Amadeus ep1: reet good imo

Back from xmas shopping, pleased to report King's Road booksellers are nailing it. Staff at Sandoe and Waterstones ultra helpful (and speedy, and well-informed). Didn't buy anything at Book Bar but the vibes were welcoming and I'll be back there soon. Handshakes all round. Keep it up lads. #booksky

This year’s card :)

Check it out!! Hodder & Stoughton have an open submission window for all fiction genres. Get in quick. Details in link. Please share :)

As a children’s bookseller I spent quite some time every week explaining two things - why visual literacy is important and why comic books are ‘real’ books. And why certain books are better read when a child is older and more able to understand the emotional complexity on the page.

This week's Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery is all about different types of publishing enthusiasm. Link here: mailchi.mp/ae28d1738360... #booksky

Weird to hear I Live You by Spacemen 3 on the soundtrack of Malice. Same side (crucially 🤓) of the same album as Big City, used in Succession.

I read a lot of opinions about AI and the future of work, and this post by @naomialderman.bsky.social is the best I've come across in a long time. It was written for young people the same age as my daughters, and the best compliment I can give it is that I immediately shared it with them.

WHYYY has nobody created a category shorthand for the stuff that can’t be categorised (my three: The Supernatural Enhancements, The Library At Mount Char, and ultimately Little Big, because WHAT IS IT apart from amazing but indescribable)

What are your Unpitchables? Books you love but can't seem to get across to other people ... I've nominated three. Let me know yours! mailchi.mp/d86b588872a9... #booksky

Here's #Autumn2025 with box fresh #ShortStories from Helon Habila, Ephameron, @cclarklewes.bsky.social Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall and Kasimma – plus Chadwick Allen on the classics of #Indigenous #literature Catch them at fictionable.world #books #reading #writing #fiction #comics #translation #blog

I know nothing about Dr Who, but, for Londoners, the phrase "Going For Dinner With Billie Piper" is the absolute best way to remember the order of the vertical streets running east to west in Soho (Greek, Frith, Dean, Wardour, Berwick, Poland) and has saved many a late night out

Morning terrace. A rare private commission.

In which I visited Milton Keynes, and committed a faux pas. And had some thoughts about the city's 200 miles of cycle routes, known as the redways lauralaker.substack.com/p/milton-key...

I had expected Riot Women to be cringey (based only on the press photos I think) but it’s blimmin’ excellent!

This week's Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery is about thinking about other people (so you can sell them books, obvs, not just for fun). Link here: mailchi.mp/e6392b2e93ad...

Absolute dad moment earlier, as daughter played me the new Raye song. I predicted ‘this is going to be a big hit’. Oh. 👇

The circle line can do one.

House of Guinness is pony imo

Final Days to fill out the survey! Help them understand comic creators work/finances & help grow their case for supporting comics. DO IT ASAP! Please! (UK based creators only)

This week's Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery is all about The End (of your pitch). mailchi.mp/95970fb10f1a... #booksky

A hugely important update for authors and publishers: you may not be eligible, it's a defined list of titles based on US copyright registration and date eligibility, not everything in LibGen. But take five minutes to be sure 👉

🚨FINAL FEW DAYS!🚨 The UK Comics Creator Survey will close forever at midnight on Monday 6th! Have you submitted your response yet? Or were you, like me*, waiting for the last minute? The last minute is now, lads! Get in there! ukcomicscreators.org.uk *I thrive** on pressure **Exist painfully

An indy bookseller speaks! Bookshop.org is AMAZING and frankly, without it, a lot of us would have struggled even more during lockdown. WAYYY better than Hive (if you’re picking the book up from a bookshop, why aren’t you ordering it directly from them in the first place??)

I'm on the Always Take Notes podcast, talking Pagans and scriptwriting. Enjoyed this one as lot as it's quite into the process end of things as well as covering how you actually make a living and balancing writing with childcare stuff. open.spotify.com/episode/2OOb...

Unimprovable publisher-acknowledgment

This week's Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery is all about how to *start* a book pitch ... mailchi.mp/7feec4ba13d4...

Thanks GW! And thanks @alisonjones.com :)

A short thing about music. Please indulge me. My son and his girlfriend did a pub gig this afternoon. Here they are. Voice and keyboard. Jazz standards. They were good, but that’s not the point. (1/n)

This week's Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery answers the vexed question 'where should I look when I'm pitching?' mailchi.mp/edb7022d342f...

As a regular (albeit mediocre) racing track cyclist, I can report that *nothing* is more terrifying than the Embankment bike lane at 0845 on a sunny tube-strike day.

Thank you to one of my publishing heroes, Hilary Murray Hill for this endorsement of How to Pitch a Book (available here - www.bookpitchdoctor.com )

Think I’ll check out the score in the cric- Fucks sake.

🔊 PODCASTERS!! 💬 THE THING WITH FEATHERS is out this Autumn & features Cumberbatch playing a comic creator (with art by me) The director Dylan Southern & myself would love to chat to you about the film, comics, the art & more Drop me a line if you’re keen! www.imdb.com/title/tt2777... Pls share!

The Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery this week is all about 'The Reels Pinch' and other new gestures ... mailchi.mp/827a8a68b6d8...

I offer Authenticity Reader services - and have a dedicated rolodex of 2,000 Associates that I have garnered over ten years in the Book Trade, both at home in the UK and overseas in counties further afield. ✉️:[email protected]

Can anyone help @guywalters.bsky.social with a bookish filming location?

Thanks to the esteemed JHW for this fab review of HOW TO PITCH A BOOK (and its associated 'banned list' of pitch lines, which I *still* have to resist using ...) www.bookpitchdoctor.com

Chuffed to get this quote from the brilliant Lucy Hale I developed the very first pilot of Book Pitch Doctor for Lucy, many *many* years ago :) Link to How to Pitch a Book here: www.bookpitchdoctor.com

‘again’ 👌

Thought I'd re-post my 'thank you' blog, ten years after breaking my elbow: blackpooltower.wordpress.com/2015/08/17/m...

Loved this episode, in which hosts are witty and mean about James Young’s witty and mean book. In my memory there’s an undercurrent of self loathing, beyond the insecurity they identify. But it’s been a while since I read it.

Loved this episode, in which hosts are witty and mean about James Young’s witty and mean book. In my memory there’s an undercurrent of self loathing, beyond the insecurity they identify. But it’s been a while since I read it.

The Thorpey headbands Eng cricketers have on are a sweet tribute

So this week's Book Pitch Doctor's Surgery is all about pet peeves, right? Look, I'm a grumpy old pedant but you might even agree with some of these ... mailchi.mp/4882370e3b74...

Thank you to The Iconic Harriet Bourton ™️ for this lovely quote ... Link to buy: www.bookpitchdoctor.com

Just been introduced to nope-as-a-verb, as in "we noped that idea." (thank you @sizemore.bsky.social ). I am generally a grumpy pedant about #verbcrime but that is just lovely. Have people been saying it for ages and I hadn't noticed??

A triumphant return to the Edinburgh Festivals. Well, I hope it's triumphant. I'll be talking about the art of the long bike ride (or the long anything, really) on 13th August, and to make things even better, my host will be the marvellous Emily Chappell. www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival...

Brilliant :) 👇