THE GUARDIAN REPORTS ON THE LATEST NEWS FROM THE UK BOOK SCENE

The parlous state of the hardback literary fiction market is spurring publishers to radical action. From next spring Picador will release all new novels in paperback editions, alongside a small run of hardbacks, breaking with the trade convention of staggered publication dates. Andrew Kidd, publisher of the prestigious Macmillan imprint, talks candidly of "depressing new lows" in sales of the "moribund" hardback format. He argues that experiments - reducing hardbacks to £10, replacing them with large softcover formats - have rarely made a measurable difference to a book's fortunes. It is still obligatory to print some hardback copies - just 1,000 should be enough to satisfy collectors, literary editors and authorial egos.

But there's no doubt that readers much prefer the £6.99 or £7.99 B-format paperback (that's the familiar size for literary novels, 2cm taller than the "mass market" editions you'd associate with thrillers and bonkbusters).

And why tempt readers with reviews and author interviews long before the book is available at a price people will pay? As Kidd asks: "When are we going to accept that we live in a [paperback] country; that only a tiny handful of authors command enough reader loyalty to achieve viable hardback sales; that by concentrating promotional energy on a moribund format we are doing no favours to the format people actually want to buy?" The first Picador in simultaneous editions will be Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx on April 4; other imprints will be watching closely.

As booksellers try to work their customers into a festive frenzy, publishers turn
half an eye to 2008. The past week has seen several attempts to build
bestsellers for next spring, with lavish events for Delia Smith's How to Cheat
at Cooking and Sebastian Faulks's official James Bond sequel, Devil May Care.

At dinner with retailers, a feisty Delia explained why she'd decided to return
to the nation's TV screens after five years in the wilderness (otherwise known
as Norwich City FC). "It's like going into the desert, and when you come
out you have a sharper focus," she said, bemoaning both the celebrity
chefs who "humiliate" people who can't cook, and time-pressed
parents who resort to "sad ready meals". Her remedy is quick-fix
recipes using prepared ingredients (small suppliers will be under siege as
supermarkets scramble to get hold of stock).

Meanwhile, Penguin transformed its penthouse into a Bond-themed paradise, with martinis, scantily clad girls and free Moleskine Bond diaries. Faulks spoke of rediscovering the
"jeopardy" and "sense of playfulness" in Fleming's originals, and acknowledged that to attempt a fresh instalment is to "gamble with my own reputation". But with the self-assurance of a
man who has already pocketed a handsome Hollywood cheque, he promised to blend
the pace of Fleming's crime sagas with the menace of his spy stories. And
don't expect a tortured character study: "This is not Bond meets
Charlotte Gray ... My Bond has no inner life."

Panic buttons were pressed in every London publisher's boardroom when Richard & Judy announced they were quitting Channel 4. How would the industry survive without its media demigods, leading flocks of readers to new books? The alarms were silenced only when the
duo said they wanted to continue presenting their "book club" as a standalone series after next year. Whether or not a spin-off show will have the same clout or audience figures remains to be seen, but there's no need for emergency measures. Yet.

One of the most terrifying moments of Alan Johnston's kidnap ordeal was when the leader of his Palestinian militant captors burst into his room. "I had a feeling then that global jihad had
come to call," Johnston recalls. But the figure, masked in a checked
headdress, merely wanted to reassure the BBC reporter that he would not be
killed but would go on to "write a book and get married". That
prophecy will come to pass on November 19, when Profile publishes Johnston's
Kidnapped and Other Dispatches. Profile says the book is in the tradition of
Brian Keenan's An Evil Cradling and John McCarthy's Some Other Rainbow,
examining the "capacity for suffering and survival of people whose
ability to resist a breakdown and even forgive their captors is an inspiration
to us all".

Written by Joel Rickett, deputy editor of The Bookseller.