..., the patience of IT help desks around the world, and courtesy of Ann Michael who sent me this link. The worry is that I recognise myself as the technophobic monk.

I've just been sent this picture of the Publishing Innovation Conference I wrote about on 16 March. We don't look like innovators. That could be the problem.

The best futurologist in the UK is Ray Hammond an dthje best insights into future technologies can be found in his monthly newsletter, Glimpses. The April issue jus out has the usual mix of wondrous things - sugar-powered batteries, ethics for robots, air-conditioned vests, poetry-writing software etc - but, being a doting grandfather this item caught my eye. It all sounds fine except for the headline in the catalogue. It may be tempting at 3.00 a.m. but we don't really want to put the babies to sleep forever, do we?

The plush toy features a digital audio player loaded with womb sounds. Apparently an internal microphone was placed into a living womb while music played in the outside surroundings.

Put your new baby on a bender of sloshing fluids, heartbeat, and muffled music and he or she will be out faster than you can say "sweet dreams". And what happens when baby wakes to find he's been duped by a giant mouse? No worries, a "baby mood switch" will sense the baby's cries and generate an audible "curiosity trigger" to make baby forget why he was crying in the first place. Another cocktail of womb music and he's back to sleep. Feed, cuddle, repeat. Magic.

Yesterday's competition has elicited only two public responses (although several private ones). No correct answer yet although Cricklewood might be considered warmest.

Also yesterday I promised more on the Scottish Nigerian writer Jackie Kay as described by the head of Picador, the delightfully American Andrew Kidd.

'Jackie Kay triumphed last night at the British Book Awards, taking home the Decibel Writer of the Year Prize. The Decibel is 'for a writer of fiction, narrative non-fiction or poetry who is of African, Caribbean or Asian descent and has made the greatest contribution towards or impact on the literary year’. Novelist, poet, story writer, playwright, Jackie is a wonderful and unique talent, and the book for which she was shortlisted is the story collection, Wish I Was Here, a touching, funny, lively and profound study of the vagaries of the human heart. But this splendid book is in fact only one of many of Jackie’s achievements over the last year. Last Sunday, Radio 3 broadcast her play, ‘The Lamplighters’, which brought to life the voices of African women during the age of enslavement. It was immediately hailed as one of the best and most original works to be inspired by the anniversary of British abolition. Many congratulations to this treasure of a writer.'

Yesterday was a proud day for Macmillan for other reasons too. After many months of hard work we were able to announce that we are the first book publisher to embrace fully black empowerment in South Africa. Many publishers have paraded their enlightened attitude to diversity in publishing and have even appointed diversity comunications managers. We don't do that but we are delighted to take a lead in what is a genuine attempt to remedy past mistakes and build a stronger and fairer business environment for the future.

And here's a photo from the celebratory party:

Here is a photo and story from one of Macmillan's most intrepid sales people, hispanophile Jim Papworth in Jamaica.

Here is an extract from an email received. Can you, from the language or content, guess the nationality of the writer?

'It was good for me to have a word during the daytime (I am sorry that you had to ring me twice early morning). I am completely drunk and I could not speak to you properly. Speak to you soon again.'

I'm back in  Germany (that's not a clue) and my colleagues in the 'Controlling Department' have agreed to guest for me.

Einfahrt verboten!

At the moment Stuttgart is all about colored stickers. Motor vehicles need a sticker to entry the so-called 'environmental zone'.

The color scheme reflects the emission stage to which the vehicle was originally certified. Vehicles without a sticker are to be denied entry in such zones. On days with particularly poor quality air local authorities are supposed to permit entry only to vehicles with selected sticker colors.

That's the new law in Stuttgart and it seems that I will not get a sticker at all! Which means, in future I will run to work...

Congratulations to Jackie Kay on her triumph at the Nibbies last night. I was in Germany and therefore had the perfect excuse not to be there. More on Jackie later...

Last night's event was held courtesy of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners on board what was once HMS Wellington and is now (for reasons too complicated for me) HQS Wellington. Fortunately it is moored safely on the Victoria Embankment in London.

The event was the Wisden annual dinner and the discussion was at least as much about murder as cricket - unsurprisingly. I was seated between the journalist Leo McKinstry who had the awful job on writing up the story (and staying up all night to watch as the trgaedy unfolded) of the last Ashes rout and Kamran Abbasi who, apart from writing about cricket is editor of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and Chief Executive of OnMedica. The conversation veered from cricket to politics to medical publishing but the real treat was seeing Alec Bedser graciously receiving a leather-bound Wisden from 1947 when he was a cricketer of the year.

