A government proposal to ease restrictions on the sale of imported cultural works risks harming a world-class industryThe hoopla around the release of Sally Rooney’s new novel on Tuesday – with bookshops opening early, and queues of shoppers eager to lay their hands on Beautiful World, Where Are You – has contributed to the image of a publishing industry in rude health. Last year had the highest sales in eight years. Yet authors, bricks-and-mortar bookshops and publishers alike fear that the industry faces a powerful new threat, if cheap editions legitimately produced for an overseas market are allowed to be sold in the UK. Kazuo Ishiguro, Bernardine Evaristo and others have warned that the effect on writers would be devastating.EU regulations meant that UK producers could prevent the importation of such books into Britain; in the wake of Brexit, the government is considering reversing this. A report proposes to change how we deal with the exhaustion of intellectual property rights. The document, from a taskforce headed by Iain Duncan Smith, Theresa Villiers and George Freeman, argues that, apart from limited exceptions, “in general, protectionist use of IP rights should be resisted”. It suggests that we liberalise parallel import laws “to reduce prices and increase choice for consumers” (in notes from a familiar Tory hymn sheet). This would mean that a non-UK publisher, say, that has legitimately bought the rights to publish Harry Potter, could then sell those books back... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-09-07 18:00:33 UTC ]
Working-class lives are unlikely to be properly represented in fiction if the publishing industry is run by middle-class graduates, says Nick MossKeiran Goddard is right to say that too many novels that claim to portray working-class life just give us “recent arts graduate feels emotionally,... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-30 16:40:05 UTC ]
More news stories like this
There were 669m physical books sold in the UK last year, according to new figures from the Publishers AssociationThe UK publishing industry had a “record-breaking year” in 2022, with a total income of £6.9bn.A Year in Publishing, a look at the state of the book market by trade body the... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-17 11:26:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Gloucester-based bookseller bought by the retail giant in 2011 will shut at the end of AprilThe online shop Book Depository is due to close at the end of April, vendors and publishing partners have been told. This comes after the bookseller’s parent company Amazon announced it had decided to... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-04-04 11:07:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this
For writers at every stage, the publishing industry can feel inaccessible. There are so many steps between drafting a book and seeing it out in the world. Especially for debut hopefuls, it’s more than a little intimidating: how do we know what we don’t know? Meanwhile, those who’ve already... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2023-03-24 11:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Dosdoce's Javier Celaya challenges the Spanish-language publishing industry to expand its share of a fast-widening audio 'ecosystem.' The post Audiobooks in Spanish: Dosdoce Hands Publishers a ‘Map’ appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2023-03-23 14:51:07 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Having explored the topic of diversity in UK literature in the context of race and gender in 2017 and 2018, we are thrilled that Bernardine Evaristo – the renowned writer, academic and Man Booker Prize Winner 2019 – chaired the British Council Literature Seminar in 2023. You can now watch the... Continue reading at British Council global
[ British Council global | 2023-03-16 10:55:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Filippo Bernardini impersonated hundreds of people in the publishing industry to obtain work by Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and Ian McEwan, but never intended to leak the booksThe former publishing employee who stole manuscripts of books by Margaret Atwood, Sally Rooney and Ian McEwan has said... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-03-13 11:30:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
On paper, the publishing industry seems glamorous. But this façade belies the deep problems that persist, and one of them is the low pay. Continue reading at Book Riot
[ Book Riot | 2023-02-23 11:36:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
What is it about campus novels that makes us love them so? The campus has inspired many novelists over the years: Michael Chabon, Kazuo Ishiguro, Curtis Sittenfeld, Elif Batuman, Nabokov, to name just a few. Readers love these stories, too; “the campus novel” has become its own literary... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2023-02-14 09:53:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Following a down year for print book sales, NPD Group's publishing industry analyst, Kristen McLean, predicts that 2023 will be a year of transition for the publishing industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-27 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
DBW's final day looked at a recent study of publishing industry startups and found that innovation takes all forms, from wildly successful ideas that took time to take off, like Audible, to cutting edge innovations, like blockchain book retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
DBW's final day looked at a recent study of publishing industry startups and found that innovation takes all forms, from wildly successful ideas that took time to take off, like Audible, to cutting edge innovations, like blockchain book retailing. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-01-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Vampires and ghosts have long haunted popular fiction, but now a string of new releases is focusing on marginalised women with hidden powersSomeone, or something, shadowy has put a strong spell on popular literature aimed at women, once cheekily labelled “chick lit”. This perky genre, packaged... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2023-01-08 12:00:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this
With sales in the adult books and children’s/young adult categories falling 16.4% and 9.9%, respectively, total industry sales dropped 9.3% in October from a year ago for the 1,370 publishers that report results to AAP’s StatShot program. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-22 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Our first salary and jobs survey in three years found that the publishing industry’s lack of racial diversity and gender pay gap haven’t improved much. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-16 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Total publishing industry sales fell 4.5% through September compared to 2021, with trade sales down 3.3%, at the 1,368 publishers who report revenue to the AAP’s StatShot program. Lower hardcover sales and higher returns were the main drivers in pushing down trade sales. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-12-05 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
We all know books have the power to move us to tears, and that those tears have the power to move books. Last year, with the sudden rise on popularity of certain titles, the publishing industry realized that BookTok might have the ability to shape the market. One reader cries on camera about... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-18 18:44:22 UTC ]
More news stories like this
I guess if you’re a publisher whose stated mission is to disrupt the publishing industry, you have to move fast and break things, no matter how ghoulish that makes you. Such is apparently the case for “hybrid publisher” Ballast Books (“More Than A Publisher, A Brand Builder”), who is... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-11-11 16:17:28 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The government’s case blocked the merger of two of the United States’ largest publishers and reflected a more aggressive approach to curbing consolidation. It was closely watched by the publishing industry. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-11-01 01:28:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The sole Canadian press that deals exclusively in theatrical works evolves to keep pace with changes in the publishing industry. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-28 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this