Thursday, 13 November 2014
Amazon has won the right to administer the .book domain name after eight contesting companies withdrew applications from the private auction run by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). The Register reports that Amazon...

Thursday, 13 November 2014
BookNet Canada has released the results of a survey on the relationship between literary awards and book-buying behaviour. The survey asked Canadian book-buyers how significant award wins or nominations were to their decision to purchase a...

Wednesday, 12 November 2014
In the UK, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Belknap Press) has won the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.  Piketty’s book, a ‘nearly 700-page exploration of economic processes that...

Wednesday, 12 November 2014
In Canada, Sean Michaels’ debut novel Us Conductors (Random House Canada) has won the C$100,000 (A$101,400) 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize, reports Publishers Weekly. The judges said Us Conductors ‘is based...

Tuesday, 11 November 2014
The winners have been announced for the inaugural Daphne Awards, launched by literary website Bookslut to reappraise the results of controversial book awards starting in 1963. The fiction award was...

Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Self-publishing service provider Blurb has launched its ‘Dream Team’ marketplace to help authors discover freelance editors and designers to finalise their books, reports Venture Beat. The company aims to simplify the...

Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Amazon has released its ‘best books’ lists for 2014, and has ranked Australian author Liane Moriarty’s novel Big Little Lies (Pan Macmillan) in ninth position in its top 100 list. Editors at Amazon selected the...

Monday, 10 November 2014
US author Joshua Ferris has won the International Dylan Thomas Prize for his novel To Rise Again at a Decent Hour (Viking). Ferris was presented with the £30,000 (A$55,115) prize...

Friday, 7 November 2014
Lemony Snicket’s ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events’ (HarperCollins) will be adapted into a drama series by Paramount for distribution through online streaming service Netflix, reports the Bookseller. Paramount, which is yet to...

Thursday, 6 November 2014
HarperCollins Canada has announced changes to its fulfilment and back-office operations and that CEO David Kent will leave the company at the end of 2014, reports Publishers Weekly. The company...

Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Helen Macdonald’s H is For Hawk (Jonathan Cape) has become the first memoir to win the Samuel Johnson Prize for Nonfiction, worth £20,000 (A$36,556), reports the Bookseller. Author and chair...

Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Penguin Random House (PRH) UK will close two offices covering markets in Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg, France and Germany as part of an international restructure of its sales team, reports the Bookseller....

Friday, 31 October 2014
The shortlists for the 2014 Irish Book Awards have been announced. The titles shortlisted for Novel of the Year are: Nora Webster (Colm Tóibín, Picador), The Thrill of it All (Joseph...

Thursday, 30 October 2014
San Antonio International Airport in Texas has unveiled two ‘first of a kind’ digital library kiosks, reports the San Antonio Business Journal. The US$26,000 kiosks were created via a partnership...

Thursday, 30 October 2014
In the UK, Penguin Random House (PRH) is shutting down the online narrative gaming platform Black Crown due to a lack of revenue, reports the Bookseller. Black Crown is based...

Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Marvel has signed a deal with Kobo to add 250 digital comics to Kobo’s catalogue as fixed-layout illustrated ebooks, reports Digital Book World. Titles include franchises such as ‘The Avengers’, ‘Guardians of the...

Wednesday, 29 October 2014
In the US, Amazon has opened its Kindle Scout crowd-sourced publishing program for public vote. In October, Amazon invited authors to submit excerpts of their English-language romance, mystery, thriller, science-fiction or fantasy books for potential publication. Readers are...

Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Kuwaiti author Mai Al-Nakib has won this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival (EIBF) First Book Award for her debut short-story collection The Hidden Light of Objects (Bloomsbury), reports the Bookseller....

Tuesday, 28 October 2014
In the UK, the winners of the 2014 Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Dagger awards have been announced. Wiley Cash won the Goldsboro Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the...

Tuesday, 28 October 2014
HarperCollins has announced a weekly podcast program called ‘HarperCollins Presents’, featuring conversations with its authors. The global podcast program ‘promises new perspectives on the world of books, culture and arts,’...

Monday, 27 October 2014
US publication Kirkus Reviews has announced the winners of its inaugural literary prize. The fiction prize was presented to the ‘atmospheric romantic fiction’ Euphoria (Lily King, Picador), the nonfiction prize...

Monday, 27 October 2014
In the UK, publisher IglooBooks has partnered with DreamWorks Animation Publishing Group to develop, distribute and sell books linked to Hollywood films, reports Financial Mail on Sunday. The agreement includes...

Thursday, 23 October 2014
Nature Publishing Group (NPG) and Palgrave Macmillan have released public data from an author insights survey completed by more than 30,000 of their authors, reports the Bookseller. The data, compiled last...

Thursday, 23 October 2014
Ereading app Blloon has launched in the UK and is using ‘gamification’ to engage young people, reports the Bookseller. The app was launched earlier this year by Thomas Leliveld, founder of the Txtr ereading app. It allows customers to read...

Wednesday, 22 October 2014
In the US, Simon & Schuster and Amazon have signed a sales agreement for the publisher’s print and digital books that has been described by S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy as...

Tuesday, 21 October 2014
A UK survey conducted by market research company Mintel has found that one in four (26%) ebook buyers are reading more because ebooks are cheaper than paperbacks. Among younger ebook readers (aged...

Monday, 20 October 2014
The International Publishers Association (IPA) has released its annual report on global publishing markets. The survey of 42 countries has found mostly negative growth in the book markets of wealthier...