George Walkley
@georgewalkley.com
Chairman @midascampaigns.bsky.social, board @bdspublishing.bsky.social, @brisunipress.bsky.social, policy @independentpublishersguild.com, advisor @xigxaguk.bsky.social, MBA, 48% centrist dad. Opinions on strategy, AI, books, games, etc my own.
Reposted by George Walkley
Had an excellent time at the @independentpublishersguild.com Spring Conference yesterday. Great presentations and company. On the train home, I wrote a quick blog post about the things I'm thinking about as a result of the day.
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
IPG Spring Conference 2026
I’m on my way back from the IPG Spring Conference in London, always one of the highlights of the publishing year. It was a really good mix of the inspirational and the practical, and I particularly en...
www.georgewalkley.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Had an excellent time at the @independentpublishersguild.com Spring Conference yesterday. Great presentations and company. On the train home, I wrote a quick blog post about the things I'm thinking about as a result of the day.
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
It makes a nice change when the first social post you see in the morning is pure joy. 😀
What a great photo of Brazilian alpine skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, the first South American to ever win a medal at the Winter Olympic Games.
February 15, 2026 at 9:50 AM
It makes a nice change when the first social post you see in the morning is pure joy. 😀
Very funny: can you tell the difference between antidepressant drugs and Tolkien characters?
antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app
antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app
Antidepressants or Tolkien's character?
antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app
February 12, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Very funny: can you tell the difference between antidepressant drugs and Tolkien characters?
antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app
antidepressantsortolkien.vercel.app
Had an excellent time at the @independentpublishersguild.com Spring Conference yesterday. Great presentations and company. On the train home, I wrote a quick blog post about the things I'm thinking about as a result of the day.
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
IPG Spring Conference 2026
I’m on my way back from the IPG Spring Conference in London, always one of the highlights of the publishing year. It was a really good mix of the inspirational and the practical, and I particularly en...
www.georgewalkley.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:50 AM
Had an excellent time at the @independentpublishersguild.com Spring Conference yesterday. Great presentations and company. On the train home, I wrote a quick blog post about the things I'm thinking about as a result of the day.
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
www.georgewalkley.com/IPG-Spring-C...
Looking forward to seeing lots of friends and colleagues at the @independentpublishersguild.com Spring Conference tomorrow. One of the highlights of the publishing year. #IPGSC
We’re all set for the IPG Spring Conference tomorrow! 🤗
#IPGSC
#IPGSC
February 10, 2026 at 6:57 PM
Looking forward to seeing lots of friends and colleagues at the @independentpublishersguild.com Spring Conference tomorrow. One of the highlights of the publishing year. #IPGSC
I’ve seen this piece shared a lot this afternoon, largely by friends and colleagues with a more critical perspective on AI. It’s worth reading in its entirety: hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d.... But I’d treat it with a degree of caution. It’s directionally interesting, but worth emphasising…
February 10, 2026 at 6:05 PM
I’ve seen this piece shared a lot this afternoon, largely by friends and colleagues with a more critical perspective on AI. It’s worth reading in its entirety: hbr.org/2026/02/ai-d.... But I’d treat it with a degree of caution. It’s directionally interesting, but worth emphasising…
I think most people can make up their own mind on who qualifies as a fairly unreliable individual.
Just discovered Mandelson’s reaction to our first report he’d leaked government emails:
February 9, 2026 at 12:54 PM
I think most people can make up their own mind on who qualifies as a fairly unreliable individual.
Loved the MiniDisc.
February 7, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Loved the MiniDisc.
Reposted by George Walkley
It’s Saturday morning and you remember that pledge you were going to make to The Devil’s Sound? Now’s the time..
We're almost half way through, and need your (YES YOU!) support to make this a reality. Six episodes, three hours of immersive folk horror, wherever and whenever you are.
(Reposts very welcome. We're all in)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
Ask me anything about it, and I'll respond...
(Reposts very welcome. We're all in)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
Ask me anything about it, and I'll respond...
The Devil’s Sound
A 6 episode immersive audio folk horror experience, set in David Barnett's Withered Hill universe.
www.kickstarter.com
February 7, 2026 at 8:47 AM
It’s Saturday morning and you remember that pledge you were going to make to The Devil’s Sound? Now’s the time..
Reposted by George Walkley
Whoever is responsible for the auto-generated transcripts in the Apple Podcast app should have a word with themself. Today, “Sir Keir Starmer” = “Sakyas Dhamma”. Say what you like about Steve Jobs, but you cannot imagine a product this sloppy shipping on his watch.
January 31, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Whoever is responsible for the auto-generated transcripts in the Apple Podcast app should have a word with themself. Today, “Sir Keir Starmer” = “Sakyas Dhamma”. Say what you like about Steve Jobs, but you cannot imagine a product this sloppy shipping on his watch.
