Jurassic London

A couple of pieces (somehow) -

Review of AfroSFv3, edited by Ivor Hartmann:

“Discovery” implies an element of challenge; a hint that these stories might be a bit too far out on the edge, or potentially unpalatable. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A bit on Stormzy, publishing and the importance of evaluation metrics:

Hype alone isn't going to convince an entrenched industry that they need to change everything about their audience/marketing/recruitment/sales/retail approach. There will be a lot of people ready and willing to talk about how Merky 'fails', based on the traditional metrics. "I didn't see a single copy at Hay!"

And, for the hell of it - a new website for www.bestbritishfantasy.co.uk

Bet you weren't expecting that, huh?

The publishing industry has spent a generation - if not longer - relentlessly milking one particular demographic, with 'innovative' 'outreach' campaigns based around the occasional field trip to Harrogate and #civilisedsaturday. 

This week's newsletter also features the meaning of life (and the methodology for evaluating it).

Book updates:

• Pleased to see Literary Landscapes in the New York Times' gift guide
• I've pounced on the www.bestbritishfantasy.co.uk URL, because, seriously, if you leave that open, I'm takin' it. 
• And, as to the above - submissions are now closed for The Best of British Fantasy.

Mahvesh and I share a bit about the editorial process - and the full author/story list for The Outcast Hours  - over on Tor.com:

As with any anthology, not every story will be for everyone. The dark side (excuse the pun) of our shtick is that our approach is especially high-risk / high-reward. There’s no sameness; no certainty. In The Outcast Hours, we have gambled on the unexpected: there are no cozy evenings inside. Instead, we want every reader to find a story or two that they can be deeply passionately about—to experience the night of their lives.

Mahvesh and I reveal the full table of contents for The Outcast Hours over on Tor.com. 

It also includes a little guff about our editing approach, because everything starts with a brief.

The key message that we're trying to land in our all our, uh, PR, is that we've gone 'high risk/high reward':

In The Outcast Hours, we have gambled on the unexpected: there are no cozy evenings inside. Instead, we want every reader to find a story or two that they can be deeply passionately about—to experience the night of their lives.

Perhaps leading with 'you probably won't like every story in this book, but, hey - you might love one of them' is definitely a marketing gamble. But it is also true, so let's see where that takes it.

Buy it.

Am:

Tor.com, reviewing Adam Nemett's We Can Save Us All and offering three books for the 2018 Reviewers' Choice selection.

Not:

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