Back in the office today I was greeted by a pile of management accounts for our various companies. I get approximately fifty separate sets of accounts a month and nearly all of them have different formats. The formats are in line with the needs of the company but serve to make my life doubly hard - are these dollars or yen, is that last year or this year, is that profit or contribution, is that cash or sales?. C'est la vie. However, I managed to postpone the accounting ordeal by scanning the pile of new books which arrived. This was much more fun and probably more enlightening too. I've deliberately selected books which most readers are unlikely to come across in the normal course of events.

From Ireland comes the number one hardback bestseller This is Charlie Bird, having ousted U2 from the perch. We have sold 20,000 copies so far which would be pretty good for a UK hardback non-fiction title let alone in a country with a population of only four million. Charlie Bird has been the face of RTE news for the last 25 years and clearly has a dedicated fan base.

And from Australia an outstanding scholarly book The Great War by Les Carlyon. The joy of this book is that it is written by a 'writer' not by a 'scholar' although the scholarship shines through. It makes a change to read about a familiar story from an alternative perspective. World War I was Australia's (as well as Europe's) greatest tragedy and they suffered 179,000 dead or wounded and they still remember. The book is not published in Australia until 1 November and it's not listed on the Bantam website (who published his previous book) or on Amazon UK. The desire to sub-divide territorial rights on this sort of book seems to me an absurdity of value to no-one least of all to potential readers.

Also in my in-tray was Picador Asia's first book February Flowers by Fan Wu. I have yet to read the novel but it is getting rave reviews across Asia but I can say that the paperback edition I have been sent is one of the most beautiful productions I've seen in years which is why I've linked to the Asian edition. I think British publishers and printers are going to have to up their game in production standards as well as everything else if we wish to compete and attract more book buyers. I've asked Fan Wu's literary agent to contribute to this blog to describe the whole process of being published out of Asia rather than the traditional Western route.

Finally a doorstep of a book from Rodale whom we represent in many territories. It is The Encyclopedia of New Medicine from the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine in the USA. I am deeply sceptical about all forms of 'alternative' health regimes but for once there is a book which objectively tries to offer solutions from all sources and tries to deal with the person as an integrated system. It deals with 200 conditions and all the ones I checked out have been totally sensible and helpful.

Enough books - back to the accounts.

I'm not sure why but yesterday was this blog's best day ever as measured by unique visitors - 2570. I'm equally unsure (and slightly worried) as to why http://www.used-aircraftsales.com/ should be the top referrer.

More movement on the issues around the dissemination of scientific research using the web and its impact on researchers, funding bodies, libraries and publishers. The Research Information Network in the UK has published a very full report on the operations and costs of scholarly publishing. The idea was to take some of the heat out of the open-access debate and replace it with some light and informed debate. I've been invited to chair a workshop on November 14 in London and everyone is welcome. There are many sides to this discussion but at least this report has been prepared properly, thoughtfully and impartially. Not least because the Chair of the overseeing panel is an old acquaintance from the days when I was a medical commissioning editor and signed him up to co-author the Oxford Textbook of Clinical Pharmacology.

And more on public libraries. The Libraries Minister, David Lammy, has dismissed those trying to focus libraries on books (as opposed to community centres or worse) as:

Those that want to turn the clock back to some highly-selective and rose-tinted vision of libraries from their own childhoods are out of luck.  I’m with them as far as putting the written word at the heart of the library service.  And I’m with them on the campaign to keep the book stock fresh and relevant.  But there’s more to this than nostalgia.

His solution is to commission a White Paper on Communities, presumably supported by many very wise (and expensive) consultants. Fortunately the importance of libraries and books has been recognised by politicians outside the junta and pressure is building for the implementation of genuine management improvements, genuine investment and genuine recognition of the centrality of the printed word in a modern society. More on this at the excellent Good Library blog.

Incidentally, I must confess that I was rather worried when I spotted Mr Lammy at the Man Booker Prize dinner last week. It might have confirmed his prejudice that the book trade was populated by white, penguin-suited, public-school-educated middle-class (or worse) men entirely cut off from the real multicultural Britain. Thank goodness then that the prize was won by an American-domiciled Indian woman.

Back from Mumbai this morning to enjoy ploughing through a full email inbox. Here's an edited piece from the Times Higher Educational Supplement where an author praises us for not overselling his books into book stores - makes a change:

On another subject altogether Erica Wagner in today's Times, Do writers belong to one country - or to the world?, where she aske whether it matters where literary archives and manuscripts reside. This was prompted by the forthcoming British-Library hosted conference Manuscripts Matter where I am chairing a discussion on Collecting Electronica. Given the concerns of librarians, scholars, authors and publishers I sense an 'interesting' debate.

The 'interesting' Google debate continues with Google seeming to make some friendlier gestures towards copyright. I quote;

I mainly resist using this blog to promote individual titles or authors. That's not what blogs are for IMHO but a comment here a couple of days ago has tempted me to write about Cat o' nine tales by Jeffrey Archer. The comment from an excellent independent bookseller said how pleased he is NOT to be selling books by Archer. I've never worked in a bookshop but I reckon I'd be pleased to be selling books by anyone.

