Compass Points 51

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

Compass Points is now back from holiday – and hopes that anyone else who has managed to have a bit of a break this summer has thoroughly enjoyed themselves! Firstly, let’s have a bit of a round up of all the publicity that’s been happening the last few weeks. In fact, I’ll tell you what, let’s do it the other way round. You tell me what the big news stories are at the moment – and I’ll tell you how you can sell more books off the back of them.

Number one: the royal baby. Ahhhhh bless. I cannot tell you how many articles I have read where Prince William’s fatherly techniques have been linked to his military career – all attributed of course to his recent reading of Commando Dad by Neil Sinclair (978-1849532617) published by Summersdale. 

The latest piece of publicity on this was a double page spread this week in the Sun newspaper – but there have been loads of articles about it over the summer – Commando Dad is now the number one Amazon parenting bestseller – do not let them get all the sales – display this title, and it will sell!

And if you like royal baby stuff then have a look at this entertaining ten minute film on YouTube showing how the US broke the news of little George’s arrival!

And while we’re on the subject of royalty – what about all the publicity that William and Kate’s black cocker spaniel Lupo is getting! Featuring in latest photos of the new heir to the throne – he’s clearly almost as important to Prince William as his new baby son!  But as we can see in Reigning Cats and Dogs: Royalty and Their Animals by Brian Hoey; this affection for the royal pets is clearly nothing new. 

The Royals say they can do without many things, but not their animals. For countless monarchs and their consorts, cats, dogs, horses, even the occasional parrot, have acted as constant, faithful companions, unquestioning allies and surrogate children for generations. The only time The Queen and Princess Anne have been known to shed tears in public was when one of their favourite horses died. And Her Majesty’s corgis, the most disliked creatures at Court, even have their own ‘Royal’ cemeteries in all the Royal residences and each has its own ‘mini palace’ immediately outside their mistress’s sitting room in Buckingham Palace. Members of the Royal Family, from The Queen to her youngest grandchild, are taught to ride almost as soon as they can walk and, even at the age of eighty-six, Her Majesty still rides every weekend at Windsor. This engrossing book traces the fascination of the Royals with their animals with intimate details of each of the present and early members of the family’s favourite pets, with anecdotes relating to each of them and their idiosyncrasies. Reigning Cats and Dogs makes essential reading and will be the ideal Christmas gift book for both Royal watchers and pet lovers alike. Brian Hoey has been a writer and broadcaster for over forty years, covering countless Royal events, including the wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981 and Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997. He has written over twenty-five books, including Not in Front of the Corgis. All the recent photos of William and Kate with Lupo are an absolute gift for the publicity for this title – it’s a fully illustrated hardback published in September by The Robson Press and you can find out more and order it here.

Number two big summer news story?  – those drug smuggling girls I think.  And here the book that’s getting all the additional publicity is Passport to Hell: How I Survived Sadistic Prison Guards and Hardened Criminals in Spain’s Toughest Prisons by Terry Daniels. Published by Summersdale (978-1849533447) this book had a big two page interview last week with Terry about her experience of being accused of drug smuggling in The Express which you can read here. A good plug for Passport to Hell accompanies this piece – and there will be more from Terry Daniels to come – this story is not going anywhere – bit like those girls really.

Something else much in the news at present is (I’m afraid) the start of the new footie season. If this is something that gets your motor running, then you can watch a full 45 minute preview of the new 2013/2014 season from Sky Sports on YouTube here. Now, I wonder who are the only team to have won the Premier League, the FA Cup and Champions League in a single season? Well, of course that would be Manchester United – and this year the fans can celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of their team’s triumph. The Promised Land: Man United’s Historic Treble by Daniel Harris is the first book that details Manchester United’s that winning season in 1998-99. Whether that makes it the finest of all time is open to debate, but what is not is the status of the season: it is, simply and incontrovertibly, the finest ever enjoyed by an English team. And yet it’s not the success that’s truly extraordinary, but the glory. The season featured astounding football, exceptional competition, staggering determination, ceaseless dramatic tension and astonishing plot twists, performed by a cast of fascinating, iconic characters. It encompassed the entire gamut of joy and narrative that makes football, sport and life so compelling. The Promised Land relives those breathless moments on a month-by-month basis, delving into the training ground, the dressing room, into the minds of the players, management and coaches, and out onto the pitch with what was a special team, and the last of its type. Daniel Harris is an author, journalist and broadcaster. He was shortlisted for best new writer at the British Sports Book Awards.

