Bookworm: Publishing Jobs

Even though it won’t be released for more than a fortnight, advance orders have already made Walter Isaacson’s authorised biography of the Apple co-founder the No 1 bestselling book on Amazon.

Meanwhile, Bluewater Productions is to rush out a special e-book comic, Steve Jobs: Founder of Apple, and the paperback of Michael Moritz’s Return to the Little Kingdom, about Apple’s early years, is also due this month.

NOBEL (LOST) CAUSES

WHEN it comes to the Nobel Prize for Literature, home advantage counts for quite a lot, which might be why Thomas Transtromer is the eighth Swede to have won the prize. Hands up those (non-Swedes only, please) who know the other seven. Who can forget Selma Lagerlof (1909), Verner von Heidenstam (1916), Erik Axel Karlfeldt (1931), Par Lagerkvist (1931), Nelly Sacks (1966), Eyvind Johnson (1974) or Harry Mortinson (1975)? Exactly.

DINNER SCOOP

We would have loved to have put “exclusive” next to our Books pages story about Ian Rankin but we really couldn’t – because to some of our readers the revelation that the McRae case inspired his latest novel isn’t news. But as the first people to hear him admit this were the guests at the first of the relaunched Scotsman literary dinners last Thursday, perhaps it still qualifies as a Scotsman scoop. Rankin was on sparkling form at the dinner, as was his fellow guest Denise Mina – with whom he’ll soon be appearing at the International Festival of Authors in Toronto in a scaled-down reading of Alasdair Gray’s Fleck along the lines of the final event in this year’s Edinburgh book festival. Booking for the next Scotsman literary dinner – it features Alexander McCall Smith and will be held on 8 December – is already going well.

SAILING INTO PRINT

For this last word this week, over to that 66-year-old Commander of the British Empire Rod Stewart, talking about his memoirs, which Random House this week revealed it will be publishing next year. “Forget skeletons in the closet,” said Mr Stewart. “This one’s going to be socks and knickers under the bed.”