Compass Points 186

Antoine Laurain has been everywhere recently promoting the wonderful French Rhapsody (pb, £8.99, 978 1910477304) just published from Gallic – here's a great one-minute interview with him in the Independent which tells you everything you need to know . Here he is at the EuroStars event at Waterstone's Piccadilly with publisher Jane Aitken; at Toppings in Bath, outside Belgravia Books and at Mr B's Emporium!

I noticed a super-duper spread on Slim by Design by Brian Wansink (£12.99, 978 1781807415, pb) from Hay House in the current issue of Red magazine this week – entitled Life Hacks for Healthier Eating. This entertaining, eye-opening book shows how you can lose weight not by changing what we eat – but where and how we eat. One of the tips I especially loved was to make tempting foods invisible and inconvenient – basically put the biscuits in a high up cupboard and don’t have treats sitting in full view! People who have a fruit bowl in their kitchen weigh 7 lb less than those who don’t; and apparently every four minutes a person spends in their kitchen, they consume 20 more calories! This expert food psychologist offers a genuinely radical new philosophy for weight loss, and this spread in Red is great publicity for it!

And talking of food, why not take this fun quiz in Buzzfeed which claims that We Know Your Exact Age Based On Your Hipster Food Choices!

How great would it be to learn from other people’s mistakes rather than having to make our own? In WTF Just Happened? Martin Goodyer presents a hilarious compilation of catastrophes to help readers do just this. Drawing on his experience as a psychologist and taking the perspective of a behavioural change coach; Martin offers insights into people s often irrational behaviour and suggests ways to avoid such behaviour ourselves. This collection of cringe-worthy stories includes pretty much every bad situation you can imagine – from how to avoid missing the point; how to avoid your darling children turning into teenage monsters; how to avoid letting yourself go; how to avoid getting scammed; how to avoid being a loser! An ideal book for anyone interested in human behaviour, personal development or avoiding mistakes by learning from others. If you only buy one book to help you handle life’s challenges, then make it this one. WTF Just Happened? How to Make Better Decisions by Asking Yourself Better Questions by Martin Goodyer (978 1785830310 , £12.99, pb) is published by Crown at the end of October.

Watch a short 2-min promo film from Martin Goodyer about WTF Just Happened here.

Harrogate author, Jackie Buxton has recently presented a cheque to Breast Cancer Haven, Yorkshire for £830.62 from the sales of her bestselling book: Tea & Chemo; Fighting Cancer, Living Life (pb, £7.99, 978 1910692394). Thanks very much to all you lovely booksellers who supported it! When Jackie was diagnosed with breast cancer she began to write down her thoughts and feelings, soon developing them into a blog which received an overwhelmingly positive response from the many followers who could relate to what she was writing.

Encouraged that her words could help other people in the same situation, Jackie set about writing Tea & Chemo which was published by Urbane. Go to the blog to see some pics of Jackie at Breast Cancer Haven; which has five UK centres providing free emotional, physical and practical support to anyone affected by breast cancer. 

Jackie’s new title Glass Houses (pb, 978-1910692844, £8.99) a novel about a text sent whilst driving and its enormous ramifications; was published in July – also by Urbane – and has had some absolutely rave reviews from readers on Amazon.

Great publicity for Eat Well, Stay Well: What to Eat to Beat Common Ailments (£12.99. pb, 978 1859063712) by Dr Sarah Brewer with a big spread in the Daily Mirror – and there’s more PR to come! This full colour paperback is packed with nutritional advice based on the latest scientific evidence and features twenty superfoods to make a part of your diet plus great advice on how to combat the fifty most common ailments. It’s organized by ailment for quick and easy reference and covers everything from high blood pressure and osteoporosis to eczema and depression. With tasty recipes to try, Eat Well, Stay Well shows you how to eat your way to staying healthy and happy as you age. It is published by Connections.

An interesting piece in the Guardian this week headed: A Northern Powerhouse Really is Coming – in Publishing. It discusses as length the issue of publishing in the UK being too white, too middle-class and too London-centric, and suggests that if publishers really want to reflect the diversity of modern Britain they should follow the independents and move north. The piece mentions our lovely friends Comma Press and Carcanet among many others – do read the whole article here.

