Independent which brought the Millennium trilogy to millions of English-language readers puts company up for saleThe publisher behind The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, independent press Quercus, has put itself up for sale in what it has described as a "challenging" and "increasingly competitive" book market in the UK.The 10-year-old independent publisher, which has had one of the biggest literary hits of recent years in the late Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, said last week that it was expecting "a significant trading loss" for 2013. This follows disappointing sales in the last quarter of 2013, "due in part to continuing issues within the book trade which led retailers to adopt very conservative ordering policies", Quercus said, as well as "a lower than expected upturn in digital sales over the Christmas period to the end of the year".The news of the fall in sales has now been followed by Quercus's announcement to the stock market that it would be "in the best interests" of its shareholders to seek a buyer. As well as Larsson's tales of the hacker Lisbeth Salander – which have sold more than 75m copies in 50 countries – Quercus, founded in 2004, is also home to Stef Penney's Costa-winning novel The Tenderness of Wolves, and to bestselling writers William Nicholson and Peter May. At the end of last year, it announced it would be publishing a fourth book in Larsson's Millennium series, based on the Swedish author's creations but written by David Lagercrantz, in... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-01-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 24/10/2011 - 08:25 Educational publishers have been accused of not providing enough support to help independent bookshops stay on the high street, as owners call for more discounts. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 24/10/2011 - 09:25 Educational publishers have been accused of not providing enough support to help independent bookshops stay on the high street, as owners call for more discounts. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 18/10/2011 - 09:00 AD Miller's Snowdrops and Carol Birch's Jamrach's Menagerie are the bestselling books in the Man Booker shortlist on the high street, ahead of the prize's announcement this evening. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 07/10/2011 - 08:35 Independent booksellers say the government should step in to fix the price of books after the Booksellers Association called on the coalition to do more to maintain bookshops on the high street. BA c.e.o. Tim Godfray appealed... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 16/09/2011 - 08:30 Publishers have heeded warnings that academic booksellers had "months to survive" by offering greater support during this year's academic season, the m.d. of Blackwell has reported. David Prescott said publishers have been... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 16/09/2011 - 08:30 Publishers have heeded warnings that academic booksellers had "months to survive" by offering greater support during this year's academic season, the m.d. of Blackwell's has reported. David Prescott said publishers have been... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 02/09/2011 - 07:53 Four independent bookshops with a combined total of 175 years on the high street have announced their closure within a week, blaming their downfall on high rates, competition from internet retailers and supermarkets, ebooks... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 26/08/2011 - 07:13 A coalition of "left-leaning political bookshops" is to launch in October, creating a support network for independent booksellers. The Alliance of Radical Booksellers (ARB) will officially begin on 6th October and so far has... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 24/08/2011 - 15:16 The owner of Derwent Bookshop has declared the British high street a goner as the only bookshop in Workington is forced to close after 33 years. The Cumbrian store will shut up shop within a month, blaming competition from... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 16/08/2011 - 16:03 Spending on printed books slumped £1.1m last week, as the UK riots caused retailers to shut stores early and the public to avoid the high street. Although bookshops remained largely unscathed during the rioting, spending... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 11/08/2011 - 09:30 Bloomsbury has said sales have bounced back significantly from a "soft" spring thanks to ebook downloads and greater sales through the high street. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Mon, 01/08/2011 - 08:59 Digital sales have helped to bolster profitability for Penguin in the first six months of 2011, with company chiefs looking for organic growth and a focus on the high street over the second half of the year. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/07/2011 - 09:02 WH Smiths like-for-like sales have dropped 4%, but the bookseller remains "confident" about its final year results, it said today. In the 18 weeks to 2nd July, WHS total group sales decreased by 1% and like-for-like sales... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 31/05/2011 - 09:04 An "iconic" London travel bookshop is being put up for sale after 32 years on the high street. The Travel Bookshop, based in Londons Notting Hill area, has been run by its present owner, based in France, for the last 25... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 13/05/2011 - 15:40 Publishers are remaining tight-lipped about recent price increases in books for children and teenagers. Price increases have seen some young adult titles being priced at £18, with some paperback fiction given an £8.99 price... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 15:24 Booksellers have suffered the worst March in six years, in one of the worst months across retail in almost 20 years. High street and indie retailers seem to be particularly feeling the Spring pinch, after March sales reached a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 21/03/2011 - 15:45 Waterstone's has called for academic publishers to "significantly" increase their support for the chain, warning bricks and mortar academic bookselling could vanish from the high street within a few years. The retailer's m.d.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 15/02/2011 - 09:43 Most publishers are neglecting the marketing role provided by bricks and mortar bookshops, said the head of Quarto as it unveiled its annual results. Chairman and c.e.o. Laurence Orbach said he was "pleased" with the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 11/02/2011 - 16:13 The rate of decline of independent bookshops slowed in 2010, according to Booksellers Association numbers, despite the testing conditions on the high street and increasing competition from digital. Nearly one indie bookshop a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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