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US book sales relatively flat in 2013  Archive

Friday, 27 June 2014
In the US, book sales were relatively flat in 2013, falling by less than 1% from US$27.12 billion (A$28.8 billion) in 2012 to US$27.01 billion (A$28.7 billion) in 2013, according to statistics from BookStats, reports...

Patterson to donate £250k to UK indie booksellers  Archive

Thursday, 26 June 2014
In the UK, author James Patterson has pledged £250k (A$451,363) to independent booksellers to encourage children to read, reports the Bookseller. Patterson made the announcement ahead of Independent Bookseller’s Week...

Salman Rushdie wins PEN/Pinter Prize  Archive

Monday, 23 June 2014
Salman Rushdie has won the 2014 PEN/Pinter Prize, reports the Bookseller. Established in 2009 by English PEN in memory of Nobel-Laureate playwright Harold Pinter, the award is presented annually for outstanding literary merit by...

Angry Robot closes YA and crime/mystery imprints  Archive

Monday, 23 June 2014
UK publisher Angry Robot Books has closed its YA imprint Strange Chemistry and its crime/mystery imprint Exhibit A, reports Publishers Weekly. The publisher said in a statement that the imprints have closed ‘due mainly to...

Amazon launches The Fire Phone  Archive

Thursday, 19 June 2014
Amazon has launched a smartphone called The Fire Phone that has an inbuilt Kindle app and an app that recognises physical products that are available to buy on the Amazon store, reports...

Hachette UK to merge sales teams  Archive

Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Hachette UK is merging its sales teams at Little, Brown and Orion; and at Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Hachette Children’s Books and Quercus, reports the Bookseller. Sales director at Orion, Dallas...

Oyster launches Android app  Archive

Wednesday, 18 June 2014
Ebook subscription service Oyster has launched an Oyster for Android app, making the service available on Android devices, Kindle Fire and Nook HD, reports Publishers Weekly. The service, which currently offers subscribers access...

Norwegian publishers refuse Google ebook deal  Archive

Tuesday, 17 June 2014
Norway’s three biggest publishers, Aschehoug, Gyldendal and Cappelen Damm, will not allow Google to sell their ebooks, reports the Bookseller. The Google Play store launched in Norway on 4 June with five...

Robert Harris wins Walter Scott Prize  Archive

Tuesday, 17 June 2014
British author Robert Harris has won the £25,000 (A$45,167) Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction for An Officer and a Spy (Arrow), reports the Bookseller. The judges described An Officer...

Makumbi wins Commonwealth Short Story Prize  Archive

Monday, 16 June 2014
Ugandan author Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi has won the Commonwealth Short Story Prize for ‘Let’s Tell This Story Properly’. The £5000 (A$9030) prize is presented annually to the best piece of...

Self-publishing sales increase by 79% in UK  Archive

Monday, 16 June 2014
In the UK, the market share for self-published books grew by 79% in 2013, according to Nielsen statistics, reports the Guardian. UK consumers bought 18 million self-published books last year...

Juan Gabriel Vásquez wins IMPAC Dublin award  Archive

Friday, 13 June 2014
Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez has won 2014 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel The Sound of Things Falling (Bloomsbury), translated from the original Spanish. The €100,000 (A$144,000) award,...

Charles Wright named US Poet Laureate  Archive

Friday, 13 June 2014
In the US, the Library of Congress has named Charles Wright as the country’s next Poet Laureate, reports The New York Times. Wright, a retired professor at the University of...

Bookstores to run Chicago Independent Bookstore Day  Archive

Thursday, 12 June 2014
In the US, nine independent bookstores will run a Chicago Independent Bookstore Day on 12 July, following the success of the California Bookstore Day on 3 May, reports Publishers Weekly. The bookstores are offering free...

Foyles’ ‘bookshop of the future’ opens  Archive

Tuesday, 10 June 2014
UK bookseller Foyles has opened its new flagship London store on Charing Cross Road, reports the Bookseller. The four-storey store, which has been described as a ‘bookshop of the future’, can...

Hachette US lays off 30 staff  Archive

Tuesday, 10 June 2014
The Hachette Book Group in the US has announced it will lay off 30 people from its 950 staff, reports the Bookseller. In a statement, the publisher said the ‘difficult...

Penguin Random House releases new logo  Archive

Wednesday, 4 June 2014
Penguin Random House has released its new logo, reports Publishers Weekly. According to a statement from Penguin Random House, the new logo ‘underscores the importance of the written word to...