British Bounty

 

A couple of items from the isn't that amazing (and trying not to be jealous) department of news from the world of publishing:

British thriller-writer Ken Follett beat his own record of 1,600 books signed in one session with a new record of 2,050 works signed in just over three hours at Madrid's book fair. Follett is one of Spain's most popular authors, and his latest novel Un mundo sin fin (World Without End) has sold 1.5 million copies in Spain alone.

And the Irish Independent wrote about the very generous advance that newcomer Matt Hilton was reported to have received for a new five book series of crime novels from Hodder & Stoughton on the strength of his crime novel, Dead Man's Dust. The figure is apparently around 800,000 pounds (close to $1.6 million). I'm not as thrilled with his agent's assertions, however, that "It's been a long time since the British market has come across a British writer who writes very commercially like this. They don't come along every day. If you can make it work, the revenue stream is very high for a publisher." The agent, Luigi Bonomi, went on to say, "The problem is that it's all or nothing. The mid list is dead, and therefore publishers have to take huge risks. But the potential revenue is huge or nothing. That's the gamble."