Nicholas Sarkozy's autobiography has sold 275,000 copies in France. I've written a piece for CommentIsFree on why this will never happen here and why British publishers steer clear of political books. Click HERE.
Also, do join me at 10.50 and 12.15am for my newspaper on News 24. I have a nice new tie. You may need to change your screen brightness...
17 comments:
My God! a tie, a new tie. Five minutes on the 'A' list and he goes out and buys himself a new tie.
Try and keep up boy!
Another of your Duchamp specials by any chance?
wonderful, i'll stick to my own traditions thank you! And one of my traditions is wearing Duchamp ties!
I can understand why the market may be poor at the moment - many recent political books (mostly biogs) do not say much that is not already known. On the positive, it suggests that we absorb a lot from today's 24/7 news coverage. I tried, for example, reading Robin Cook's 'diaries' but (bless him) it was dry as hell. That said, Will Hutton made a small fotune a few years ago. The right "ideas" book at the right time may make a shed load.
Good job you've got a career change in mind then !
And the word challenge keyword tonight is 'contrast'... ;)
You need a scandal to get your biography of Cameron published. Do a Crick. It's the only way.
Iain, your CiF piece mentioned that 'no one would touch a Cameron piece' or words to that effect.
But I thought John Sergeant had managed to shift a fair few copies of 'Maggie: Her Fatal Legacy' ?
If you can't beat him..
I remember at Foyle's being told how many copies of Margaret Thatcher's biography had been purchased by the owner at a luncheon with Harper Collins - and how they were stacked unsold around the store.
Yes - not sure its an A list tie Mr Dale... but what do I know ;o)
Indeed, Jonathan, indeed. Your startorial elegance has always impressed me... nose grows longer...
You always have a habit of making me laugh out loud!
To steal Peter Kay's catchphrase from Max and Paddy, "How dare you, How dae you!" - Do I look like a tramp most of the time? No don't answer that!
Just for that I am going to buy one of your fancy ties. I've just seen a "bobby dazzler" as my nana would say. I'll make sure it appears on my website.
interesting piece iain.
there are some good political books coming out, but they tend to be political in the small p sense, not about political figures (i've just ordered two such books from amazon via coppersblog - one's a teacher's diary saying teaching is b*ggered, the other the great copper himself saying policing is b*ggered...tell me something i don't know, but they'll be good and - just maybe - influential reads, i think).
re your wider point, people don't want to read about politicians because the substance isn't there. who wants a 'how i spun my way to power' book?
so, as you yourself say, there's no money in it.
"In my time I have published biographies and autobiographies of or by people such as Bill Rodgers, John Nott, Ann Widdecombe, William Hague and Jeremy Thorpe. As a small publisher I knew they were financially viable even with comparatively low sales. But those days are gone."
You will be receiving a writ from my lawyers under the human rights act... For cruel and unusual punishmnet!.
(Sorry, just could not resist)
An awful lot of British books are reprints of American one with the typesetting (well computersetting) & other costs already paid for & with some serious sales figure to reassure publishers.
This is obviously a route closed to British politicians (except probably Bliar). A retail book market more open to small press may be the answer.
What exactly would your Cameron bio have to say? He hasn't done anything yet! Thrilling PR coups at Carlton TV?
Wayne Rooney had 3 volumes coming out - Cameron must be able to muster one !
How about "How I Wowed Conference 2005 - Never To Be Repeated !" ?
Self-publishing needn't cost you money.
Antony Rowe (http://www.antonyrowe.co.uk) will print your book in as short a run as you'd like (5, 10, 50, 100) - for a paperback, 80p per book plus 1p per page. Setup (the first time only) is £50 per book plus 10p per page.
Gardners Books will sell it to bookshops (getting Antony Rowe to print copies whenever there's a surge in demand).
Amazon Advantage will sell your book on the Internet and give you a fat percentage.
With costs like these you can not only publish your book, you can update it every few months!
[I have no connection with these firms except that I sell some of my own books through Amazon Advantage].
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