Nearly enough cricket but one more picture, from the jacket of this year's edition. For those of you who don't know, the greatest slow bowler of all time retired from international cricket and this is Shane Warne after his last game (winning against England of course).

Finally, on digital publishing, I promised my old friend, Anthony Watkinson that I'd link to UCL's first conference on e-publishing here. The theme is 'Books and journals: models in flux' and there could hardly be a more central issue for our industry. It's on 28-9 June in London.

Here's a spot the author competition from Picador's author gathering last week. Photographs are courtesy of Duncan Soar who may (or may not - I'm investigating) be related to the great Macmillan publisher, Adrian Soar.

And more, many more.

And this evening sees the launch of Wisden 2007. More on that later as the press release is still under embargo and I'm not sure I can take any more free advice from Clive Keeble. It is strange that, for a publisher who shoots itself in the foot constantly (as Clive suggests), Wisden seems to manage pretty well, increasing sales and profits every year and producing a brilliant, highly complex and beautiful book on schedule and to amazing reviews. What's more, sales through wholesalers and independents are holding up fine.

Last night wasn't meant to be a party. I was having dinner with a colleague from New York and then Niso and Wilbur Smith showed up by coincidence and the dinner turned into a pre-publication celebratory party for The Quest to be published in the UK in early April but already at number one in South Africa.

The Wisden embargo is now lifted and I am in the happy position of being able to share with you this year's index of unusual occurrences. Enjoy but you'll have to buy the book to get the real flavour.

 Batsman given out in Test while congratulating century-maker.....................            1221

Batsman gives himself out lbw in Lord’s final..............................................              904

Brothers open for opposing sides in one-day international...........................            1303

Century scored entirely in boundaries.........................................................              756

Collies on county stand-by for goose attack...............................................              637

Commentator showered with glass for second time in same seat.................              931

Counties play extra time as tie-breaker......................................................              945

County asks to bowl only at one end.........................................................              932

County batsman threatens team-mate with bat............................................              679

County captain dismissed twice in three balls..............................................              749

County captain penalised for wearing glove................................................              876

Crowd admitted free to one-day international to save on print costs............            1300

Dad dashes for debutant’s kit....................................................................              568

Father gives son out lbw in one-day international........................................            1307

Fielder in Roses Match wears trilby...........................................................              739

Figures of 1–1–6–0 in county one-day match.............................................              893

First-class captain banned for four years for assaulting umpire....................            1409

Gunman spotted in Test match crowd........................................................            1142

Media sit-in stops Test..............................................................................            1147

One-day international played with mango tree inside boundary...................            1308

Player makes his debut two matches after his shirt......................................              776

Spectators get commentary from bowls match...........................................              880

Team bowls 66 wides in international match...............................................            1438

Test selector unaware of his selection.........................................................            1162

Three teams try to take the field for first-class match..................................            1382

Umpire goes missing during one-day international.......................................            1166

Water bombs stop play.............................................................................              741

There's an excellent article in the 12 March issue of Publishers Weekly by Edward Russell-Walling. I think the strapline says it all:

'A dodgy retail scene and an increasingly celebrity-oriented culture are leaving little room for reason.'

The special feature is there to forearm (forewarn?) publishers coming to the UK for the London Book Fair next month. The Fair itself leaves little room for reason but at least it has moved from last year's disastrous experiment of housing it somewhere between Tower Bridge and the Western outskirts of Moscow. This shot is of Olympia. The fair moves to Earls Court but I don't suppose the aerial view ill be much different.

Visitors will, as the feature suggests, find a very strange atmosphere. Publishers are, by and large, faring quite well (or they say they are). On the other hand, trade publishers continue to be squeezed between the highest levels of discount to retailers in the world ( I can't prove this but I think it's true) and the highest relative level of author advances in the world (again I can't prove it but I think it's true). In parallel, they are having to make investments in a digital future with no proven business model to support it. They are having to battle with their American colleagues about territorial rights and in particular the necessity of acquiring exclusive EU rights. And there is effectively retail price deflation driven by th esupermarkets.

The retail environment is consolidating and there may be more on the horizon with the recent Borders announcement and advances for celebrities and best-selling authors show no sign of abatement.

