Marketing Literature

This is an important study of the publishing of contemporary writing in Britain. It analyzes the changing social, economic and cultural environment of the publishing industry in the 1990s-2000s, and investigates its impact on genre, authorship and reading. It includes case studies of Trainspotting and the His Dark Materials trilogy.

'...accessible, yet scholarly...set to become the leading textbook for a new generation of scholars interested in the history of the book.' - Claire Chambers, THE

'Claire Squires has written a fine work on contemporary UK publishing and marketing. Her clear, superbly engaging analyses of the histories behind recent best-sellers adds immeasurably to our understanding of contemporary publishing structures and book promotion activity. It deserves to be required reading for those keen on learning how books and authors make their way through today's complex literary marketplace.' - David Finkelstein, Research Professor of Media and Print Culture, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

'A timely, thoughtful, brilliantly researched and extremely clearly written account of the importance of marketing within contemporary publishing. Utilising a breathtaking variety of oral and written sources, Squires displays invaluable knowledge of and insight into the sometimes byzantine publication strategy of the trade publishing industry. If it is true that the quality most sought after in a publisher is hindsight then this book can help provide all those connected with or interested in contemporary literary fiction with a sense of this very precious resource.' - Peter Straus, literary agent

'Claire Squires's Marketing Literature should, of course, be required reading for everyone who works in publishing, but it's much better than that. It is also a nimble and deeply well-informed guide to the key cultural issue of our time: how do we tell the good from the merely successful?' - John Mitchinson, Director, Quite Interesting Ltd

''Marketing does not simply sell books, it constitutes their meaning' argues Claire Squires, who brilliantly demonstrates how this complex process operates by focusing on bestsellers such as Zadie Smith's White Teeth, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials and Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary to illuminate contemporary practices of writing, publishing and reading. This is an informed, thought-provoking and immensely satisfying book that will be essential reading for everyone who is concerned with literature in Britain today.'- Juliet Gardiner, author and historian

'Enlightening and thought-provoking. Squires presents complex ideas with clarity, intelligence and a refreshingly wry humour. This topical book deserves a wide readership and is relevant to anyone who has an interest in literary fiction.' The Bookseller

' a detailed, thoroughly researched and cogently argued examination of the marketing and publishing of British fiction in the period from 1990 to the present this is a deftly argued, carefully researched and comprehensively informative work that will be of great value to book historians, publishers, editors and booksellers alike.' - Shafquat Towheed, The Review of English Studies

CLAIRE SQUIRES is Professor of Publishing Studies and Director of the Stirling Centre for International Publishing and Communication at the University of Stirling, UK. Her previous books include Philip Pullman, Master Storyteller: A Guide to the Worlds of His Dark Materials (2007) and she is co-Volume editor of the Cambridge History of the Book in Britain Volume 7: The Twentieth Century and Beyond (2013). She previously worked at Hodder Headline publishers.