Of course there are many people who have decided that Jeffrey Archer's prison sentence (one of the longest ever handed down for perjury) was not enough of a punishment for his crime (no violence involved, no theft, no damage to an individual apart from himself). This is probably because people simply don't like success combined with a lack of shyness but that's not justification for unrelenting vilification and censorship.

Outside Britain people see Jeffrey simply as a writer and his popularity is growing with every book he publishes. His latest book of short stories augmented by the world's greatest illustrator Ronald Searle is a case in point. I notice on Jeffrey's blog someone asking when he could buy a copy here in Mumbai. Here in India they care not a jot for British Archer-baiting. They just want good books from a brilliant story-teller. Try it out for yourself before sounding off, my bookseller friends.

Arrived late last night. Traveller's tip - go Jet Airways who remind me of the early days of Vrigin Atlantic - better, cheaper and trying harder. Given the ever-growing importance of the Indian market the other airlines had better wake up.

The last few months have seen a stream of British and American publishers turning up in India to announce grand plans for the development of publishing in India. The latest pronouncements have emerged from HarperCollins during a presidential visit by Jane Friedman and Victoria Barnsley. I'm sure that they will find interesting opportunities here and will rapidly understand the Indian market and character. We've been here for over a century and every day brings fresh surprises.

Macmillan India was founded in 1892 and has grown every year since. It now employs more than 3000 people all over the country and is publicly traded on the Mumbai and National Stock Exchanges. On the publishing front we focus on education at all levels and serious non-fiction. We have recently set up Picador India which is carving a niche in high-quality Indian literature as part of the overall efforts of Pan Macmillan. Palgrave Macmillan has its own office to promote academic works and college textbooks and Nature Publishing Group has embarked on a programme of publishing and marketing in India with the aim of finding the very best Indian scientific work needing to reach an international audience.

The other area of growth comes from our publishing services activities in Information Processing, MPS Technologies and Software Development Services. At Macmillan we have a tradition of working for other publishers as well as for ourselves in order to spread the costs of staying at the cutting edge of new developments. The alternative strategy as followed by several of our competitors is to retain these activities to themselves in order to maintain competitive edge. Both strategies are legitimate but we prefer the more social version.

The papers here today are full of Kiran Desai's triumph at the Booker but the headlines are really about the row between the BCCI and the ICC - acronyms only of interest to followers of cricket - which is really a post-imperial flare-up of the very best nostalgic kind - much hot air but no bloodshed. 

Huge congratulations to Kiran Desai for her book winning the Booker Prize. We were, of course, sad for Teddy St Aubyn but the judges had a really tough job and I'm sure, judging by her speech, that Ms Desai is a great person as well as a great writer. I'm off to India this morning and I have no doubt the country will be celebrating yet another national hero.

I should have known that this particular title would win when, earlier in the evening, I was asked whether Macmillan was committed to publishing literary books. I asked what is meant by a literary book. Apparently it is a work of fiction which loses money. It seemed rather an odd definition and I tried to argue that publishing companies tend to do a better job when they are solvent. In addition I'm not quite sure why literary publishing should deserve more support than, say, educational publishing in Zimbabwe. That said, of course we are committed to literary publishing and to the continued growth of Picador in all its markets - UK, USA, Australia, South Africa, India and most recently Asia. But I should not want to leave future publishers at Macmillan with an inheritance of loss whatever the definition of literature.

During the 1990s the foundations were laid for the terrific success of the Nature Publishing Group. The strategy was to launch the highest-quality 'sister' journals in subjects close to Nature's core expertise and audience. This resulted in many top life science journals being launched - Genetics, Medicine, Cell Biology etc. The group was begining to be seen purely as a life science publisher. This is changing and the recent launch of Nature Nanotechnology prompted me to ask Jason Wilde, its publisher, to describe what is happening in the Nature world of physical sciences.

What a difference a year makes

Over the past year Nature Publishing Group (NPG) has quadrupled its portfolio of physicals science journals by launching three new titles: Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Physics and Nature Nanotechnology. These launches came on the back of Nature Materials (our first physical science research journal) which was launched in 2002 and has become the number 1 research journal in the physical sciences.

The reason for these launches is simple; it is to ensure NPG is at the forefront of serving all of science including the physical science community. Ten years ago NPG expanded its program from just Nature to include 7 primary research journals in the biomedical and life sciences. These became essential titles for each of their fields and ensured that NPG was seen as a leading publisher in the life sciences.

Many people have forgotten that Nature is as strong in the physical sciences as it is in the life sciences publishing a number of firsts including: The discovery of X-Rays (1896); the development of the particle accelerator (1932) and the production of the first LASER (1960). More recently Nature has led the way publishing research on: the formation of C60 (1985); the first paper on electronic ink (1998) and only last year new research from INTEL on LASERs made from silicon.