And yet the parties will continue to be lavish. The Book Fair will be a triumph. Deals will be struck. The book world will continue as ever to defy gravity.

Meanwhile the Cricket World Cup continues to amaze and I'm very glad I didn't respond to the comments on an earlier posting. My favourites to win, India, are out. As are Pakistan in strange circumstances. For the good of the game, I'm now going with New Zealand.

About this time of year every year I dust down my ageing dinner jacket and wonder whether I can put up with the agony of cramming myself into it for the annual Wisden dinner. This year I decided to pluck up courage and buy a new one so that I could enjoy the dinner and its associations with Spring and a new Summer without acute discomfort. But this year's event looks like being overshadowed by the unsavoury and deeply depressing case of Who Killed Bob Woolmer (and why). The cricket section of today's Times gives some indication of the understandable domination of the issue. Forgive the strange typography.

The best we never had

Bob Woolmer had few equals as a coach, but his native country were never to benefit

Endless talent, endless problems

Ivo Tennant, who was working with the former England batsman on a new book, says his friend had been charmed by the nation

'I believed that Cronje never fixed any match’

Woolmer found it impossible to believe that the captain of South Africa would contemplate an involvement with bookmakers

Autopsy reveals Bob Woolmer was murdered

Jamaican police confirm British-born Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer was strangled to death and launch a murder probe

Bob Woolmer 1948-2007

Man of the world

As Bob Woolmer’s biographer, I was privileged to tell the story of a man who fulfilled himself as a outstanding coach

Woolmer: the boys’ own pragmatist

I played for England with Bob Woolmer, but it was as a coach that I came to respect him

Cricket paying high price for naivety

Due to recent events, questions are being asked of the ICC’s handling of corruption and whether they have reverted to complacency

Bob Woolmer: obituary

‘Citizen of world cricket’ who was a highly respected coach of South Africa and then Pakistan

A search on the ever useful Wisden Archive gives even more information about Woolmer's career. Anyway, Wednesday (or is it Thursday morning) sees the publication of Wisden 2007 which is still under wraps but is sure to be yet another triumph for its editor, Matthew Engel, who is also publishing his Extracts from the Red Notebooks this week. Rarely have I enjoyed a set of proofs so much. Do grab a copy of the book - and simply enjoy.

Publishing, thank goodness, is heterogenous. Mass-market, school and college textbooks, scientific research, literary fiction, poetry, music, religious, popular science are all important genres and have their own sets of editorial and commercial characteristics. One hugely important area is high-quality non-fiction of the sort that Macmillan has been engaged in since the days of Keynes's General Theory of Employment and other seminal works. We are still highly active in this field and I have asked Airie Stuart of Palgrave Macmillan in New York to share some of her thoughts with us.

The market for serious nonfiction has changed dramatically over the last couple of decades. The success of authors such as Stephen Greenblatt, Jared Diamond, Malcolm Gladwell and Thomas Friedman are evidence that there is a potentially large readership for challenging ideas, historical narratives and counterintuitive analysis. For publishers of these kinds of books, the continued success has brought with it a whole new set of challenges.

Over the last couple of decades, the primary aim of most literary agents has been to sell books to the highest bidder, with marketing and editorial considerations taking a back seat. And who can blame the agents? Publishers enable them. If editors see something they like, they often pre-empt for a huge sum of money or get swept up into auction fever, with little consideration for the profit and loss reckoning that will come two years later.

Many editors evaluate proposals at face value; if they don't see what they like they pass and move on. This is, of course, often a function of time constraints in the face of the volume of submissions and day to day tasks. Yet the downside is that editors are rarely able to give much thought and time to reshaping and developing a proposal with an eye toward the larger trajectory of an author’s career. What if an author is doing fascinating research in one area but wants to write about an altogether different one that many others are writing about? What will happen to the all-important sales track if an author's second book idea is not as strong as his first? What if an idea is not fully developed? When is it worth it to overspend for a trophy author? How does one pay sensibly when even assistant professors with dissertations they want to turn into books are represented by top-tier agencies?

These scenarios and questions are endemic to the publishing of serious, commercial non-fiction. And not every company can, or should, take the easy path to answering them. We certainly can't take that approach at Palgrave Macmillan.

I'm proud to say that our authors actually receive royalty checks. In this kind of give-and-take we are not just victims to the going rate, the frenzied auction or the travesty of overpaying for books left and right that might not earn out.  And we have the fulfillment of knowing that we've brought something to the table, too.