Pearson to cut 3000 jobs
Monday, 7 August 2017
Pearson will cut 3000 jobs by 2020 in an effort to save £300m (A$493m) a year, reports the Bookseller. CEO John Fallon announced the job cuts along with the company’s...
J K Rowling leads ‘Forbes’ list of top-earning authors
Friday, 4 August 2017
J K Rowling has taken out the top spot in Forbes’ annual list of the world’s top-earning authors, reports the Guardian. Rowling is estimated to have earnt US$95m (A$119m) over...
US judge finds classics-inspired picture books infringe copyright
Wednesday, 2 August 2017
A US judge has ruled that Moppet Books’ series of classics-inspired children’s picture books have infringed the copyright of the originals, reports the Bookseller. As previously reported by Books+Publishing, in...
Pullman calls for UK to reintroduce minimum price for books
Tuesday, 1 August 2017
In the UK, author and Society of Authors president Philip Pullman has called for the reintroduction of a minimum price for books, drawing support for consideration of the idea from...
Survey finds Canadians reading more local authors
Monday, 31 July 2017
In Canada, the government-sponsored organisation BookNet has published the results from a survey of Canadian book buyers’ reading habits, reports Publishers Weekly. The survey found 44% of Canadian book buyers...
‘The Commuter Pig Keeper’ wins 2017 Diagram Prize
Friday, 28 July 2017
The Commuter Pig Keeper: A Comprehensive Guide to Keeping Pigs when Time is your Most Precious Commodity (Michaela Giles, Old Pond Publishing) has won the 2017 Diagram Prize for the...
Whitehead wins 2017 Arthur C Clarke Award
Friday, 28 July 2017
Colson Whitehead has won the 2017 Arthur C Clarke Award for science-fiction for his novel The Underground Railroad (Orbit), reports the Guardian. The Underground Railroad—a ‘fantastic reimagining of US slavery’—has...
Man Booker Prize 2017 longlist announced
Thursday, 27 July 2017
The longlist for the 2017 Man Booker Prize has been announced. The 13 books longlisted for the £50,000 (A$81,973) prize are: 4 3 2 1 (Paul Auster, Faber) Days without...
B&N investor urges company to sell itself
Wednesday, 26 July 2017
In the US, an asset management firm with a ‘meaningful’ stake in Barnes & Noble has sent a letter to the company urging it to sell the business, reports Publishers...
‘Black Widow’ wins 2017 Theakston Crime Novel of the Year
Monday, 24 July 2017
Chris Brookmyre’s story of ‘cyber-abuse, sexism and murder’, Black Widow (Little, Brown), has won the 2017 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, reports the Guardian. Brookmyre’s novel was...
easyJet stocks UK fleet with 7000 copies of classic children’s books
Monday, 24 July 2017
In the UK, budget airline easyJet has stocked its UK fleet with 7000 copies of classic children’s books selected by author Jacqueline Wilson, reports the Bookseller. Books including Peter Pan,...
Scholastic US reports rise in revenue
Friday, 21 July 2017
In the US, Scholastic has reported a four percent increase in revenue over fiscal 2016 for the year ending 31 May 2017, reports Publishers Weekly. Operating income at the publisher...
Junot Díaz pens new picture book
Thursday, 20 July 2017
In the US, Pulitzer Prize-winner Junot Díaz has written a picture book for young readers, reports the New York Times. The book, Islandborn, will be illustrated by Leo Espinosa and...
World Book Day event boosts sales in the UK
Tuesday, 18 July 2017
In the UK, World Book Day (WBD) titles sales have risen by more than 50% compared to the previous year, with 469,274 copies sold in the week of the event,...
UK book sales steady in first-half of 2017 despite absence of blockbuster
Monday, 17 July 2017
In the UK, print sales were up 1.2% to £652.7m (A$1.1b) in the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2016 according to Nielsen BookScan, reports...
