Book marketing | Labour’s moral exhaustion | Nitrite-free meat | Praise for the readers’ editor’s team | Rewind to racist language
Nigel Newton asserts that “We are programmed deep in our DNA to be comforted by the authority and the reliability of big brand names” (AI can help authors beat writer’s block, says Bloomsbury chief, 27 October). Hmm. Writers tend to see that certain authors being turned by publishers into big brands is a function of our economic system rather than our genetic makeup, a process backed up by the money that publishers spend on marketing and publicity.
Michèle Roberts
London
• Your editorial (24 October) proposes that Labour’s defeat at the Caerphilly byelection is due to moral exhaustion. Given that they have been in office only since July 2024, after 14 years of Conservative government, how come they are so tired already?
Prof Alan Tait
Cambridge
