Blog
Zoë Sharp nominated for Short Story Dagger
8 June, 2009
Zoë Sharp’s story Served Cold has been nominated for the Short Story Dagger this year.
Happy Birthday to Marshall Karp!
4 June, 2009
Today is Marshall Karp‘s birthday. I could break out into song but no one would probably ever return to this blog again. So I’ll simply say, on behalf of everyone here at A&B: He’ll be celebrating something else later this month – the UK release of Flipping Out, the next book in his acclaimed Lomax […]
My Favourite Things (in Cambridge)…
3 June, 2009
This coming weekend I’ll be popping over to see some friends in Cambridge – one of my favourite places in the UK or indeed the world. My favourite places there include the wide open space of Parker’s Piece, the cafés and restaurants at Magdalene bridge, the impossible-to-scale-whilst-riding-a-bike-bridge behind Trinity Hall and, predictably if you know […]
The Next 100 Years
2 June, 2009
Am sending this book off to print – hurrah! Some people are reactive, others proactive. I’d like to think I plan my life but I have a sneaky suspicion quite often it’s more a case of life happening to me. George Friedman is clearly someone who thinks ahead and this book is the most riveting, […]
A lesson in how to make the most of bad publicity
1 June, 2009
It can be disappointing for us publicists, when one of the books we’ve been promoting gets a bad review. We harrass and push and chase editors in the hope of getting the book reviewed at all, rejoice when we hear it has indeed been selected for coverage, and then get a big slap in the […]
Just when you thought you’d heard it all…
28 May, 2009
What? More Rachel Caine I hear you say? Ok, I admit it, we’re getting close to Rachel Caine overload but can you blame us? More and more people are clocking on to this brilliant series, including the reviewer John Loyd at The Bookbag who devoured the books and reviewed all four of them in just […]
Quality not quantity
27 May, 2009
My parents are over in London at the moment and renting out a flat for the time they are here. Beats a hotel. Anyway, the interior design is modern and minimalistic – no real sign that anyone lives there for some of the year. In fact, there’s a large built in bookshelf in the living […]
That last day with Rachel Caine
26 May, 2009
How lucky am I? I was the first person (from the A&B office) to get to see Rachel Caine when she arrived in London and I was the last to see her off on Saturday – the final day of her UK tour. The day was split as follows: morning – signing at Watertone’s Bluewater; […]
Pictures from the Morganville tea party
22 May, 2009
On Monday, I promised you I’d be posting pictures from our lovely tea party with Rachel Caine, which saw our office filled with a jolly gathering of booksellers who came from far and wide (including Milton Keynes and even Bristol!) to meet her! So here, thanks to Christina’s camera work are some shots from the […]
Rachel Caine’s visit to Boston
20 May, 2009
There’s quite a lot that succeeds in making me feel old these days. Bills. Songs on the radio. Slang that doesn’t make sense to my enfeebled mind. The prospect of my Young Person’s Railcard expiring – boo! But the thought of going back to a real school does the trick most completely. Timetables. School-dinners. Maths […]
Muscles & Frites
19 May, 2009
Don’t you find it weird how you’ll go for months not thinking about a particular thing and then all of a sudden it’ll be completely ubiquitous? For instance, one morning you’ll wake up and there’ll be a news report on Penguin Books, then you’ll read an article on the way into work about an oil […]
Rachel Caine is in the building
18 May, 2009
Just popped up to my desk very briefly to say that we have the wonderful Rachel Caine – author of the hit Morganville Vampire series – in the building right now! She flew in from the U.S yesterday and now is downstairs enjoying cupcakes and tea (how very civilised) and mingling with various booksellers who […]
I have been outed.
15 May, 2009
So, just when I thought I could continue to pootle along undetected, generally keeping a low profile and letting our readers believe that the A&B office is staffed by only five people, along comes my colleague Louise who blows my cover by mentioning me in her entry about Lord of Misrule – thanks, Louise!!! Just […]
Christmas starts early at A&B
12 May, 2009
It seems so odd to be thinking about Christmas given I’m sitting here in short-sleeves with the sunshine pouring into the office … but think about it I must. Two lucky members of the A&B team need to know when we’ll be shutting-up-shop as they will be spending the holidays on the other side of […]
JOIN TIM LEBBON ON HIS BLOG TOUR…and get lots of free stuff!
11 May, 2009
Follow Tim Lebbon’s Blog Tour for some great interviews, guest blogs, exclusive extracts, free books and a chance to win a signed copy of The Island!
What to get for a baby shower
7 May, 2009
Am meeting up with the girls tonight to plan a baby shower for a friend. She’s doing the baby’s room in a Winnie-the-Pooh theme – how easy does that make it for us to buy gifts for her! In amongst the craziness of Ferrari strollers and Jamie Oliver bottle warmers, I got thinking about our […]
The (over?) critical eye…
6 May, 2009
Today I was discussing a manuscript with Lara (our Managing Editor). She’s read it all whereas I’m only a hundred pages into it, so far, but we were exchanging a few views. And in doing so it struck me how my attitude to a book changes when I’m not simply reading it for pleasure. I […]
Westfield – good or bad?
5 May, 2009
Opinions are divided on this one – mostly male vs females – but I for one am in love with this marvellous monstrosity of commercialism. From Gucci to H&M this shopping mecca offers me everything – windows to drool over and aspire to, as well as those shops I can actually afford to step into […]
Morganville Vampire mania and UK book tour
1 May, 2009
Buzz is building for the first UK Morganville Vampire book tour! Rachel Caine, author of the bestselling teen vampire series, will be coming over at the end of May for a series of talks and signings.
Beyond the era of the sales rep force
30 April, 2009
I was reading a very interesting article in The Bookseller here today, about the ‘death’ of the publishing sales rep, the general gist of which elaborated on the scaling down of large on-the-road rep bodies as more and more buying decisions become centralised or via one-stop wholesalers. As some of you out there may know, […]
Get your very own A&B bag!
28 April, 2009
They might not rival Gucci or Prada, but our A&B branded bags proved such a hit with London Book Fair goers that we’re now offering anyone the chance to get one (while stocks last). I actually got a rather unexpected call at the office one Book Fair morning from a random guy who said he’d […]
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