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Canongate revenue up 16% in 2020

Monday, 13 September 2021
In the UK, Canongate Books recorded a turnover of £13.9 million (A$26.1m) in 2020, up 16% on its 2019 result, reports the Bookseller. The company’s pre-tax profit totalled £2.6 million...

Clarke wins Women’s Prize for Fiction for ‘Piranesi’

Thursday, 9 September 2021
In the UK, Susanna Clarke has won the £30,000 (A$56,100) Women's Prize for Fiction for her second novel Piranesi (Bloomsbury), reports the Bookseller. Clarke’s novel, published long after her award-winning...

Chinese book market up 11%

Tuesday, 7 September 2021
Books sales in the Chinese retail book market in the first half of 2021 are up 11.45% compared to the same time last year, according to Open Book Data. Sales...

US book industry faces supply chain challenges

Monday, 6 September 2021
In the US, various factors are putting increasing pressure on the book industry’s supply chain, reports Publishers Weekly. The challenges include shortages of truck drivers and trailers, congestion at the...

Rushdie to publish next book on Substack

Friday, 3 September 2021
Salman Rushdie plans to serialise his next book on the online platform Substack, the Bookseller reports. Rushdie’s new book The Seventh Wave—a 35,000-word novella about a ‘film director and an...

New September dates for Beijing Book Fair

Thursday, 2 September 2021
The Beijing International Book Fair (BIBF) will go ahead on 14­–18 September after it was postponed from August dates due to Covid-19 measures. While in-person attendance is limited to Chinese...

PRH half-yearly profits up 55%

Wednesday, 1 September 2021
Penguin Random House (PRH) parent company Bertelsmann has reported the publisher posted a profit rise of 55.1% and a 10.9% growth in sales for the first half of 2021. Total...

‘Into Books’ campaign spreads to Paris, New York

Monday, 30 August 2021
The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) has expanded its new ‘Into Books’ campaign to Paris, New York and Riyadh, reports Publishing Perspectives. The campaign, which has the slogan ‘If you’re into...

Barnes & Noble sales up 5–6%

Friday, 27 August 2021
Barnes & Noble (B&N) CEO James Daunt is confident the bookselling chain can ‘weather the Covid storm’ with book sales ‘resilient’ during the recession, reports Publishers Weekly (PW). In an...

Von Reinhold, Ní Ghríofa win James Tait Black prizes

Thursday, 26 August 2021
In the UK, Shola Von Reinhold and Doireann Ní Ghríofa have won the James Tait Black prizes for fiction and biography respectively, reports the Bookseller. Von Reinhold won the fiction prize...

Rooney ARCs sell for hundreds of dollars online

Tuesday, 24 August 2021
Uncorrected proofs of Sally Rooney’s upcoming novel Beautiful World, Where Are You (Faber) have fetched hundreds of dollars on trading sites eBay and Depop, reports the Guardian. A copy listed on...

Amazon reportedly plans to open US department stores

Monday, 23 August 2021
Amazon is planning to open large department-style stores in the US, reports the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). According to the WSJ, the retail spaces will be around 30,000 square feet...

Sharjah Book Authority launches pro-reading campaign

Friday, 20 August 2021
In the United Arab Emirates, the Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) has launched a new pro-reading campaign with the slogan ‘If you’re into something, you’re into books’, reports Publishing Perspectives. The...

US half-yearly bookstore sales up 30%

Wednesday, 18 August 2021
In the US, bookstore sales in the first half of 2021 rose 30.3% compared to the same period last year, reports Publishers Weekly. Bookstore sales rose from US$2.82 billion (A$3.9b)...

Hachette Book Group to acquire Workman Publishing

Tuesday, 17 August 2021
In the US, Hachette Book Group (HBG) will acquire independent publisher Workman Publishing in a US$240 million (A$327m) deal, reports Publishers Weekly. Workman Publishing, which has about 300 employees across...

HarperCollins reports revenue up 19%, profit up 42%

Monday, 9 August 2021
HarperCollins has reported a record profit and 19% revenue growth in the 2021 fiscal year, according to parent company News Corp’s annual results. The publisher reported revenue of US$1.98 billion...

UK authors, illustrators protest mooted copyright changes

Tuesday, 3 August 2021
In the UK, over 2600 authors and illustrators have signed an open letter to protest the government’s reconsideration of copyright and trade laws, reports Publishing Perspectives. The letter comes after...

US reading time up 21%

Friday, 30 July 2021
Survey results from the US Department of Labor found people were spending 21% more time reading in May–December 2020, compared to the same period in 2019, reports Publishers Weekly. According...

Polari Prize shortlists announced

Thursday, 29 July 2021
In the UK, the shortlists for the Polari Prizes for LGBTQ+ literature have been announced, reports the Bookseller. The titles shortlisted for the £2000 (A$3770) Polari Prize, which awards an...

Booker Prize 2021 longlist announced

Tuesday, 27 July 2021
The longlist for the 2021 Booker Prize has been announced. The 13 books longlisted for the £50,000 (A$93,600) prize are: A Passage North (Anuk Arudpragasam, Granta) Second Place (Rachel Cusk,...

Scholastic sales down 13%

Monday, 26 July 2021
Scholastic has reported a 13% drop in sales for the year ending 31 May. Revenue declined US$186.8 million (A$253.6m) to US$1.3 billion (A$1.76b), due to lower sales through Scholastic’s book...

Warwick appointed Scholastic CEO

Tuesday, 20 July 2021
Peter Warwick has been appointed Scholastic president and CEO, succeeding long-time chairman, president and CEO Dick Robinson, reports Publishers Weekly. Warwick, a Scholastic board member since 2014, will be the...

Italian book sales up 44% in first half

Wednesday, 14 July 2021
Trade book sales in Italy have grown 44% in unit sales and 42% in value in the first six months of 2021, according to the Italian Publisher's Association (AIE). The...