Monthly Meeting – Lit Eds – June 2024

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Martin Chilton – Independent

  • Digital only newspaper, not to be confused with the i newspaper
  • Martin is a freelancer, but chief book critic
  • Media partners of Hay and also involved with Henley Literary Festival
  • They don’t have a books team, but Jessie Thompson is their arts editor who is very interested in books
  • Jessie is first port of call for interviews / features
  • Martin has a monthly column – he only reviews books he actually likes, will never run a negative reviews. Column runs at the start of the month
  • Sometimes do bespoke reviews for bigger books
  • Martin will look at every book he receives
  • His reviews are usually an eclectic mix of history, biography, memoir, fiction etc

Charlotte Northedge – The Guardian

  • Joint head of books with Liese (Charlotte Mon – Weds, Liese Weds – Friday)
  • Wednesday is their press day
  • Most commissioning and editing is either side of a Weds
  • Books coverage is in Guardian’s Saturday Magazine
  • The books team work closely with the Saturday team
  • Interviews, big extracts and essays are wanted for front of Saturday and cover, as are memoir pieces from novelists
  • They will flag if they think something works better for G2
  • Online is a great opportunity for books coverage
  • Authors can also feed into Experience / Lifestyle / G2 (The Moment That Changed Me) slots
  • Guardian books work completely separately from Observer books
  • They review a wide section of books (SFF, translated fiction, horror & crime, Children’s and poetry all included)
  • Justine Jordan is Fiction Editor
  • David Shariatmadari is Non Fiction, also looks after Big Idea slot
  • Lucy Knight is books news editor (only does online)
  • Space in print is limited so for online, the website is a huge resource and gets vast majority of readership
  • Best to approach via email, chase after a week
  • They work far in advance, mag goes to print 10 days in advance
  • They are already thinking about Autumn now
  • Like emails and catalogues as early as possible
  • Send books to anyone on the books team – they will all end up in the same place, but not 1 each due to lack of books space
  • Catalogues are helpful and email a list with new releases
  • Non-fiction PDF’s are useful, although PDF’s are not a replacement for proofs
  • The Books of my Life in print piece has about a month lead time
  • Laura Wilson for Crime
  • Lisa Tuttle for SFF
  • John Self / Alan Simpson for Translated Fiction
  • Imogen Russell Williams for Childrens
  • For Poetry, go through Justine
  • Someone outside the books team goes through all of the mail for The Guardian, so they really ever see extra material if it’s sent along with a proof
  • Homa Khaleeli and Nicole Jackson for Guardian podcasts

Laura Hackett – Sunday Times

  • Books desks have recently merged
  • Robbie Millen – lit ed of both papers
  • Johanna Thomas Corr – chief literary critic
  • Laura Hackett / Susie Goldsbrough – deputy literary editors of both papers (Laura mostly on Sunday, Susie on Times Saturday)
  • Still have the same amount of space to review
  • Review in one paper may allow for an interview in another, rarely will have the same review over both papers
  • Sunday goes to press on Tuesday
  • Saturday goes to print Thursday evening
  • Sunday covers a lot of big history books
  • Mainly reviews but also features (rise of Romantasy, bookish trends)
  • They work closely with Culture and Saturday reviews, also communicate with the rest of the paper
  • Genre roundups in Times & Sunday Times
  • Paperback reviews are always books that have already been reviewed in hardback by Times / ST – you can flag this and remind when you get in touch
  • Proofs are useful
  • Commission 6 weeks in advance – has just wrapped up end of July but always keen to hear about last minute things
  • Susannah Butter commissions culture features
  • Audrey Ward serial extracts for paper
  • Likes meeting publicists where possible
  • Each person on the books team does open their own mail, but extra material does not guarantee a review
  • Tim Allen for Times Radio author interviews – Tim sits in on books planning meetings, his show is a culture hour
  • They’re open to everything – want to cover variety and like the big celeb biogs as much as the histories.
  • They mainly do reviews but they’ll also do broader features so if you’re publishing a book into a trend, do flag so they can include in these pieces.
  • For Sunday, Nicolette Jones has started doing longer monthly round ups that are themed – mix of new books and classics
  • Children’s books covered in both Times and Sunday Times
  • They work closely with other sections of the paper

Sandra Parsons – Daily Mail

  • Sandra does all serial deals and fields book reviews across Mail and Mail on Sunday
  • The books team at DM is made up of 4 people (Sandra, Ciara Dosset, James Carey and Katherine Spurrier
  • All books at the Mail go through Sandra – she looks at them all
  • They decide on serial with main editor, biggest operation is features throughout the week, reviews take the backseat
  • In 2023, they serialised 129 different titles and 64 serialised so far this year
  • Serial runs in feature sections, but also Femail and other sections in the newspaper
  • Do lots of history and memoir, poetry once in a while
  • They review non-fiction books as features
  • They aren’t interested in giving bad reviews (unless it’s a huge name that cant be ignored)
  • They have set reviewers for almost everything – 3 literary reviewers each week (Clare Allfree, Anthony Cummings etc)
  • Childrens is Sally Morris
  • Eithne Farry Historical fiction / short stories
  • Each week some kind of crime review (Geoffrey Wansell, Sandra will select psychological thrillers, Barry Turner for classic crime etc)
  • Email is always best, Sandra prefers when publicists include their phone numbers on releases / in emails, as she often finds it easier to pick up the phone
  • DM pages go to press on Thursday evening, but have to be finished and produced by a Tuesday (both review pages for DM & Mos)
  • Like PDF’s for non fic whilst fact checking
  • Reviews in the Mail are spread across 4 pages and come out on a Friday, 19 titles every week, 12 fiction, 3 PB’s, 1 coffee table book and also non – fic
  • They also have the What Book slot
  • Mail on Sunday is two pages of fiction and non-fic
  • You Mag sit in on discussion RE serial
  • Since the pandemic, publicists have stopped sending books to DM office – they are really keen to be sent books, this is vital for DM, as they will physically go through and select which ones to review
  • Pitch emails should go to all of the books team
  • Hephzibah looks after fiction for Mail on Sunday
  • All NF for MoS goes through DM boks team
  • They don’t work as far ahead as other papers, currently looking at about 3 / 4 weeks in advance
  • Keen to meet in person but v limited on time

Other

  • All in agreement that short, sharp and punchy emails are best. Laura said she has about 15 seconds to read each email in an inbox
  • Always in include pub date
  • Lit eds find showcases and dinners useful