My musings yesterday seemed to have stirred up a lot of comment and it's worth reading the contributions if you're interested in the problems and opportunities affecting the British book trade.

What I find interesting in all this (and from private emails I receive not for publication) is how publishers are blamed by absolutely everyone. Independent booksellers complain because we give too much discount to everyone. Supermarkets complain because we don't give enough to their intermediaries who regularly go bust as a result. Chain booksellers complain because we don't give enough to support their marketing efforts. Authors and agents complain that discounts are too high and this affects their royalty earnings. Illustrators, translators, indexers, copy-editors complain that they aren't paid enough and don't get enough recognition. Printers complain that publishers don't pay them enough. Readers think books are too expensive and blame publishers. Libraries think they should receive bigger discounts. Google thinks information (if supplied by them) should be free. Everyone thinks books should be produced to higher standards. Everyone wants better levels of service.

Meanwhile we have price deflation, higher author costs, higher energy costs, higher technology and innovation costs, shorter print runs, more competitive media for spend and leisure time.

Something has to give.

But in spite of everything the business continues and let's celebrate Macmillan having two of the five shortlisted titles for the James Tait Black Memorial prize for biography:

Max Egremont's Siegfried Sassoon and Nigel Farndale's Haw-Haw, The Tragedy of William and Margaret Joyce.