In the News this week...

In the news this week:

• From The Bookseller, Welsh independent publisher Accent Press is going across the pond and opening a New York office on May 1 in a deal with NBN Inc.  Accent has a great and ever-expanding crime list.  Submissions sought are essentially for commercial fiction, particularly crime and erotica.
• From Publishing News, although this article is available in print only: how Macmillan's New Writing imprint was a gamble that's now paying off.  It was launched to come controversy.  Said Will Atkins, founding Editor at MNW in Publishing News "One or two of the literary pages - and agents, would you believe! - were originally snotty about the whole enterprise, partly because the business model was misrepresented... I feel we've fought - and won - that particular skirmish!"  He also reminded readers of the original objective, "Our aim is to discover new writers who will eventually find a long-term home with Pan Macmillan's 'mainstream' imprints".  To date, and celebrating their second anniversary, MNW have assessed some 85,000 manuscripts and signed up 35.  Brian McGilloway was their major success story in their coverage in PN.  More on MNW later, because I like them; a lot.
• Compare MNW's achievement with that from The Friday Project, which sadly, recently went into liquidation.  With full losses not yet reported - accounts appear to have been made up and filed at Companies' House only to the p/e 31/12/06 -  The Bookseller recently reported that TFP owed £1.79m at the time of its liquidation.  First period losses, for the 266 days to 17/11/05 were £81.5k, as might be expected on a set up.  For the 409 days ended 31/12/06 losses were £724k.  One might suspect overtrading at this juncture, but £1.79m owing at the time of liquidation, some 14 months or so later, seems to confirm it.  A classic case you might say.  A sad set of days for all concerned.  HarperCollins is in negotiations, again according to The Bookseller.  But don't hold your breath, suppliers/creditors: your contract was with the company and that contract ends when liquidation is in place.  Consider it a death.  If you get anything paid it will be a miracle as all the government stuff comes first.

So, some good news and some bad news.

If I'd concentrated on political coverage it would have been the same, but with bad news = good news for me.  It's time to get rid of parasites who have no idea of integrity or service to those who voted them in.

Warning: nothing in this post should be construed as financial advice and is not meant to be seen as that.  For financial advice you should seek a qualified financial advisor or preferably, a qualified accountant, qualified to give advice.  I am qualified in neither categories and seek to provide facts only.