Writing in The Times, Randall Northam reckons small publishers should copy the farmers' markets concept and cut out the middleman - i.e. the book wholesalers - and sell straight to small bookshops or direct to readers.

He says it's time the trade started to "think outside the box" and network with other businesses, giving the example of an independent publisher who stopped selling his book via the wholesalers and simply sold it via his own website.

Randall writes:

"The sales went down from 5,000 to 2,500 a year but his turnover went up. With his new approach, he got £62,500 a year, an increase of more than £15,000."