Following my post yesterday on the international Hierarchy of Book Publishing, Kauri Bookend has left a new comment suggesting his/her NZ top twenty. My thanks to Kauri Bookend. Here it is for your amusement and/or comment with a few pics I have added:
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-SST
7. 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?
12. Tony Fisk – probably the smartest MD in NZ Publishing – why isn’t he Prime Minister?
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
18. Maurice Gee: now why hasn’t he been knighted?
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??
Brian Phillips then responded as follows:
Hard to resist responding to this…
Whilst I agree with most of Kauri Bookends’ selections I would venture to add a few more..
In no particular order [as they say on the X factor] I would offer
The two Fionas – Farrell(right) and Kidman(left). Wonderful women writing wonderful books
Carole Beu – if all booksellers were as active and enthusiastic we would sell more books….
The retirees – especially David Elworthy, Ros Henry and Bob Ross. They may no longer be involved in commercial publishing but all continue to do ‘bookish’ things. Long may they flourish.
The broadcasters – especially Kim Hill and a special mention for the incomparable Elizabeth Alley.
Jill Ewing at Random House. This company is regularly voted Distributor of the year by booksellers. Jill runs Random’s distribution. Enough said.
Belinda Cooke at New Holland – quietly running a small but perfectly formed company.
The third party book distributors – big and small – without them many smaller publishers would have no cost-effective way of getting their books into the marketplace. As I am a naturalised Cantabrian special mention must go to Nationwide Books at Oxford.
Those who run Writers Festivals throughout the country. Love them all.
Finlay Macdonald. Also Guy Somerset, Philip Matthews, Iain Sharp and David Eggleton.
PS Who is the grumpy bugger in Timaru? Can't think of anyone who fits that description...
Today Old Timer has commented:
Kauri Bookend’s top twenty was an excellent contribution. Old Timer offers a comment or two.
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??
Brian Phillips then responded as follows:
Hard to resist responding to this…Whilst I agree with most of Kauri Bookends’ selections I would venture to add a few more..
In no particular order [as they say on the X factor] I would offer
The two Fionas – Farrell(right) and Kidman(left). Wonderful women writing wonderful books
Carole Beu – if all booksellers were as active and enthusiastic we would sell more books….
The retirees – especially David Elworthy, Ros Henry and Bob Ross. They may no longer be involved in commercial publishing but all continue to do ‘bookish’ things. Long may they flourish.
The broadcasters – especially Kim Hill and a special mention for the incomparable Elizabeth Alley.
Jill Ewing at Random House. This company is regularly voted Distributor of the year by booksellers. Jill runs Random’s distribution. Enough said.
Belinda Cooke at New Holland – quietly running a small but perfectly formed company.
The third party book distributors – big and small – without them many smaller publishers would have no cost-effective way of getting their books into the marketplace. As I am a naturalised Cantabrian special mention must go to Nationwide Books at Oxford.
Those who run Writers Festivals throughout the country. Love them all.
Finlay Macdonald. Also Guy Somerset, Philip Matthews, Iain Sharp and David Eggleton.
PS Who is the grumpy bugger in Timaru? Can't think of anyone who fits that description...
Today Old Timer has commented:
Kauri Bookend’s top twenty was an excellent contribution. Old Timer offers a comment or two.
There is a small clash between #
four Lloyd Jones and # 18 Maurice Gee; another between # nine Karen Ferns and #
12 Tony Fisk.
Publishers who have disappeared, add: Avery, Bascands, Beckett Sterling, Benton
Ross, Booker & Friend, Caxton, Dunmore, Millwood, Moa,
Pacific/Whitcoulls. Paul’s, Pegasus,
Sweet &Maxwell – where have all the roses gone?
And Bookman Beattie has decided to have his pennethworth too:
Significant other players worthy of mention include:
Nielsen Book Scan - in spite of Whitcoulls attempt to scuttle their weekly statistics they continue to provide an invaluable service
Book Publicists - tireless workers, almost exclusively women, this blog would be a lesser place without them.
Book designers - designing books in NZ of world class standards
Bureaucrats running those key organisations - Lincoln Gould (Booksellers), Anne de Lautour (Publishers), Maggie Tarver (Authors) and Catriona Ferguson (Creative NZ).
Literary journals, especially but not only Sport and Landfall.
All those wonderful, informed indie booksellers out there, especially at my favourite weekend haunt. the Village Bookshop at Matakana.
Media book page editors especially Linda Herrick, Mark Broatch, Guy Somerset and Philip Mathews.
The Listener - widespread book coverage week in and week out.
Facebook & Twitter
The Guardian & The New York Times - daily book reviews and book news.
PW & The Bookseller - keeping the trade informed on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world
Martin Taylor - the man who led the push into digital publishing in NZ.
Anyone else got further nominees? Feel free to comment.
6 comments:
The @modernletters twitter stream!
I left off the occasional newsletter from Victoria University's IIML. Always an entertaining and informative read.
don't forget the book reps who try to inspire enthusiasm for book when it is sometimes lacking.
Interesting thread,
How about a mention for our customers ,the readers who test, trial, love,hate our recommendations who although they have a Kindle and can download books, phones that they can read on, continue to buy the real thing to pass hand to hand to other affiicianados and so the ripples spread.
There are so many good books out there it's hard to keep up.
On cookery books have you seen Gingerboy and Indochine two more covetable tomes plus the brilliant Tapas by Elizabeth Luard a small but totally authentic collection of traditional Spanish tasty morsels.
best
Doris
Doris Mousdale
Arcadia Bookshop
26 Osborne Street
Newmarket
Auckland
Margaret Mahy and Joy Cowley?
Since August 2011, I created The BookCase Project. I follow media trends. I post the latest news articles on technology's impact on hardback books, on the publishing industry, on public libraries, and on (brick and mortar) bookshops. https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-BookCase-Project/201733486549165
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