One of the lovely things about going to writers’ festivals is that one is reminded how nice most writers are. Just as these events are a great way for authors to remind themselves that agents and publishers are not some strange race apart (well, not all of them anyway…) so it is good for agents and publishers to be reminded of the all-too-human hearts that inhabit the absolute centre of this business.
It is far too easy to clamp slightly too tightly round rather depressing concepts like the book as product or social media platforms and forget that in the end it all comes down to talent and application. Whatever clever new marketing ploy publishers come up with, the oldest and truest statement in publishing is that nothing sells the book like the book – in the end it all comes down to what’s on the page.