As publishers vie to persuade us to pack their titles for the holidays, we chart the evolution of the ’beach read’Summer reads, beach reads, holiday reads … at this time of year, the publishing world works itself into a sweat trying to force its novels into our carry-on luggage, or over the ether on to our Kindles. There are more books sold in the summer than during any other season: the well-established publishing calendar tends to see hardbacks released in the autumn to be given as gifts at Christmas, then repackaged as paperbacks in late spring. As Donna Harrington-Lueker sets out in her history of the beach read, Books for Idle Hours, the summer publishing rush is at least a century old, and has typically aimed “airy and froth-like” books on “young ladies” (the quote is from an 1888 work on summer books by Arlo Bates). The summer fiction market is changing, though, with more and more “serious”, “literary” novels showing up where once there were only thrillers and crime novels, bonkbusters and romances. So it is that Normal People by Sally Rooney is currently piled high on the tables of WH Smith’s Travel alongside Lee Child, Jodi Picoult and Bernard Cornwell.I’m aware of how contentious and porous discussions of genre can be. Generic labels, though, are the terms that booksellers and publishers think in and for literary novels, the chances of summer success are still relatively slim. Tom Tivnan, managing editor of the Bookseller, points to Nielsen BookScan data that... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-07-14 07:00:23 UTC ]
Waterstones is set to open a new three storey bookshop on London’s Tottenham Court Road in October. At 7,000 sq foot, the shop will be the largest Waterstones to open in the capital since the Oxford Street Plaza branch in 2009 and will stock the largest selection of new fiction titles in London... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-08-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Free content on the web can only survive if consumers stop using ad blocking software but advertisers need to stop their ‘pay and spray’ approachThe sale of the Financial Times marked an important milestone in traditional media continuing it transformation into the digital world. Many... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After its historic first week of sales last week, Harper Lee's 'Go Set a Watchman' sold roughly 220,000 print copies for the week ended July 29, according to the outlets that report to Nielsen Bookscan Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Boris Johnson is to write a biography of William Shakespeare for Hodder & Stoughton for October 2016. The publisher has confirmed the deal, which was reported in the Sunday Times to have been done for £500,000. The newspaper reported that Johnson’s advance was almost seven times his salary... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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'Go Set a Watchman' sold over 746,000 copies in its first week on sale at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The numbers easily made the Harper Lee novel the #1 title on PW’s bestseller list, topping 'Grey' by E.L. James. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Two graphic novels by Steve Sheinkin and former 'Village Voice' cartoonist Stan Mack each took the publishing world by surprise after becoming bestsellers for Jewish Lights recently. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Paula Hawkins’s novel has now been top of the UK hardback book chart for 20 weeks, outlasting even Dan Brown’s Lost Symbol• How Paula Hawkins wrote ‘the new Gone Girl’A record set six years ago by Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol was broken this week by Paula Hawkins’s dark thriller The Girl on the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales of print books for the first six months of 2015 were running just about even with the same period in 2014 at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. Units inched up 0.3% in the period, to more than 286 million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Author Lucy Beresford is launching an initiative to create a library at one of the London shelters for domestic violence charity Refuge. Beresford said: “I'm launching an initiative called Refuge for Books, asking all my friends in the publishing world to send me a copy of a book for Refuge.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-07-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Pavilion imprint Batsford has a 500,000 first print run for colouring book Millie Marotta's Tropical Wonderland, to meet retail orders around the world. The book, released today (25th June, £9.99), is the follow-up to Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom, which has been translated into 30 languages... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The book sold more than 350,000 copies in just three days on sale, according to Nielsen BookScan, which records roughly 80% of print units. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E L James’ Grey (Arrow) has become the fastest-selling adult paperback in the UK since records began, smashing the previous record by almost 270,000 copies, while selling nearly 650,000 physical and digital units in just three days on sale. Grey shifted 385,972 print units Thursday through... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors and book reviewers have hit out at national newspapers for shrinking the amount of editorial space given over to children’s books, despite huge growth in the market. In the UK, the children’s sector (including teen and YA titles) is the fastest-growing area of the market: sales grew... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In Brazil this past April and May, 17.34% of all books sold were coloring books — a genre which has dominated the bestseller lists for months. The post The Coloring Book Phenomenon Takes Over Brazil appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-06-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Victoria Hislop has retained the top spot on the UK Official Top 50 for the second consecutive week while Paula Hawkins continues to close in on Dan Brown’s record for most weeks as an Original Fiction number one. Hislop’s The Sunrise (Headline) sold 28,450 copies last week through Nielsen... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Victoria Hislop proved tougher than the American Sniper, with the British author’s newest release seeing off a single-channel promotion to earn her first number one in six years. Hislop’s The Sunrise (Headline) sold 26,055 units through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market in its first week... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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WH Smith's total group sales for the last quarter grew slightly by 1% compared to the same period in 2014, although high street sales were down. The high street division saw both total sales and like-for-like sales fall 4% compared to last year in the 13 weeks ending 30th May. However, the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Marian Keyes has notched her tenth UK Official Top 50 number one, returning to the pole position for the first time in over two years. Keyes’ The Woman Who Stole My Life (Penguin) sold 24,139 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, an impressive 27% rise on its first week... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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"Journalism is the new marketing degree" is the slightly sarcastic motto among New York Times staffers, many of them former journalists, who create articles and videos for brands. It appears the same could be said at The Atlantic, which just hired former Time magazine Managing Editor James... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-06-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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John Green’s "The Fault in Our Stars" was the top-selling ebook in 2014, according to data just released by PubTrack Digital, a unit of Nielsen BookScan. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-05-29 00:00:00 UTC ]
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