Book endorsements are the fuel that keeps the publishing industry’s hype machine in motion. This perhaps explains why some better-known authors allegedly knock them out without even reading the novel they’re praising. Writing in The Guardian a few years ago, the novelist Nathan Filer revealed that he had received 42 unsolicited proofs in the six months after winning the Costa Book of the Year prize—each accompanied by hyperbolic prose from the publishers, who clearly hoped that some authors would repeat This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-One Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 37 Short Histories of Nearly Everything The bestsellers of the last decade look like a college reading list. Debika Ray looks at the rise of the “brainy book.” Arts & Culture City Guide Storage Book Store A meeting place for photography lovers in Seoul. Arts & Culture Issue 49 Karin Mamma Andersson Inside the moody, mysterious world of Sweden’s preeminent painter. Arts & Culture Issue 49 Jenny Odell The acclaimed author in search of lost time. Arts & Culture Issue 49 Amalie Smith The Danish arts writer finding clarity between the lines. Arts & Culture Issue 49 Ryan Heffington Meet the man bringing choreography, community and queer joy to the desert.
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