Canadian licensing agency wins court course against university over copyright
Friday, 14 July 2017
A Canadian federal court has ruled in favour of national licensing agency Access Copyright in its legal dispute with York University, finding that the tertiary institution’s intellectual property guidelines were...
US print sales continue to grow in first half of 2017
Thursday, 13 July 2017
US print sales in the first half of 2017 have increase 3% in volume compared to the first six months of 2016, despite the lack of a breakout print title,...
Pearson to sell a 22% stake in PRH to Bertelsmann
Wednesday, 12 July 2017
Pearson will sell a 22% stake in Penguin Random House (PRH) to co-shareholder Bertelsmann, whose share of the company will increase to 75%, reports the Bookseller. Pearson will retain a...
Indie bookshop criticises heavy discounting of new Pullman novel
Tuesday, 11 July 2017
An independent bookseller in the UK has written a blog post criticising the heavy discounting of Philip Pullman’s first ‘Book of Dust’ novel at other retailers, reports the Bookseller. In...
New Maurice Sendak picture book discovered
Monday, 10 July 2017
A new picture book by the late Maurice Sendak and his frequent collaborator Arthur Yorinks has been discovered in Sendak’s archives, reports Publishers Weekly. Presto and Zesto in Limboland was...
Turnover up three percent at OUP
Friday, 7 July 2017
Oxford University Press (OUP) has recorded a 3.3% increase in turnover to £847.4m (A$1450m) for the year ending 31 March 2017, reports the Bookseller. The results, which improve on last...
Quarto Group issues profit warning; signals ‘disappointing’ first half results
Thursday, 6 July 2017
In the UK, publisher the Quarto Group has issued a profit warning and admitted it had set its original guidance for 2017 and beyond too high, reports the Bookseller. Quarto...
Bloomsbury signs up to UK ‘Spotify for textbooks’ subscription service
Thursday, 6 July 2017
In the UK, Bloomsbury has signed up more than 7000 titles for a new textbook subscription service Perlego, reports the Bookseller. Describing itself as ‘Spotify for textbooks’, Perlego offers students...
Sudanese writer al-Fadil wins 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing
Wednesday, 5 July 2017
Sudanese writer Bushra al-Fadil has won the 2017 Caine Prize for African Writing for his short story ‘The Story of the Girl Whose Birds Flew Away’, first published in The...
French publishing sales up in 2016
Tuesday, 4 July 2017
French publishing sales rose in 2016 by 4.25% to €2.8bn (A$4.16bn) according to figures from the French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE), reports the Bookseller. Sales by volume...
Persuad wins Commonwealth Writers’ Short Story Prize 2017
Monday, 3 July 2017
Ingrid Persaud from Trinidad and Tobago has won the 2017 Commonwealth Writers’ Short Story Prize for ‘Sweet Sop’, reports the Bookseller. Persuad’s story explores ‘harrowing themes of fractured families, death...
Sharjah named World Book Capital for 2019
Monday, 3 July 2017
UNESCO has named Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates as the World Book Capital for 2019. Sharjah was selected for its ‘very innovative, comprehensive and inclusive nature’ of its application,...
German company acquires Pubnet, PubEasy
Friday, 30 June 2017
German service provider MVB Marketing, a subsidiary of the German Publishers and Booksellers Association Börsenverein, has purchased the US bookshop ordering systems Pubnet and PubEasy from NPD Group, reports Publishers...
‘Guardian’ survey reveals sexism in publishing
Friday, 30 June 2017
In the UK, a Guardian survey of 80 women and 12 men working in publishing has found that the majority of women feel they are being discriminated against because of their...
Bonnier UK romance imprint Totally Entwined launches online store, self-publishing platform
Thursday, 29 June 2017
In the UK, Bonnier Publishing’s romance imprint Totally Entwined has launched an online store and self-publishing platform called First for Romance, reports the Bookseller. The store will sell titles from...
