Friday 29 June 2012

Does a bestseller necessarily mean well-written?

My mum (who doesn't read) recently came home from work with a sneaky copy of 50 Shades Of Grey tucked away in her handbag. When she revealed the book to me, I'm not going to lie, I was horrified because:

a) My mum was reading what has been described as soft-porn (she argued it was erotica)
b) My mum never reads. She's read one John Grisham novel and started to read The Help only to stop a quarter of the way through because it was 'stressing her out'. Mum, that's history.

Although I had fun flicking through the book and reading all the rude bits, I did notice that in places it was poorly written. The book never claimed to be a masterpiece, so I do kind of feel sorry for all the stick it's been getting. However, it does make me think whether there has been a change in what a commissioning editor looks for in a book. Do they now want sales over quality? Despite the fact that the book has sold millions of copies and has been described as "unputdownable" and "kinky", it has yet to be described as "well-written". Although, give the woman some credit, it can't be easy writing well about S&M.

Then again it could be argued that these types of book have got people reading, giving a boost in what is a difficult time for the industry. All the money made by this book alone is going back into the book industry meaning more books can be printed; books that are a bit risky that wouldn't have been published before. It has also proven how powerful 'word of mouth' can be, especially when - despite all the bad reviews of the book all over the internet - it is still a bestseller. 


I WILL read the book as I feel its only fair before I start slating it. If anyone else has read it and wants to share their thoughts or even a review, please send it over to us at : editorlumi@googlemail.com.

Wednesday 27 June 2012

IMPORTANT

We understand that the best things in life cannot be rushed. Which is why we have pushed back our deadline to the 30th September.

Saturday 16 June 2012

Britain is Great





This year has been a big one for our country. Our lovely Queen has been on the throne for sixty years and we are shortly due to host the Olympics.

However there is more to Britain than Yorkshire puddings and red telephone boxes (unfortunately) and not all of us find "Keep calm and eat cake" posters relevant (here it is our mantra). Outsiders see us as advocates solely of afternoon tea, but what about those times you've watched Wimbledon with a litre of gin or enjoyed a good ale in your local? Just us? We don't think so.  Not all of the UK consists of quaint countryside villages with thatched cottages. What about the cities? And we don't just mean London, but cities all over Britain that were built on industry with the help of the working class man. Cities that are now filled with empty shop fronts and tower blocks.

Lumi wants to discover the REAL Britain, no matter how shabby it is.

Here at Lumi we want to produce an anthology of writing about the many diverse places of the UK, with the theme "Hometown". We want people up and down the nation to write about their hometown, whether it be Brixton or Bristol, Salford or Sheffield. It can be fiction, fact, journalism, poetry. 

The word limit is 2000 words and the deadline is the 15th August. All submissions should be sent to Editorlumi@gmail.com.