Compass Points 48

Your weekly round up of publishing news, publicity information and trivia!

Firstly – exciting news! As I mentioned last week, Compass now have an arrangement with giant US distributor Ingram – which means that it is very easy for you, the UK bookseller to get your hands on lots of great US titles! When you open an account with Ingram you will be able to order US books easily quickly and cost-effectively for your bookshop. There is no minimum order – you can just order one title; the books arrive in 3-5 working days and shipping costs are very competitive – much cheaper than you think! You will get great terms – 40% discount and over 12 million US titles are available! If you fancy getting started right away then click here to open an Ingram account – it’s very straightforward. Or you can go to www.ingramcontent.com and click on the button that says GET STARTED, or you can talk to your Compass Account Manager. Ingram will run some credit checks and within 3-4 days your account should be up and running. There is no minimum order, so there is no need to “consolidate” several titles to make up an order – if you want a US title you can have it delivered to your bookshop in 3-5 working days! Your account gives you access to the Ingram ipage system – a vast web resource with information on 12 million US titles that is updated hourly by the Ingram team – so you can be sure a title is in stock and that the bibliographic info is fully up to date.

So why might you want some US titles in your bookshops? Firstly, you may have a customer who specifically asks for an American title – and you can assure them that you can get it for them quickly. The price you charge your customer is up to you – but you will be getting 40% discount on the US$ price, and the shipping costs are very reasonable. Secondly, you may spot a US trend which is big over here – but no UK publisher is capitalising on it. For example – US TV shows such as Mad Men, The Sopranos or The Big Bang Theory may not have any associated UK books - but now you can order US titles – for their many UK fans! When it comes to US pop and rock stars – there is often far more published over the pond than here – whether it’s Taylor Swift or Will.i.am – if they’re big here you can order the US calendars, song books, photographic coffee table glossies, comic books or whatever, for the UK fans to buy from you! 

And thirdly – every week Compass Points will keep you up to date with the hot US bestsellers – so it will be simples to keep your bookshop one jump ahead of the competition! Other bookshops won’t have these books – you will! Ingram has built itself into the world’s largest distributor by supporting the independents and over 30,000 independent booksellers worldwide trust Ingram to support their business so why not consider opening your Ingram account today?! 

Click here to go to the Compass website and find out a bit more!

Click here to watch a trailer for one of our biggest September titles – The Returned . You must agree it looks like pretty gripping and intriguing stuff – it reminded me of both a certain PD James novel and also Torchwood – which as far as I’m concerned is high praise indeed! The story begins with Harold and Lucille Hargrave whose lives have been both joyful and sorrowful in the decades since their only son, Jacob, died tragically at his eighth birthday party in 1966. But in their old age they’ve settled comfortably into life without him… Until one day a government agent appears on their doorstep towing Jacob behind him — still eight years old, exactly as he was on the day he died. All over the world people’s loved ones are returning from beyond. No one knows how or why or why this is happening, whether it’s a miracle or a sign of the end. Not even Harold and Lucille can agree on whether the boy at their doorstep is real or a wondrous imitation, but one thing they know for sure: he’s their son. As tensions begin to rise across the globe, the newly reunited Hargrave family must navigate the conflict between those who believe the Returned are a gift and those who are afraid of the unknown — a conflict that threatens to rock the very foundation of our humanity. The Returned is a high-concept literary debut in the tradition of blockbuster breakout bestsellers such as The Age of Miracles and The Passage. Jason Mott’s writing has appeared in numerous literary journals, and he was nominated for the 2009 Pushcart Prize. He lives in North Carolina and The Returned is his first novel. In the US ABC acquired the television rights for The Returned in a heated auction against NBC and Fox and the buzz is definitely building for this book which has a winning combination of spare, elegant prose, engaging storytelling, unforgettable characters and a fresh, commercial concept. It blends elements of genre fiction (sci-fi, dystopian, horror), with a bold literary voice and an emotional story to create a book with far-reaching mainstream potential. It is published in C-format paperback by Harlequin Mira in September and you can order The Returned here

