Publishing the future, in Leicester

The grass may not always be greener, but Leicester is fortunate to have Leicester Writers Club - which is, I believe, the second oldest such club in the country. The format has been the same throughout the decades - a weekly manuscript meeting where people can read out their work, for comment; regular speakers; an annual dinner; presentation of prizes (some annual cups are a bit battered these days); a residential weekend. If I was a writer living in Leicester, with £50 to spare I'd join it. The crime novelist Rod Duncan said that he would have been a writer without LWC, but definitely not a published writer. But at a time when many writing groups have bit the dust, in part overtaken by the spread of university creative writing courses, LWC continues to flourish, drawing in new writers all the time.
Earlier this week I attended a packed session on E-publishing, which both inspired and worried me. At the start Chris Meade of the Institute for the Future of the Book (If: Book) said that the publisher was dead, that there was no need for them (hang on - that's me he's talking about!), that the future was the direct relationship between the author and the reader, filtered only through the hands of new technology. He was big on apps. Chris was followed by Amanda Grange, a successful writer who has become much more successful by moving to self publishing. Her biggest criticism of the outgoing publishing model was the time element - any "new" book takes at least a year to come out, while ebooks enable the same book to hit the computer screens the same day. Editing? Proof-reading? Typesetting? Design? Buy it in. Stephen Baker, who runs a company dedicated to conversion of the written word to ebooks concurred. John Martin from Leicester Libraries outlined his authority policy on loaning ebooks, pointing out some difficulties in that Kindle ie Amazon in the UK will not sign up to have their formats loanable, so you need a tablet to read a borrowed ebook from Leicester Libraries. By this time some members of the audience were reaching for their medical tablets, others had been noting down every word. I got the feeling Amazon was about to be hit by many previously unpublished or out of print backlist books, uploaded by the morning.
Save for John Martin, the whole panel was evangelical about the new future we are marching towards. Bookshops? Never mentioned. I'm pleased that LWC ran the session, an indication of their confidence, though I'd have preferred to have seen someone (not me) on the panel from the traditional publishing industry.

East Midlands Book Award shortlist announced

The shortlist has now been announced for the first East Midlands Book Award for the best book published in 2010 by an East Midlands' writer. The Trustees (in an individual capacity) comprise Ross Bradshaw from Five Leaves, Jane Streeter from Lowdham Book Festival (jointly organised by Five Leaves), fellow publisher John Lucas of Shoestring (whose two latest books are published by Five Leaves) and David Belbin (a Five Leaves' regular). Despite that, no Five Leaves books made the shortlist, and only one Nottinghamshire writer. Bloomin' judges. You tell them to act independently and then they do. What sort of world do we live in?

We are very pleased to announce that the shortlist comprises Adrian Magson with Death on the Marais (Allison & Busby), Ann Featherstone with The Newgate Jig (John Murray), Anne Zouroudi with The Lady of Sorrows (Bloomsbury), Judith Allnatt with The Poet's Wife, Maria Allen with Before the Earthquake, Mark Goodwin with Shod (Nine Arches), Rosie Garner with The Rain Diaries (Salt) and Stephen Baker with Hemispheres (Atlantic).

The shortlist will be promoted to bookshops, libraries and book groups with the winner being announced on Monday 20 June at an event at Lowdham Book Festival where the winner will receive a cheque for £1000.

This year's judges are John Holmes (BBC), Jaci Brumwell (Derbyshire Libraries) and Ian McMillan (poet and broadcaster). Nominations for 2011 will shortly open and we are pleased to announce the judges will include the modern classical composer Gavin Bryars. More information will appear on http://www.writingeastmidlands.co.uk/awards/