It may just be our young person’s vernacular, but very few people these days use the word ‘resolve’ to express a determination to do something (and actually, very few of them used the word ‘vernacular’, come to think of it). The natural progression of language has removed ‘resolve’ from our everyday dictionary, except for once a year when people make ‘resolutions’, thus resolving to do something for the whole year. Bred largely out of eating excessively, drinking too much and watching too much TV over Christmas, many people (including select members of the Biteback team) make a resolution to get in shape, read more books and generally become a better person.
Biteback has also made a resolution to become a better person (or company or whatever) in 2011, but we had such a great year in 2010 that it’s going to be as tough as that first twenty minutes on the treadmill.
2010 held some brilliant moments for us. We published our first ever e-books in November, selecting our two massive titles, Rob Wilson’s 5 Days To Power and 22 Days in May by David Laws, both of which detailed the crucial days following the general election in May.
The modernising didn’t stop there though, we also moved to our swanky new offices overlooking the embankment and the Houses of Parliament, which works wonders for meetings and our sense of self-worth. In addition to the Christmas decorations (reminder: must take down today) we were also able to decorate the office with front pages from national newspapers, as revelations from Biteback books splashed the front pages.
We had a different news-worthy moment when the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq War stated that it was going to use the Biteback title Failing Intelligence as official evidence in the ongoing investigation. Brian Jones, the book’s author, was particularly glad about this, as it meant he could save on the cost of travelling to give evidence (which would have been even more expensive with the latest price hikes!).
Another Biteback author who was rather happy was John Nicholson, whose smile brightened up the chilly climes of Middlesbrough when he found out he had been longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award for We Ate All The Pies.
So, all in all, for both the team here at Biteback and our authors, 2010 was a rather good year. However, our resolution is to make 2011 even better, especially for you, the readers, starting with some big titles, such as Peter Sissons’s autobiography When One Door Closes and a biography of Ed Miliband by Mehdi Hasan and James Macintyre, which was mentioned by Will Skidelsky in The Observer over the weekend. He also called us “innovative”. Thanks William, this year’s for you as well.
We also resolve to bring ‘resolve’ back into the dictionary.