The Daily Mail ran a big summer reading article this weekend. Entitled Beach + Bikini + Book = Bliss it gave a rave review to Soufflé by Asli Perker saying “This is a really fantastic book. The premise is the way that food unites and heals people and all three strands of the novel feature characters in trouble, helped by cooking. Marc is a grieving widower, Ferda a carer for her demanding, elderly mother, and Lilia looks after her sick husband. But the real story is about family, and what utter fiends they can be. Lilia adopted two children, neither of whom is grateful, to put it mildly. Anyone who’s ever felt their kids treat them badly should read this sensitive yet defiantly unsentimental book!” 

Soufflé came out in paperback in April from Telegram (ISBN: 9781846591440 £8.99) – make sure you have it on your summer reading table; it has a lovely unusual cover!  And you can read the whole Daily Mail article here.

The eagle eyed among you may have noticed that the Daily Mail also mentioned another Compass title! Listed under Retro Reads was The Position of Peggy Harper by Leonard Merrick. The Daily Mail really raved about it saying “This forgotten Edwardian classic (foreword by George Orwell) is a terrific discovery. The setting is theatre-land, where struggling actors live hand-to-mouth, trudging to auditions, grateful for bit-parts, always hoping for leading roles. Tatham, a thoroughly decent young man, longs for fame while relying on relatives for accommodation and hand-outs.  

He is lured into a relationship with bird-brained, fame-hungry Peggy, who turns out to be a selfish, scheming hussy. The shabby-genteel world of aspiring actors, squalid digs, desperation, managers skedaddling with the takings, is brilliantly conveyed, and the mingled pong of greasepaint, chips and cheap scent lingers long after you’ve finished Merrick’s atmospheric novel.”  This is a really fantastic review – and the Mail has millions of readers  – so do make sure you include The Position of Peggy Harper  in your summer reads – it came out in April from Hesperus in paperback with a very eye catching cover at £8.99 and you can find out all the details here

At the Yeoman’s House by Ronald Blythe has been shortlisted for the New Angle Prize for Literature – which is a biennial award for a book of literary merit set in or influenced by the region of East Anglia. You can find out more and view the whole shortlist here. This lovely book – the Spectator described it as “sheer delight” –  is published by Enitharmon Press and you can find out all the details on the Enitharmon website here. There was a super article on the book in In Suffolk magazine by its author Ronald Blythe which you can read here. The winner of the award will be announced in September.

Now ladies – wouldn’t you like to Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive and Become a Power Source? Well I know I would, and apparently all I have to do is read Woman Code. Holistic health coach Alisa Vitti shows women how to maintain health and vitality with a food-based programme to rebalance their hormones and wow, my goodness those publicists at Hay House have certainly got this book a lot of publicity! The author will have an article published in the July issue of Natural Health & Beauty magazine (circ. 60,000) and the book will be reviewed in the October issue of Zest magazine (circ. 65,418) and extracted in the next issue of What Doctors Don’t Tell You (circ. 10,000). The author will be featured in the August issue of Woman & Home magazine (circ. 352,586) and she will have a Q&A in the August issue of Psychologies magazine (circ. 77,608). There will also be a 4-page feature on the book in the September issue of Spirit & Destiny (circ. 47,297) and a book review will feature in a future issue of The Sun newspaper (circ. 2.2 million). The author has also contributed an article to Top Sante magazine (circ. 55,338). This title came out in May from Hay House; you can find out more and order it here

While we’re on the subject of women’s hormones, I don’t think anyone is much funnier on the whole issue of women, hormones, weight etc. than Jo Brand – you can watch a funny clip below although I'm not quite sure what holistic health coach  Alisa Vitti would make of it!

This newsletter is sent weekly to over 600 booksellers, publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any of the titles mentioned, then please click here to go to the Compass New Titles Website or talk to your Compass Sales representative.

That’s all for now folks, more next week!