LoveReading Says
LoveReading Says
One of our Great Reads you may have missed in 2011.
This is a satire on the publishing industry when a small passionate publishing house is threatened by a large conglomerate and where a mediocre author believes he can make the big time by finding a juicy topic. As with all good satire, it is laced with truth and equally, as with all good satire, it is extremely clever. A gem of a novel where the pursuit of fame is contrasted with the old notion that publishing worthy books works.
March 2011 Book of the Month.
The Lovereading view...
A novel of intrigue, deceit and sheer desperation, Bestseller is a caustic portrait of contemporary culture and of Britain's obsession with fame, success and becoming the next megastar author like J.K. Rowling.
Alessandro Gallenzi on Bestseller...
Why should a publisher take up a pen and write a novel? Aren’t there enough writers already? Every week I receive dozens of submissions by post, by email, even by phone, from aspiring authors the world over – full-length novels about vampires, werewolves or aliens, turgid historical romances, war memoirs, family stories of loss and grief, crime capers, gory thrillers, teenage romps, experimental tales and collections of haikus. Yesterday I even received a blank diary with a short note on the first page written by a girlish hand in glittery ink: “Fill this book with Love”. Click here to read the full article.
Sarah Broadhurst
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About
Bestseller Synopsis
Jim Talbot, a writer with a dozen unpublished novels under his belt, has been roundly rejected by virtually every agent and publisher in the land, and is willing to go to extreme lengths to make his dream of literary stardom come true. Charles Randall, the eccentric founder and managing director of Tetragon Press, a small independent publisher that has managed to survive for thirty years in a fierce publishing environment dominated by corporate juggernauts, is about to be brutally sacked by a newly appointed business consultant. In the cut-throat world of modern publishing, Charles and Jim's paths towards literary salvation are fraught with the most unpredictable dangers.
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Press Reviews
Alessandro Gallenzi Press Reviews
'A novel which is light yet serious, funny and painful, somewhat fantastic yet shot through with truth'
Allan Massie, The Scotsman
'Gallenzi... slips in sound insider's judgements on how this business works. Read it for the lowdown on the low trade'
Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
'As a working publisher, a founder of Hesperus Press and a director of Calder Publications, Alessandro Gallenzi has first-hand knowledge of the publishing world. While not necessarily directed at paying off old scores, his first novel Bestseller shows that its creator clearly enjoys laying about him, not just at the book trade's monsters and grotesque, but at their consensual victims in the shape of writers and editorial underlings.'
TLS
Author
About Alessandro Gallenzi
Alessandro Gallenzi is the founder of Hesperus Press, Alma Books and Oneworld Classics, and the successor of John Calder at the helm of Calder Publications. As well as being a literary publisher with almost ten years of experience, he is a prize-winning translator, a poet, a playwright and a novelist. His collection of poetry, Modern Bestiary - Ars Poetastrica, was published in 2005 to critical acclaim. He lives in Richmond with his wife and two children.
Alessandro Gallenzi on Bestseller...
Why should a publisher take up a pen and write a novel? Aren’t there enough writers already? Every week I receive dozens of submissions by post, by email, even by phone, from aspiring authors the world over – full-length novels about vampires, werewolves or aliens, turgid historical romances, war memoirs, family stories of loss and grief, crime capers, gory thrillers, teenage romps, experimental tales and collections of haikus. Yesterday I even received a blank diary with a short note on the first page written by a girlish hand in glittery ink: “Fill this book with Love”. Click here to read the full article.
More About Alessandro Gallenzi