The launch of Nature Materials, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Physics, and Nature Nanotechnology ensures we continue this tradition and that NPG provides the physical science community with the same high quality journals that the life sciences have enjoyed for the past decade.

Not only have we launched new titles but we have also expanded our editorial operations to include Asia. The decision to have one of the editors for Nature Nanotechnology in Tokyo reflects the strengths of the Asia-Pacific region. Japan is second only to the US in terms of investment in nanotechnology research, and South Korea is ranked fifth in the world. China is also emerging as a force in nanotechnology and scientific research.

Going to Basingstoke for a series of forecasting and budget meetings, and catch-ups with a number of my colleagues. I remember once a dinner in Gaborone where the Botswanan politician next to me asked what I thought of his city. I said that it was hard to comment as I had just arrived having driven from Johannesburg. But what did you think of the architecture and in particular the ring road? Well, I said, I have to say that it reminds me of a town in England called Basingstoke. Yes, he said, precisely. We decided that Basingstoke was so excellent that we've tried to copy its layout and in particular its roundabouts. I was stunned.

Which is which?

If I get back in time from Basingstoke I'll have to don the penguin and trip off to the Guildhall for the annual Booker prize dinner ordeal. Fingers crossed for Edward St Aubyn. If every reader of this blog could wish him to win.... Essay on book prize dinners tomorrow, tenor dependent on result.

More than thirty years ago Macmillan instituted a scheme to attract the very best people from universities to the publishing industry. Today former graduate recruits hold some of the most senior positions in the company and dozens are working their way up. Some leave immediately when they decide publishing is not for them. Others use the scheme as a way of launching a career - e.g. Nigel Newton and Tim Hely Hutchinson - and going on to great things in the industry.

Kristin Annexstad joined us three weeks ago as one of the first of the 2006 intake. Here are her thoughts:

'After being frightened during my undergraduate days with bedtime stories of psychometric testing, in-tray exercises, and absurd scenarios during interviews, and even sitting through interviews designed to make me cry at some of the big boys in the city, the Macmillan applications process was unnervingly easy. During my Christmas holidays I decided that, despite my lack of an English literature background, I would investigate jobs in publishing, something I had considered for some time. I wasn't sure whether my social science background would be appropriate but decided my love of books must count for something. Trawling the internet I discovered Macmillan ran a graduate scheme. Could it be? Was there really an obvious entry into the industry? With five days to go before the deadline I gave it my best but wasn't wildly optimistic, although it was the most sunny and sincere cover letter I had ever written. About a month later I got a phone call asking me to come in for an interview. Fully expecting a battery of proofreading and intense grilling, I instead had a pleasant chat about publishing and books, and the obligatory "give us an example of a time when you..." I left feeling confident - too confident? Had I been too relaxed? Biting my nails, I convinced myself I had seemed arrogant and informal. I didn't hear from them for ages and assumed I was out, but about a month later I was asked to come and see the CEO. Preparing myself for a brutal interrogation I was kept standing in Richard Charkin's office for about ten minutes while he conducted an urgent phone call about a recent golf championship. Finally allowed to sit I was asked why in God's name I wanted to go into publishing, whether I had ever been to the Vietnamese restaurant in my neighbourhood, and abruptly was told I had the job. I wasn't really sure what had just happened but I was pleased. Of course I accepted the job, and turned up in September fresh-faced and bright-eyed, knowing only that I would be working with the Strategy Director, whatever that was. Apparently I was a Research Associate, which sounds very grand, but occasionally means someone who uses Google a lot and counts the number of books in a catalogue. It also means someone who writes reports which get sent to the CEO, which was not a little exciting. Unlike many of my classmates who started graduate schemes in the City I was given real tasks to begin with, and not busywork, which had been my fear. I wasn't quite wined and dined but lunch dates were set up for me with my predecessors and I am promised meetings with division bigwigs to help me figure out my next step, which is apparently decided not just by the powers that be but also based on my own interests and talents. I have even been promised a tour of the warehouse in Basingstoke, which has me feeling very much like Charlie before his trip to the Chocolate Factory. So what do I do all day, my friends ask. I can't talk about it, I say, after having had the fear of God put into me about confidentiality. I try to assure them that I have no delusions of grandeur but that since I work on The Top Floor it's all very hush-hush, don't you know. Finally I look around suspiciously, before tapping my nose and lowering my voice conspiratorially: "I write competitor reports and research the market. Sometimes I count books." But I am very smug that I have been given my own responsibilities, and despite this have never stayed much later than required. Perhaps I should be? I did stay later than the boss once evening last week, which had me feeling very superior. I made sure to email him what I had been working on so that he would know I had been there at 19:30. Unfortunately, in my excitement, I sent the wrong attachment. He was very nice about it though, so no tears shed by me yet. That may, of course, change, should I incur the wrath of RC, who occasionally comes out of his office wtih the sole purpose, seemingly, of intimidating me, or stumping me with obscure facts about the industry. But I am watching and learning, and planning my takeover bid.'