Whoever is responsible for the auto-generated transcripts in the Apple Podcast app should have a word with themself. Today, “Sir Keir Starmer” = “Sakyas Dhamma”. Say what you like about Steve Jobs, but you cannot imagine a product this sloppy shipping on his watch.
January 31, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Whoever is responsible for the auto-generated transcripts in the Apple Podcast app should have a word with themself. Today, “Sir Keir Starmer” = “Sakyas Dhamma”. Say what you like about Steve Jobs, but you cannot imagine a product this sloppy shipping on his watch.
Reposted by George Walkley
Hey, you! Please check out our Kickstarter for THE DEVIL'S SOUND, an immersive six-part audio experience set in the WITHERED HILL folk horror universe. It's a way of funding, but will cost you £18 maximum for all six episodes, which you listen to while walking.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
The Devil’s Sound
A 6 episode immersive audio folk horror experience, set in David Barnett's Withered Hill universe.
www.kickstarter.com
January 30, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Hey, you! Please check out our Kickstarter for THE DEVIL'S SOUND, an immersive six-part audio experience set in the WITHERED HILL folk horror universe. It's a way of funding, but will cost you £18 maximum for all six episodes, which you listen to while walking.
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
Just finished E02 of Starfleet Academy. I’m enjoying it a lot, but it also confirms a view I’ve had for a while: Star Trek always really depicts the America it was made in, not the future.
TOS was obvs Kennedy’s High Frontier: optimistic liberalism, technocratic confidence, space as destiny.
TOS was obvs Kennedy’s High Frontier: optimistic liberalism, technocratic confidence, space as destiny.
January 28, 2026 at 8:53 PM
Just finished E02 of Starfleet Academy. I’m enjoying it a lot, but it also confirms a view I’ve had for a while: Star Trek always really depicts the America it was made in, not the future.
TOS was obvs Kennedy’s High Frontier: optimistic liberalism, technocratic confidence, space as destiny.
TOS was obvs Kennedy’s High Frontier: optimistic liberalism, technocratic confidence, space as destiny.
Reposted by George Walkley
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 5:02 PM
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
“By the dawn’s early light.” Chills. The America I love.
I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good.
Stay free
Stay free
Bruce Springsteen - Streets Of Minneapolis (Official Audio)
YouTube video by Bruce Springsteen
youtu.be
January 28, 2026 at 6:08 PM
“By the dawn’s early light.” Chills. The America I love.
Having been to three excellent trade shows at Excel in the last year, I’m really looking forward to this.
The London Book Fair is to move to Excel in east London from 2027 from its current home in Olympia, west London, as part of a multi-year deal. The dates for the first fair at Excel are 16th-18th March 2027 👇 #BookSky
The London Book Fair to move to Excel in east London from 2027
ebx.sh
January 28, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Having been to three excellent trade shows at Excel in the last year, I’m really looking forward to this.
Reminds me of Foch’s battlefield dispatch: “Mon centre cède, ma droite recule. Situation excellente, j’attaque.”
Centrist ideas no longer wanted in Conservative party, says Kemi Badenoch
Centrist ideas no longer wanted in Conservative party, says Kemi Badenoch
Party leader tells MPs that one-nation Tories doubting her rightward direction ‘need to get out of the way’
Centrist ideas are no longer wanted in the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch has said, arguing that one nation-type Tories or others who have qualms about her rightward direction for the party “need to get out of the way”.
Making a speech in Westminster intended to set out her vision for her party after a spate of recent defections to Reform UK, the Conservative leader hit out at what she called the “tantrum” of Robert Jenrick and others. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
January 28, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Reminds me of Foch’s battlefield dispatch: “Mon centre cède, ma droite recule. Situation excellente, j’attaque.”
Reposted by George Walkley
okay - its the end of January, and you all made it. If you were holding out for payday, then now's the time to pledge for The Devil's Sound, a six part immersive audio experience like no other, set in @davidmbarnett.bsky.social's Withered Hill universe:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
The Devil’s Sound
A 6 episode immersive audio folk horror experience, set in David Barnett's Withered Hill universe.
www.kickstarter.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:25 AM
okay - its the end of January, and you all made it. If you were holding out for payday, then now's the time to pledge for The Devil's Sound, a six part immersive audio experience like no other, set in @davidmbarnett.bsky.social's Withered Hill universe:
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
My colleagues at Bks Agency (part of @midascampaigns.bsky.social) are hiring for an assistant: would be an ideal role for someone looking for early experience in the publishing industry, including agenting and rights sales. Details below, shares/reposts welcome 🙏
www.linkedin.com/posts/george...
www.linkedin.com/posts/george...
Assistant – Literary Agency - Midas | George Walkley
I wanted to share a job vacancy that might suit recent graduates looking for a career in publishing, or someone with publishing experience who wants to make the move to a literary agency. The Bks Agen...
www.linkedin.com
January 26, 2026 at 6:53 PM
My colleagues at Bks Agency (part of @midascampaigns.bsky.social) are hiring for an assistant: would be an ideal role for someone looking for early experience in the publishing industry, including agenting and rights sales. Details below, shares/reposts welcome 🙏
www.linkedin.com/posts/george...
www.linkedin.com/posts/george...