Congratulations to Anakana Schofield whose novel Martin John (pb, 978 1908276667, £10.00) published by And Other Stories has just been shortlisted for the 2016 Goldsmith’s Prize. Written with all the electrifying humour of her award-winning debut Malarky and exhibiting a startling grasp of the loops and obsessions of a molester’s mind; Martin John stands as a brilliant, Beckettian exploration of a man’s long slide into deviancy. The Guardian called it “Ambiguous; funny; distressing and complicated” while the Sunday Telegraph said “Schofield writes without judgment. Five stars.’ This title is highly topical and explores issues of sexual harassment and abuse with great empathy and dark humour.” If any bookseller would like a reading copy of Martin John, then please email nuala@compass-ips.london. The Goldsmith’s Prize is awarded for “embodying the spirit of invention that characterizes the novel genre at its best” and the winner (who receives £10,000) will be announced at a ceremony at Foyles in central London on 9th November. The judges’ chairman Blake Morrison said: “Innovative novels used to suffer from the stigma of ‘difficulty’ but one thing we’ve learned since the Goldsmiths Prize was launched four years ago is what a large and responsive readership they reach.” You can read about all six shortlisted titles in The Bookseller here.

Lovely launch party this week – thank you very much Urbane – for Serial Damage (pb, £8.99, 978 1911129455) by husband and wife team Liz Cowley and Donough O'Brien. This is a riveting thriller in the best traditions of Barbara Vine, Patricia Highsmith and Val McDermid which has already had some great reviews. Somewhat surprisingly, as well as co-authoring books about serial killers, Liz is also the bestseller author of Outside in My Dressing Gown and Gardening in my Slippers.

In October she has a new poetry collection published by Gibson Square: Pass the Prosecco, Darling: Cooking Disasters and Other Kitchen Dramas (hb, £9.99 978 1783341344) This time, Liz hilariously turns her wicked wit on everything from disastrous supper parties (and people on mobile phones during them), gluten-free demons, diet fads and the clutter of unread cookbooks that collect in our kitchens like tumble weed.

I think this super little hardback could be a very successful Christmas gift title – so do order it! Here are Liz and Donough at the party!

Events are the lifeblood of many a good bookshop we know – and we absolutely LOVE this wall at the entrance to Waterstone's Birmingham!

And talking of great signage – I think you will enjoy this piece from the Independent about the fab punning signs  outside Inversnecky Café in Aberdeen!

There are some great displays for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton titles in many of your shops at the moment – like this fab one in one in The Norrington Room, Oxford – featuring of course Hillary Rising: The Politics, Persona and Policies of a New American Dynasty (£14.99, pb 978 1849549646) by James D. Boys which is published by Biteback, and selling very well indeed!

Off to Foyles in Chelmsford today for the launch of their beautiful brand spanking new bookshop – opened by none other than that ultimate survivor, loveable (?!) rogue and author Lord Jeffrey Archer! Good luck and congratulations to all involved with the new shop! Here you can see Lord Archer and Christopher Foyle opening the shop - and Foyles marketing legend Jasper Sutcliffe looking surprisingly perky after his 5.30am start today!

And finally; on the day the Rosetta Space probe collides with its comet bringing to an end one of the most audacious space missions ever; I adore this little animation made by the European Space Agency team marking the moment. And what I love most, is that in amongst all of that extraordinary technology, the Rosetta Space probe is holding a book! Hurrah!!

Compass is on Twitter! Follow us @CompassIPS. Here are some of our favourite tweets from this week...

Waterstones Witney ‏@WstonesWitney I think someone NEEDS to make a picture book out of the wonderful @ESA_Rosetta animations! SO CUTE! #CometLanding

The New European ‏@TheNewEuropean In this issue: Alastair Campbell reveals the moment #TonyBlair nearly quit as PM moment #TonyBlair nearly quit as PM from Vol5 of diaries

Joanne Harris ‏@Joannechocolat Libraries are staffed by trained librarians, experts who give help and advice and organize activities. #TenThingsAboutLibraries

Scottish Book Trust ‏@scottishbktrust 'Through fantasy, children face their fears and become braver', says @CorneliaFunke...

Freight Books ‏@FreightBooks Speaking to @PukaarMagazine, @nicholas_hogg on Tokyo and The Author’s Cricket Club

Comma Press ‏@commapress Our brilliant distributors @nbnibooks have just featured us on their Instagram, thanks guys, follow nbnibooks and give the photo a like!

Matthew at Urbane ‏@urbanepub Rather bizarrely, my fifty seconds of fame talking about pop-ups on @YouTube has over 1,200 views

Kirkdale Bookshop ‏@KirkdaleBooks "Do you sell alarm clocks?" Welcome to Friday evening. This is five minutes after somebody sang a Robbie Burns song in here. Strong night.

That’s all for now folks! More next week!

This blog is taken from a newsletter which is sent weekly to over 700 booksellers as well as publishers and publicists. If you would like to order any of the titles mentioned, then please talk to your Compass Sales Manager, or call the office on 020 8326 5696.