Jamie Byng - Canongate Books, at the London Book Fair

Interview with Jamie Byng, Publisher Canongate Books
by Jen



What is publisher Jamie Byng of Canongate Books looking for in the market right now? What was he hoping to get from the London Book Fair this week? You can feel the old maxim 'work hard play hard' physically and passionately embodied in Jamie Byng. He's looking for books which are 'a joy to publish, and a challenge to publish', and he says, 'if you're not revelling in that as a publisher, then you shouldn't be in it.' With bestselling authors Yann Martel and Philip Pullman on his 'pretty exciting list' it's understandable that he says 2010 is off to a phenomenal start.

Byng has ambitious plans for the coming year and sees the digital age opening up possibilities that didn't exist before, how you can tell a story, find readers and listeners. Philip Pullman's latest book The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ has just gone through the digital "enhanced app" treatment from Canongate in conjunction with the developer Enhanced Editions*. The application for the iPhone includes the full length text, an audio version read by the author, and exclusive video interviews. The Canongate Digital Editor Dan Franklin also shared his opinions on where publishing is with regards to digital content which you can view here tomorrow, together with insights into what digital providers deliver and a demo of i-Books on the Apple i-Pad.