I've taken the same text, written by me, starting with a pen and paper draft, and according to the first two AI text detectors on a Google search, it is 99% and 3.75% likely to have been written by an LLM. This says everything about the value of those services as analytical tools.
January 26, 2026 at 4:44 PM
I've taken the same text, written by me, starting with a pen and paper draft, and according to the first two AI text detectors on a Google search, it is 99% and 3.75% likely to have been written by an LLM. This says everything about the value of those services as analytical tools.
Reposted by George Walkley
This should be a great project as long as it gets funded - Barnett’s folk horror novels are superb and the “Roads to Withered Hill” immersive audio was very effective.
The Kickstarter for THE DEVIL'S SOUND, a six-part immersive audio project set in the world of Withered Hill, Scuttler's Cove and Scratch Moss -- it's fun, innovative, gets you fit and is as cheap as chips. Please check it out: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
The Devil’s Sound
A 6 episode immersive audio folk horror experience, set in David Barnett's Withered Hill universe.
www.kickstarter.com
January 25, 2026 at 11:15 AM
This should be a great project as long as it gets funded - Barnett’s folk horror novels are superb and the “Roads to Withered Hill” immersive audio was very effective.
Reposted by George Walkley
Please take a look at this. Pledges have slowed but it’s going to be incredible.
The Kickstarter for THE DEVIL'S SOUND, a six-part immersive audio project set in the world of Withered Hill, Scuttler's Cove and Scratch Moss -- it's fun, innovative, gets you fit and is as cheap as chips. Please check it out: www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
The Devil’s Sound
A 6 episode immersive audio folk horror experience, set in David Barnett's Withered Hill universe.
www.kickstarter.com
January 25, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Please take a look at this. Pledges have slowed but it’s going to be incredible.
@willsh.bsky.social read this and thought of you: when what someone thinks of as "intellectual scaffolding" becomes cognitive debt
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
When two years of academic work vanished with a single click
After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts. Here’s what happened next.
www.nature.com
January 22, 2026 at 8:54 PM
@willsh.bsky.social read this and thought of you: when what someone thinks of as "intellectual scaffolding" becomes cognitive debt
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by George Walkley
oh, it's Wednesday! I have't reminded you all that we have a Kickstarter that will bring 3 hrs+ of @davidmbarnett.bsky.social's Withered Hill to life this year. Pledge for the whole season for only £18. That's £3 an episode. (You can't get a coffee for that...)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
The Devil’s Sound
A 6 episode immersive audio folk horror experience, set in David Barnett's Withered Hill universe.
www.kickstarter.com
January 21, 2026 at 4:09 PM
oh, it's Wednesday! I have't reminded you all that we have a Kickstarter that will bring 3 hrs+ of @davidmbarnett.bsky.social's Withered Hill to life this year. Pledge for the whole season for only £18. That's £3 an episode. (You can't get a coffee for that...)
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
www.kickstarter.com/projects/tom...
Pick up the nearest book, p42, post the 2nd sentence:
"In this, the business of intelligence gathering was partly journalistic, with strict rules on verification; on sources and their reliability; and on the impartiality of reports."
cc @nickharkaway.com
"In this, the business of intelligence gathering was partly journalistic, with strict rules on verification; on sources and their reliability; and on the impartiality of reports."
cc @nickharkaway.com
Pick up the nearest book, p42, post the 2nd sentence:
“It is also the place where the first potter's wheel was designed, along with being the setting for the mythological or legendary Sumerian King Gilgamesh, who is immortalized in the first literary work, the Song, or Epic, of Gilgamesh.”
“It is also the place where the first potter's wheel was designed, along with being the setting for the mythological or legendary Sumerian King Gilgamesh, who is immortalized in the first literary work, the Song, or Epic, of Gilgamesh.”
Pick up the nearest book. Turn to page 42, post the second sentence
And he had grete despite at Balyne for the enchevynge of the swerde, that ony should be accompted more hardy or more of prouesse, and he asked kynge Arthure licence to ryde afftir Balyne and to revenge the despite that he had done.
And he had grete despite at Balyne for the enchevynge of the swerde, that ony should be accompted more hardy or more of prouesse, and he asked kynge Arthure licence to ryde afftir Balyne and to revenge the despite that he had done.
January 21, 2026 at 1:03 PM
Pick up the nearest book, p42, post the 2nd sentence:
"In this, the business of intelligence gathering was partly journalistic, with strict rules on verification; on sources and their reliability; and on the impartiality of reports."
cc @nickharkaway.com
"In this, the business of intelligence gathering was partly journalistic, with strict rules on verification; on sources and their reliability; and on the impartiality of reports."
cc @nickharkaway.com