And if Wylie’s take on how to get ahead in publishing doesn’t get you down, how about this item? “…Following a year that has seen the richest British publishing houses take retailers on a series of luxurious trips to Madrid, Italy and New York to promote their authors, the smaller, independent publishers are protesting. The round of expensive hospitality junkets, otherwise known as ‘freebies’, has priced them out of the market, they claim.

Major publishers are spending thousands of pounds every month on ‘sweetener’ trips for the retail chains on our high streets, they claim, in a bid to influence retail buying strategy. The entertainment budgets involved, which can be as much as £40,000 per trip, are aimed at ensuring increased orders for their books.”