Sustainability is all the buzz these days. At the Watermill we have aimed to build a "sustainable" customer base through our programme of children's reading groups.

It was therefore with great interest that we heard marketing guru Damian Horner talking at last week's Independent Booksellers Forum in Edinburgh. Known for his...

When appointing a distributor, the natural tendency is to focus on the positive commercial aspects of the deal. Often there is a reluctance to address the potential demise of the other party. Consequently, distributor's “standard” insolvency terms are frequently accepted without debate. Lawyers are accustomed to being branded...

Given the economic gloom, I would not have blamed publishers if they had cut their lists, ditching anything risky ("literary" fiction) in favour of the top-selling, sleep-inducing memoirs “written” by the latest participants in “I’m a Strictly Come Dancing Celebrity on Ice, Get Me Out of Here!” But it...

It is the hour before dawn. This phrase has been heard a lot around the City of late. The flow of bad economic news has been unrelenting, and finance ministers around the world are in danger of running out of fingers and thumbs with which to plug holes in the dyke.

In my view the biggest wave yet to hit UK consumer spending is that of...