as […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Picador’s 40th Anniversary editions

1 February, 2012

Tomorrow, Picador will be celebrating their 40th Anniversary with the reissue of 12 fiction titles with specially designed covers – all black and white. Those who follow this blog know that I love looking at these ‘sets’…to be honest, it doesn’t mean I will buy them, but I enjoy the aesthetics of looking at all […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Hardback v Paperback

25 January, 2012

There are some covers which are lovely pieces of design in themselves, but don’t actually “sell” the book to the reader. One example I came across recently was the hardback cover to The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach. I had seen the book on a table in my local bookstore but it would never […]

Wednesday Cover Story: A cover that mirrors the content

11 January, 2012

I am in the process of culling the number of books in my house as a cathartic (and sensible) clearout before moving flat. And amongst my sagging bookshelves I found a copy of Little Bird, by Camilla Way – which I remember picking up many years ago when HarperCollins was having their own clearout of […]

Wednesday Cover Story: The Super Matt Finish

4 January, 2012

As Chiara mentioned in her blog yesterday one of my Christmas books (a wee pressie to myself for being such a good girl all year) was The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal. The book has been a genuine word-of-mouth success and that should surprise no-one once they start to read it – […]

Wednesday Cover Story: What do you think the next colours will be?

30 November, 2011

On the train home last night I spotted a man reading The King’s Evil, by Edward Marston. He was actually right on the other side of the carriage but I clocked it immediately – possibly because I’m predisposed to sighting any of our books, but more probably because the design really jumps out at you. […]

Wednesday Cover Story: First peek at The War of the Dragon Lady

16 November, 2011

We’re very excited to be welcoming author John Wilcox to the A&B list, and we will soon be releasing The War of the Dragon Lady (out January 2012) – his new book in the highly acclaimed Simon Fonthill series. And now we have finalised the cover which I think is fab! And here’s an insiders […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Mo’ Moustaches Please (there’s a prize in it!)

9 November, 2011

We would love to join in the spirit of Movember, but neither I, nor my colleagues in the A&B office will be sporting a moustache this month. As an all-women office, we’re more inclined to go to great lengths to hide any hint of facial hair, let alone show it off. So, who could we […]

Wednesday Cover Story: The Canons

19 October, 2011

I have mentioned many times before that I am a sucker for book “sets” – where various titles have been collected and given special cover designs that follow a similar pattern. And hence not only do they usually provide great reading (there’s usually good reason for publishers to bother revamping such books) but they look […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Monsieur Pamplemousse gets a makeover

12 October, 2011

Michael Bond is adored by millions as the creator of Paddington Bear. I have a particular soft spot for the man as the creator of my favourite childhood guinea pig, Olga da Polga. And he is of course adored by us all at A&B and by his legion of fans for creating the inimitable Monsieur […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Two Paris Wives…

5 October, 2011

As mentioned in my blog yesterday, one of the books I bought here in Camden, Maine was The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain. Now, I already own a UK copy of the hardback, with its very simple but very striking design (the smooth metallic foil on the silhouette image contrasts nicely with the rough texture […]

Wednesday Cover Story: That woman again…

21 September, 2011

Last year we posted a blog about this image of a woman from a picture library that almost found her way on to one of Rachel Moore‘s books, and did get used on both the cover of The Island and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. These copycat covers were highlighted by Horace […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Triple delight from the printers

14 September, 2011

We’re always a little excited when a new book comes in from the printers. It’s a bit like Christmas. The box arrives, everyone gathers round, there’s a hint of trepidation as the box gets opened (will we like what’s inside?) and then usually, luckily more often then not, there’s a collective “Oh, lovely – that […]

Wednesday Cover Story: Art Noveau

7 September, 2011

I saw this book, Art Nouveau, by Norbert Wolf, advertised in The Bookseller and I had to admire the cover. I am a fan of book cover designs that break the mould – not adhering to the usual format where the title, author name and image take up all the available space on the cover, […]

Wednesday Cover Story: More than just a pretty pattern

31 August, 2011

This month Virago has launched a collection of six Modern Classics with gorgeous pattern textile covers by various designers. They reminded me however of something, and then it finally hit – they reminded me of a Persephone book. A Persephone book cover features that same square box including the title and author name, and whilst […]