Waterstones staff to receive 6.2% pay rise
27 February 2020
In the UK, staff at bookselling chain Waterstones will receive a 6.2% pay rise, reports the Bookseller. Effective 1 April, the raise in bookseller wages is in line with the...
Folio Prize 2020 shortlist announced
26 February 2020
In the UK, the shortlist for the £30,000 (A$59,000) Rathbones Folio Prize has been announced. The eight shortlisted titles are: Guest House for Young Widows (Azadeh Moaveni, Scribe) On Chapel...
Bologna postponed due to coronavirus
25 February 2020
This year's Bologna Children’s Book Fair has been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. The fair, which was scheduled for 30 March–2 April, will now run from 4–7...
Revenue, profit down at S&S in 2019
21 February 2020
In the US, Simon & Schuster’s (S&S) parent company ViacomCBS has reported that the publisher’s OIBDA (operating income before depreciation and amortisation) fell from US$153 million (A$231.3m) in 2018 to...
HarperCollins creates standalone Irish division
19 February 2020
HarperCollins is creating a new standalone Irish publishing division, reports the Bookseller. The division, which launches on 16 March, will be headed by Conor Nagle, who is currently Gill Books...
Bertelsmann aims to be climate neutral by 2030
18 February 2020
Penguin Random House parent company Bertelsmann is aiming to be climate neutral by 2030. The media company said it aims to halve its greenhouse gas emissions from 2018 levels, when...
Full RWA board resigns, special election called over controversy
17 February 2020
In the US, the entire board of Romance Writers of America (RWA) has resigned and the association has called a special election to fill the board, reports Publishers Weekly. The...
Authors condemn US university decision to fire publishing staff
12 February 2020
In the US, around 60 authors, reviewers and publishing figures have penned an open letter condemning Wayne State University (WSU) over the firing of three longtime senior employees from the...
Audible banned from using major publishers’ works in Captions
11 February 2020
In newly revealed details of the settlement made between seven US publishers and Audible, the audiobook company won’t use major publishers’ works in its Captions program without their permission, reports...
New women’s prize to award over $150k to a single work of fiction
10 February 2020
In Canada, the newly announced Carol Shields Prize for Fiction will award C$150,000 (A$169,000) to a single work of fiction by a woman or non-binary writer. Launching in 2022, the...
LBF to host audiobook summit
7 February 2020
The London Book Fair (LBF) is launching a new audiobook summit, to be held on 10 March. Audio HQ will include sessions on the size of the UK market and...
B&N, PRH cancel Diverse Editions promotion after backlash
6 February 2020
In the US, Barnes & Noble and Penguin Random House have cancelled a planned Black History Month promotion after a social media backlash that accused the companies of ‘literary blackface’,...
Macmillan USA commits to increasing Latinx representation after ‘American Dirt’ controversy
5 February 2020
In the US, Macmillan has committed to increasing the number of Latinx authors and staff across the company, in response to the controversy surrounding Jeanine Cummins' novel American Dirt. The...
Taipei book fair postponed due to coronavirus
3 February 2020
The Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE), originally scheduled for 4–9 February, has been postponed until 7–12 May as a result of the spreading coronavirus epidemic. The Ministry of Culture, Taiwan...
Amazon net sales up by 20% in 2019
3 February 2020
Amazon has released its full-year financial results for 2019, reporting a net sales increase of 20% on the previous year. The company's financial results for 2018 showed a net sales...
Macmillan employees banned from attending DBW conference over ebook embargo
31 January 2020
Digital Book World (DBW) has banned Macmillan employees from attending its 2020 conference in solidarity with the American Library Association’s (ALA) campaign against the publisher's restrictions on new release ebooks....
US survey finds publishing workforce 76% white, 74% female
30 January 2020
In the US, the results from Lee & Low’s 2019 ‘Diversity Baseline’ survey of the workforce at have been released, showing little change from the publisher’s 2015 survey. The survey...
Fairweather awarded Costa Book of the Year for ‘The Volunteer’
29 January 2020
In the UK, Jack Fairweather has been awarded the £30,000 (A$57,800) Costa Book of the Year award for The Volunteer: The true story of the resistance hero who infiltrated Auschwitz (W...
ALA Youth Media Awards 2020: graphic novel wins Newbery for first time
28 January 2020
In the US, the American Library Association (ALA) has announced the winners of its Youth Media Awards, including the Newbery and Caldecott medals. Jerry Craft’s graphic novel New Kid (Quill...
Higher book prices contribute to UK market growth
24 January 2020
The UK book market's consistent growth over the last decade can be attributed to a steady increase in the average selling price (ASP) of books, reports the Bookseller. While volume...
PRH withdraws ebooks from unlimited subscription platforms
23 January 2020
Penguin Random House (PRH) has withdrawn its ebooks and digital audiobooks from unlimited access subscription services. According to Goodereader, the publisher has withdrawn its books from platforms including Scribd in...
China issues guidelines banning foreign teaching materials in schools
22 January 2020
China’s Ministry of Education published guidelines earlier this month that ban the use of foreign teaching materials in primary, middle and high schools, reports the Bookseller. Private schools and high...
Chinese book market up 14.4% in 2019; online retailers capture 70% of sales
20 January 2020
China’s retail book market in 2019 grew at a rate of 14.4% on the previous year, reports Publishing Perspectives. According to data from Chinese industry-data research firm OpenBook, the total...
Amitabha Bagchi wins 2019 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for ‘Half the Night is Gone’
17 January 2020
Indian writer Amitabha Bagchi has won the US$25,000 (A$36,250) DSC Prize for South Asian Literature for his English-language novel Half the Night is Gone (Juggernaut). Bagchi was announced as the...
German book market revenue up 1.4% in 2019
16 January 2020
German trade publication Börsenblatt has reported that revenue in the German book market in 2019 grew by 1.4% on the previous year. According to an English-language report in Publishing Perspectives,...
Robinson wins 2019 T S Eliot Prize
15 January 2020
In the UK, writer and performer Roger Robinson has won the 2019 T S Eliot Prize for poetry for his collection A Portable Paradise (Peepal Tree Press), reports the Bookseller....
US publishers reach settlement with Audible in Captions lawsuit
15 January 2020
In the US, Audible and the seven publishing houses suing the company for copyright infringement over the proposed Captions program have reached an undisclosed settlement, reports Publishers Weekly. The Captions...
US print sales down 1.3% in 2019
14 January 2020
US print sales in 2019 fell by 1.3% in volume compared to the previous year, reports Publishers Weekly. Volume sales for the year totalled 689.5 million units, down from 698.4...
Pearson sells remaining 25% stake in PRH to Bertelsmann
13 January 2020
Pearson is selling its remaining 25% stake in Penguin Random House (PRH) to Bertelsmann, giving the German corporation 100% ownership of the world’s largest trade publisher, reports the Bookseller. The...
Costa Book Awards 2019 category winners announced
13 January 2020
In the UK, the five category winners for the 2019 Costa Book Awards have been announced. The five winners were chosen from shortlists announced in November 2019. The winning authors each...
