Friday 16 November 2007

Even Lighter Reading



Following on from Faye's good news, I'm pleased to say that Light Reading will also be released as a mass market paperback by Pan Macmillan, with a provisional publication date of April 2009.


I was a bit overwhelmed by this news, so I asked Will Atkins (Editor of MNW) to explain how such a decision gets made. He told me the following:


'Decisions on paperbacks (and increasingly on MNW titles) are made collectively – I invariably consult our sales and marketing departments (clearly it’s important that they are confident of being able to sell enough to make it worthwhile), as well as discussing with my editorial colleagues. In other words the decision seldom comes down to one individual, though I’m invariably the chief advocate! It’s not always the right move strategically, but increasingly we’re seeking to acquire MNW debuts with the expectation that they will have a mass-market paperback life.'


Thanks Will.

5 comments:

Faye L. Booth said...

Congrats again Aliya!

Also, an excellent question to ask. I never think of things like that, which probably makes me look like I have cotton wool for brains.

F x

Tim Stretton said...

This is really good news, Aliya. Many congrats!

I saw as well from Will's latest group emails that he "will continue to oversee acquisition and editing for all authors who started on the MNW list, and will continue to be the main point of contact for authors". This too is a welcome clarification, although I'm not sure how this will work as the MNW stable gets ever larger...

Eliza Graham said...

Brilliant news, Aliya, and thanks for posting that bit from Will.

no said...

Thanks peeps!

David Isaak said...

It makes sense for Will to stay with the writers he discovers and develops--like many things MNW, it's really a return to how business used to be done.

But, like Tim, I wonder about the arithmetic. The only thing I can figure is that at some point MNW will need a second editor.