1. Unity Books Auckland and Wellington: Simply the best
2. Bill Manhire : Done more to raise the quality of NZ Fiction and Poetry than anyone else
3. Geoff Blackwell : Shame he isn’t running one of the local multi-nationals. He should be
4. Lloyd Jones : Our pre-eminent novelist with a five star track record.
5. The Editors: especially Barbara Larson, Jane Parkin and Anna Rogers: Making good books better.
6. Neil Cross{Wellington]: Lead writer on Spooks, creator of Luther, author of nine great books including the Booker listed Always the Sun. Photo-SST7. The other independent booksellers: apart from that grumpy bugger in Timaru.
8. The Reps- a diminishing breed but still a vital link between publishers and booksellers who care.
9. Karen Ferns – keeping Random House head and shoulders above the rest.
10. Neil Hyndman – proving it is possible to make real money out of publishing.
11. The Agent – Ray Richards. Are there any others?
13. The team at Craig Potton – Carrying the flag for quality small publishers after the disappearance of Godwit, Shoal Bay, Tandem, Longacre and Mallinson Rendell
14. Bill and Phil [Noble and King] University Booksellers Supreme
15. Publishers – The Magnificent Seven : Harriet Allan, Fergus Barrowman, Jane Connor, Sam Elworthy, Nicola Legat, Rachel Scott, Bridget Williams. Quality rules.
16. Elizabeth Knox : An author with a great depth and breadth of talent and a hard-won international reputation
17. Joan Mackenzie : Has it in her power to make a real difference for New Zealand Publishers. I am sure she will use it wisely
19. The bloggers: especially Rachel King, Vanda Symon, Chris Bourke, Auckland and Christchurch libraries. Oh alright – also that Beattie chap.
20. The readers – where would be without them??
5 comments:
This is all very interesting but for my money Beattie's Book Blog occupies the #1 spot way out ahead of everyone else. I am a rural bookseller and rely on you enormously to keep me informed on what is going on in the book world in NZ and overseas. Not many reps ever call here, I don't have time to search the Internet so I am most grateful that you effectively do both these jobs for me. Rain or shine, whatever the season and wherever you are - London, New York, Bologna, Phuket, Sydney or Paris you just keep blogging away.
Thanks a million Bookman, the book trade in NZ, and around the world, would be a much poorer place without you.
I agree with GME. While other bloggers are mentioned in Kauri Bookend's list they are authors with a vested interest in promoting their own books whereas your blog just relentlessly promotes books per se, (especially cookbooks and crime fiction I have to observe!!), so many many thanks for that. You are an unpaid hero for books and I want you to know you have many grateful admirers.
Thank you too to Brian Phillips, AnneE and Kauri Bookends for their responses to your original post. I hope there are more to come yet.
My sincere thanks to GME and to Puriri Bookends for your very kind remarks which I really appreciate.
My special thanks to Kauri Bookends, whomever he or she may be,for giving this hierarchy idea a NZ slant.
I am busily compiling my own list which I will add in the next day or so. I hope others will do the same.
Hear, hear GME. I’ve just shared the blog comment with everyone here at Random because it is such a powerful reminder of what a lifeline your Blog is, Bookman. We even read it in Glenfield! You are truly an unsung hero in the publishing world. The Blog keeps us all plugged in and it brought the community together from Day One. It’s such a labour of love and your passion and commitment to the task has never waned – even when you’re operating remotely from the UK, Paris or NYC. Bravo Bookman Beattie.
I wont comment on Brian or "Kauri Bookend"s lists: what I miss from the ANZ lists are the robust humour & wide-ranging snarkiness & self-deprecation of the original...wholly delightful! (possibly even if you were one of the skewered-)
What I thoroughly agree with is their lauding of you, Graham- "Beattie's Book Blog" is a must go-to, just as soon as I switch on the iMac- all best for the long continuance3 of you - & the blog!
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