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HarperCollins imprint Fourth Estate is to bring forward its publication date for Joseph O'Neill's The Dog to 31st July, after its longlisting for the Man Booker prize yesterday (23rd July). The Kindle edition will be availble from tomorrow (25th).
However Hodder & Stoughton confirmed it will not bring forward the release dates for Us by David Nicholls, which is not due out until September 30th.
The publication dates for David Mitchell's The Bone Clocks (Sceptre) and How to Be Both by Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton), both due in the first week of September, are also not being speeded up. A decision has yet to be confirmed for Howard Jacobson's J (Jonathan Cape), due out on 25th September.
The other eight titles on the longlist are all already available.
Some booksellers have criticised the fact that not all the longlist have been published, with Simon Key from the Big Green Bookshop saying: “It is just stupid that nearly half the books aren’t even out yet. The Man Booker Prize is trying to stand out from the Folio, why doesn’t it do that by being inclusive and selecting books which are already published so that the public can get involved? What’s the point in keeping it just for the publishing industry? How are booksellers able to make a song and dance among customers when we can’t offer them the books? They have changed the rules so that Americans can enter, why don’t they change the eligibility to ensure the books have to be published?"
The Man Booker rules state that shortlisted books must be made available in e-book format within two weeks of the shortlist announcement on September 9th. This would mean Us by David Nicholls would need to be released in e-book at least seven days before its scheduled release date were it to be shortlisted for the award.