MISCELLANY
THE WORLD OF
WRITING
6 MARCH 2020 http://www.writers-online.co.uk
We’ve spied all sorts from the windows of Miscellany Mansions this month,
including horror-inspired literary theme parks, crusading web warriors,
and book fairies hiding in the hedgerows
Never live
it down
Everyone
and their cat
has recently
published
their list
of the best
books of the
last decade.
The website
Cultured
Vultures
stands out for deciding the
best science fiction novel of
the 2010s was Kazuo Ishiguro’s
Never Let Me Go... which was
published in 2005. This decision
presumably either involved time
travel or some confusion with
the fact that the film version of
Ishiguro’s modern masterpiece
came out in 2010.
Web warriors help balance the books
The internet and social networks are killing
our reading habits, so the headlines say, but
two heartwarming campaigns have highlighted
how the internet has helped two ailing literary
endeavours.
- Just before Christmas, online and high
street book discount chain The Book People
went into administration, threatening to take
down coveted Norwich indie Galley Beggar
Press with it. As publishers of Lucy Ellman’s
avant-garde sleeper hit of 2019, Ducks,
Newburyport, Galley Beggar had committed
to an 8,000 print run to be sold by The Book
People as part of a discount Booker Prize
package. But the resultant £40,000 bill was
not going to be paid. Galley Beggar launched
a crowdfunding appeal to improve their short-
term finances, and enthusiastic web supporters
pledged £20,000 in the first hour. A total
of £45,333 was raised before Galley Beggar
closed the appeal the next day, which they will
be using to invest in new projects and guard
against future bottom-line panics.
And early in the new year, a Hampshire
bookshop bemoaned on Twitter its slowest
ever day. ‘Tumbleweed... Not a single book
sold today...’ tweeted the independent
Petersfield Bookshop (@The_PBS).
Again, the Twitter-literati leapt to the
rescue. After the tweet was shared by book-
lovers – perhaps most effectively by Neil @
neilhimself Gaiman, to his 2.7m followers
- the bookshop gained over 1,000 new
followers, received 300 enquiries, and sold
£1,000-worth of books overnight. If only The
Book People had thought of that.