Sunday, September 29, 2013

Season for book sales kicks off in UK

Pakistan News & Features Services

A total of 1,657 books were published on September 26 in the UK, marking the first in what have now become a pair of so-called Super Thursdays, the days when publishers bring out their lead titles for the Christmas season. A further 1,569 are due to hit the shops on October 10. 

The season for book sales has kicked off officially with publication of some of the biggest titles of the year from authors including William Boyd, Robert Harris and David Walliams. 

"It's undoubtedly a big week for major titles, but the industry has moved away from the 'everything comes out on one day' phenomenon of a few years ago, with the publishing schedule now more sensibly spread over the autumn," Jon Howells, a Waterstones spokesman, reckoned. 

The big-budget launch of Solo: A James Bond Novel by William Boyd at London's Dorchester Hotel in London, quite an occasion. 

New thrillers published on September 26 includes Robert Harris's novel An Officer and a Spy, about political scandal the Dreyfus Affair; The Kill List by Frederick Forsyth, which tells of a top-secret list of names held at the highest level by the US government; and the seventh in Susan Hill's series featuring detective chief super Simon Serrailler. 

Howells added that Damian McBride's Power Trip: A Decade of Policy, Plots and Spin, which was published on September 25, had got the week off to a buzzing start. 

"The blanket coverage the book has received because of its content, and timing the launch to coincide with the Labour Party conference has obviously worked. Now we're looking forward to Matthew Dancona's In It Together: The Inside Story of the Coalition Government. That's out next week." 

"In terms of the number of books being published, these are just a small number, but they account for a huge chunk of sales. It's the tip of the iceberg, but they are a great way to encourage customers to come in and look at the huge range of books coming out,” Jonathan Ruppin of Foyles booksellers remarked.

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