Find out more and order The Promised Land which is published in September by Arena Sport here

The weekend The Oldie magazine celebrated its 300th issue (OK I admit, that isn’t a very big summer news story – but bear with me) There was a big piece on its founder and editor Richard Ingrams  in this week’s Sunday Telegraph which you can read here. The Oldie magazine has a circulation of 45,000 and is rising – so whether or not this is something you personally enjoy or not – there are thousands out there who do! And all of them will be interested in buying The Oldie Book of Cartoons and also Pick of the Oldie: The 2014 Edition. The Oldie Book of Cartoons chosen by Richard Ingrams is published to celebrate the magazine’s 21st year, and follows the huge sell-out success of the previous Oldie Book of Cartoons. This irreverent magazine, has taken the place of Punch as the nation’s magazine for cartoons and features work from the UK’s best cartoonists - they’re all here: Larry, Bill Tidy, Tony Husband, Robert Thompson, Nick Downes and Bernie. 

This is the perfect Christmas present for parents and grandparents as is Pick of The Oldie: The 2014 Edition which will feature articles and cartoons from the last 21 years – none of which have been published in book format since 1999. This is the best of The Oldie’s writers, columnists, cartoonists and artists from the archive in one book and is a bargain at £9.99 for a hundred full-colour pages. Writers include Auberon Waugh, Miles Kington, Beryl Bainbridge, James Le Fanu, John Mortimer, Raymond Briggs and Sue Townsend. The Best of The Oldie was a huge sell-out success, and the five previously published annuals are a tried and tested Christmas present for parents and grandparents. “The mix of high humour and good writing is the recipe for a successful magazine and The Oldie has got it right. It’s like sitting around a warm fire with friends.” said Joan Bakewell in the Daily Telegraph. Both are published in September by Oldie Publications.

Order The Oldie Book of Cartoons here

Order Pick of the Oldie here

Another summer news story – young people. Are they getting brainier? Or are they getting stupider? Are the exam results good/bad/boring – do young people lack self confidence? Or do they possibly have too much? And what’s with the ludicrous way they talk? Totes ridic! Presh! Amazeballs! Adorbs! Obvs! Whether ‘words’ like these make you roll your eyes in recognition or wonder what the hell everyone is talking about (or both) The Totes Ridictionary by Balthazar Cohen will help you survive life in a world where text-message abbreviations and Twitter slang are dancing on the grave of the Oxford English Dictionary. Everywhere you look – in emails, tweets, Facebook posts, text messages, blogs and even real-life conversations – Totes Ridicheads are turning words into twee ‘abbrevs’, communicating in internet acronyms, and embracing hashtags as a way of life. And, like it or not, sooner or later you’ll need to become fluent in totes ridicularity. Packed with ‘hilar’ illustrations and a satirical glossary that’ll help you sort the ‘jel’ from the ‘awks’, correctly identify what’s ‘perf’ and what’s ‘tradge’, and know how to react if someone describes you as ‘gorge’ or ‘cray-cray’, The Totes Ridictionary takes a totally ridiculous look at what happens when language and technology collide. (If you want a reminder of how embarrassing it can be to get the latest slang wrong – then have a watch of Catherine Tate here!) This is a great gift for anyone who spends a lot of time on sites like Twitter and Facebook – and their parents! A wry dissection of online popular culture, The Totes Ridictionary will appeal to anyone with experience of social networking and fans of risqué humour. It’s published in paperback by Plexus and it’s out now! Order the Totes Ridictionary here

Incidentally - did you see this month that the Oxford English Dictionary now accepts that “literally” no longer means literally – but can also mean not literally – read the full story here on the BBC

Another big summer newspaper filler is lots of previews and articles about the coming season’s TV – which right now means Downton and the Great British Bake Off, but soon no doubt will mean Strictly and Sherlock. But have you ever wondered where all of these series were filmed? Well now you and the other fans can find out! The British Television Location Guide by Steve Clark and Shoba Vazirani reveals the actual settings of Britain’s favourite television shows and tells readers how they can visit them. It is meticulously researched, right up to date and includes details of the real-life filming locations for all the top series including: Downton Abbey, Broadchurch, Call The Midwife, Midsomer Murders, Doc Martin, Endeavour, Doctor Who, Miss Marple, The Great British Bake-off, Foyle’s War, Game of Thrones and dozens more. This is the only book of its kind available and will appeal to both TV viewers watching at home and tourists who want to actually go out and visit the locations. This book is the sort of thing that newspapers love – and in fact we’ve just heard today that a big extract from it is going to run in The Sun sometime next week! It’s £9.99, it’s full of full colour photos, it’s out now and it’s published by Splendid Books. You can find out more and order it here.

And finally this week – Boris Johnson has revealed today that he’d like to write novels! “I may take up my pen,” he said. “I would love to write a genuinely brilliant rip-roaring airport book, embossed with sinister looking orchids on the cover… what an incredible thing to produce a thriller that everybody gave knockout reviews … It would be fair to say there is virtually no genre that I have not tried. Romantic fiction, that could be next.'' Agghhh! Does the world really need another bombastic Tory writing books we ask ourselves? Read the full article in today's Telegraph here.

This blog is read weekly by 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!