London Book Fair Debrief

[pambaddeley]

In terms of writers collective doing publishing -
I remember an outfit called Citron Press (or was it Lemon Tree Press um) that was promoting itself maybe ten years back - and that was about ten authors doing collective publishing - couldn't find anything via Google.

They went bust - Citron Press goes out of business

 

[Brian G Turner]

GRRM and Robert Jordan were already in the business, and didn't even need to make formal pitches to their agents

Just for reference, here's GRRM's original "pitch" for Game of Thrones:
The original aSoIaF synopsis

Which comes in at somewhere around 1600 words. For everyone else querying, agents insist on no more than around 260.

 

[Juliana]

According to what agents have said, if they received a query for Game of Thrones, almost all would reject it immediately

GRRM and Robert Jordan were already in the business, and didn't even need to make formal pitches to their agents

Just for reference, here's GRRM's original "pitch" for Game of Thrones:

Although Ginjer Buchanan, former editor-in-chief at Ace, told me he actually wrote a 100-page proposal that did the publishing rounds and created a bidding frenzy. But as you said, he was already an established name in the business by then.

 

[Brian G Turner]

I'm just making the point that GRRM didn't have to make a 260 word pitch to an agent even to get his manuscript looked at.

 

[Juliana]

Sorry, misunderstood.

Also...

GRRM didn't have to make a 260 word pitch

I don't think George could ever be that succinct!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Some perspectives on the US vs UK markets:
'Tales of Two Markets' in London Book Fair's Big Week

Interesting to see the point raised about selling books at steep discounts - which puts me in mind of this thread, Are publishers aiming for volume sales, rather than profit?, where I'm left confused at why publishers are making those discounts on those books they are assured of selling.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Some perspectives on the US vs UK markets:
'Tales of Two Markets' in London Book Fair's Big Week

Interesting to see the point raised about selling books at steep discounts - which puts me in mind of this thread, Are publishers aiming for volume sales, rather than profit?, where I'm left confused at why publishers are making those discounts on those books they are assured of selling.

I think it's like asking why Cornflakes are discounted from time to time, when they're already popular. Because consumers look for it, and it brings more sales in the longterm.