The Bookerati

The Booker list has been announced and everyone who knows what a compound modifier is, is going all Doolally tap. Of the 13 on the list, 9 are from independent publishers, although I do struggle to see how some are indies. Of those 9, 3 are from smaller presses, which is great news. Again, I won't go all Colin Welland and state that 'the Indies are coming,' but it does say something about the state of publishing in the UK, that the stories that are making the biggest impact are from those houses willing to publish writers that the main stream deem too quirky, and for you and me that means, not commercial enought to take a punt on. I know that one author on the list was dropped from a major house and was subsequently signed by one that is now on the Booker Long List. They must be gutted and the sales and marketing director may well have his head in a bin this morning. He should have. The sales graph is now the most important part of the publishing house and if the trajectory isn't stellar, the boys and girls in suits harrumph, point and show writers the door.
Well, suits will always be that, suits. Shame.