Books world alarmed by Pearson's sale of stake in Penguin Random House

Management have moved to reassure staff and writers that selling the 47% holding will not affect business, but authors and agents express uneaseAuthors and staff have reacted cautiously to news that Pearson is to sell its stake in Penguin Random House (PRH), the world’s biggest publisher and home to some of the most successful brands in books, among them Fifty Shades of Grey, Jamie Oliver and The Girl on the Train.PRH moved quickly to address fears among staff that the sale of the 47% share to German-owned Bertelsmann would affect jobs. In a statement, global chief executive Markus Dohle promised it would be “business as usual for us”. He added: “Both Pearson and Bertelsmann continue to be very supportive of our strategy and our success, and both have been valued shareholders for us.” Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2017-01-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ribblestrop scoops Guardian Children's Book Award

Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 11/11/2011 - 07:30 Return to Ribblestrop by Andy Mulligan (Simon & Schuster Children's Books) has been awarded the Guardian Children's Book Award, beating off shortlisted titles including David Almond's My Name is Mina and Simon Mason's Moon... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #simon mason #guardian children #book award


Sales fall at WH Smith in early autumn

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 10/11/2011 - 09:44 Total group sales at W H Smith have dropped by 3% in the last 10 weeks, with like-for-like sales down by 6% in comparison to last year. This morning (10th November) the company reported in its interim financial results for the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #high street #1st september #company reported #early autumn #total sales #travel business #wh smith #sales fall


Bodley Head buys book from Blair's ex-chief of staff

Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 10/11/2011 - 15:52 Tony Blair's former chief of staff is writing a book for The Bodley Head about the intricacies of negotiations between governments and terrorist organisations. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Japan's Rakuten to Acquire E-book Retailer Kobo

Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten said on Tuesday that it plans to acquire Canadian ebook and e-reader company Kobo in a bid to expand in the area of media... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Australian book industry moves to ease import restrictions

Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 09:15 Australia’s publishers have moved to compromise in the battle to protect their industry from parallel importing. According to a report from Inside Retail, the Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG) has made a recommendation to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Haynes tops Amazon's best books of 2011

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 08:12 Amazon.co.uk has chosen Elizabeth Haynes' debut Into the Darkest Corner (Myriad Editions) as its best book of 2011, as part of a top 50 selection made "after thoughtful consideration and lengthy debate", and taking into... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #editors alike #huge hit #domestic violence #darker side #uk customers


‘The Great Big Book of Horrible Things,’ by Matthew White

Matthew White, a self-described “atrocitologist,” at the African Burial Ground National Monument in Lower Manhattan. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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French VAT rise threat to books

Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 09:26 French prime minister François Fillon has announced that the reduced VAT rate applying to books would be raised from 5.5% to 7% from 1st January as part of a fresh economic austerity package to help rein in France’s massive... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales drop 2.5% at Lagardère

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 10:15 Lagardère Publishing has reported a net sale decrease of 2.5% on a like-for-like basis in its third quarter, attributing the drop to weaker sales in English-speaking countries and the "impact of ebooks". read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Startups Aim to Share Books Better

The idea of "social reading" has been around for years, but there's a cluster of new companies trying to make it actually work. Two of these startups, Subtext and Findings, launched Oct. 25. Another, Readmill, built around sharing clips/excerpts, is currently being tested. Subtext, for example,... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales 'worryingly weak' warns BRC

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 08/11/2011 - 10:19 UK retail sale values sank 0.6% in October compared to last year, with the British Retail Consortium warning sales were "worryingly weak" in the approach to Christmas. In October last year, sales values had risen by 0.8%. On a... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Chopra book to Amazon in "game-changing" deal

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/11/2011 - 08:45 Amazon has acquired a memoir by bestselling author Dr Deepak Chopra and his brother Dr Sanjiv Chopra. Amazon's Larry Kirshbaum and David Oldawer at Amazon's New York publishing imprint bought world English rights for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Hay House Fiction Debut Marks 25 Years

In a major departure for Hay House, the self-help and spirituality publisher is jumping into the fiction market. Its debut mystery novel, The First Rule of Ten by psychologist Gay Hendricks and screen writer Tinker Lindsay, will be published in January. Hay House has signed up 10 additional... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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C&R to unlock the secrets of Bleak House

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 15:11 Constable & Robinson is getting into the Dickens bicentennial spirit, publishing a novel re-examining the events of Bleak House. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books24x7: Professional Books Go Digital

Given ebooks’ recent growth in the trade, professional books are clearly ahead of the digital curve. Books24x7 was one of the earliest companies in the professional ebook space, licensing and repackaging ebooks for IT professionals on a subscription basis for nearly two decades. A subsidiary of... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon sweetens Prime with Kindle book lending

Is Amazon Prime the best deal in tech? It just may be: Amazon now offers the capability for customers to loan out over 5,000 books for their Kindle or Kindle Fire devices. The Kindle Owners' Lending Library will allow for one book per month to be lent out, and there are no due dates. To borrow a... Continue reading at Betanews

[ Betanews | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | All news stories tagged with: #kindle owners #amazon prime #lending library


Amazon Prime Book Lending: Your FAQs Answered

Users can start borrowing books from Amazon right now, so here's what you need to know about using the service with your Kindle device. Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Google E-Books comes to Canada

Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 02/11/2011 - 08:20 Google has launched its ebook store in Canada, with the regional arms of Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin and Simon & Schuster signing up to the digital service. The publishers join Canadian houses such as D&M... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Further falls in library use as book stock still suffers

Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 02/11/2011 - 14:09 The latest annual statistics for the public library service show further falls in overall usage of the service amid a continuing decline in spending. Both the number of library "service points" on offer and the number of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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EUP reports 40% rise in ebook sales

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 01/11/2011 - 09:40 Sales and profit for 2011 have slumped at Edinburgh University Press at the same time the company has reported a 40% rise in year-on-year ebook sales. The Scottish academic publisher has reported an 11.6% fall in sales and... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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