Hookline Books


Browsing Archive: January, 2016

In the beginning, make us care

Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Monday, January 25, 2016,
A huge amount is written about first line - and rightly so! However the first bite to a novel is the first chapter. Draw us in with an acute scene of real drama and we'll be with you for the rest of the novel. Sharp writing and crisp characterisation will make us hang on till the very end.
However, great opening chapters are rare - it's tough to lead the reader into 80,000 words, opening the door to unknown characters, setting and conflict, creating a single scene that wraps together enough na...
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Art in books

Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Friday, January 8, 2016,
Novels set in the art world tend to be popular with readers:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tart
The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier
The Moon and Sixpence by Somerset Maugham
All these works allow us to look at the artist or the obsessions they elicit.
At Hookline, we have our own art in a novel. The China Bird by Bryony Doran concerns an art student and her quest to draw a stranger who suffers from scoliosis. While others shy away from this lonely, and physically twisted character, the art...
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The window on a novel

Posted by Yvonne Barlow on Monday, January 4, 2016,
Covers are the windows to a book. A bad cover can cost a publisher readers. But who decides what makes a good cover?
Authors often have a cover in mind when writing a book. When considering the cover, editors look at demographics and who are the likely readers of a manuscript. Designers, well, they want to make a mark, and good designers like to make a profound mark.
In reality, it is readers who decide a good cover - if it turns them away, it's a bad cover.
So, we've decided our original cover ...
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About Me


Yvonne Barlow Editor at Hookline Books - where book clubs and readers choose the novels that go to print.

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