A heart-warming love letter to books and bookshops, by an amenable fellow turned antisocial old misanthrope“I was in here two years ago and you had a book by Roger Penrose. Do you know what happened to it?” Shaun Bythell – owner of the Book Shop in Wigtown, Galloway – has 100,000 books in stock, sells 20,000 a year, and has handled nearly 1m second-hand books since he bought the shop in 2001. Unsurprisingly, the Roger Penrose volume had not stuck in his mind.Before he entered the book trade at the tender age of 31, he was “amenable and friendly”. Now, after many years of fielding bizarre questions, constant haggling over prices (why is it “acceptable to try to screw the profit out of struggling small businesses” but not supermarkets?), and struggling to survive despite Amazon’s “icy grip” on bookselling, he has been forced to embrace the stereotype of the “impatient, intolerant, antisocial proprietor”. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-08-24 10:58:38 UTC ]
The Bookseller is conducting a survey into the book trade's opinions on the May 7th general election. Share your views with our quick, five-question survey on your voting intentions and how this year's election affects the book trade. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Liz Thomson, founding editor of BookBrunch, is to step down from her role after the London Book Fair in order to devote more time to her musical interests. Thomson said: "I remain fascinated by the book trade but want to liberate myself from day-to-day news deadline. I've always been more... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Amazon's position in the market is damaging progress in the book trade, according to the president of the Booksellers Association, Tim Walker. Speaking on a panel about publishing and technology at the Nielsen BookInsights conference yesterday (25th March), Walker said that Amazon's dominance... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
In Russia, a biography of Putin was a Christmas bestseller; in Norway and Sweden, there were surprise festive hits on hair-braiding; in Australia, it was beach read season; while in Spain, it was Ken Follett who topped FNAC's Christmas bestseller list. The Bookseller's international... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Over the last 15 years, the number of publishers, bookstores and revenue from book sales in Japan has been in significant decline. The post Statistically Speaking, Japan’s Book Trade is in Trouble appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2014-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The main question we asked when compiling the second Books of the Year list, was: what are these sort of lists good for? Until last year, in its previous 155 years The Bookseller eschewed this kind of listing, partially because it was felt that, as the august Organ of the book trade, we were to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Booksellers Association chief executive Tim Godfray heads up our latest Bookseller 100, the sixth annual compilation of the people who have had the biggest impact across the book trade in the past year. Godfray has been named 2014's "101st", a position which honours a member of the industry who... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-11-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
More prominent individuals from Scotland's book trade – including BookSource m.d.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-08-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A survey of nearly 2,500 writers has shown that median income of a working author last year was just £11,000, down by 29% since 2005A new breed of publishing event, a secretive curtain-raiser, designed to tease the book trade and the critics, is to take place somewhere in London on Monday... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-07-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
German booksellers are facing a nail-biting finish to the holiday season. With end November sales... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Pan Macmillan is to invite the book trade to join an industry-wide campaign building awareness... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Last Friday, when Amazon made 14 original TV pilots available for free viewing on its streaming video service, it launched an experiment that could do to TV production what the Internet juggernaut did to the book trade. The polite business term is disruption, but that’s not the word people whose... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-04-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
With ebook and total digital sales posting steady—if generally smaller—increases in 2012, sales of print books held up fairly well across the book trade and at most major houses. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2013-04-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The response of people to the sad news concerning Iain Banks, who announced he has terminal cancer, makes us realize how the book trade is like a huge, extended family. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-04-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Is there an argument to be made in favor of state intervention in the book trade? If the growth of the book trade in Sharjah is any evidence, the answer is yes. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2012-11-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
When On Demand Books introduced its Espresso Book Machine to the U.S. book trade in 2008 by installing a beta model at Northshire Books in Manchester Center, Vt., the company promoted it as a tool for printing backlist titles and books in the public domain, as well as for authors who wanted to... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2012-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The book trade is seeing increased activity from overseas publishers ahead of the London Book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2012-03-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Wed, 09/11/2011 - 09:53 The latest edition of fact compendium Guinness World Records was the bestselling book in another slow week for the book trade. Sales of Guinness World Records 2012 rose 26% week-on-week, to 27,360 copies sold, but overall book... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Written By: Neill Denny Publication Date: Fri, 04/11/2011 - 10:22 A confident James Daunt toasted the future at a major party held last night in central London, an occasion that also saw new Waterstone's chairman of the board Miranda Curtis introduced to the book trade. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this