People want stories and that means cultivating a publishing ecosystem where big and small can flourishThis week both the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority and the Department of Justice in the US announced investigations into the planned $2.2bn acquisition of the publisher Simon & Schuster by Bertelsmann, which already owns Penguin Random House. The merger, if allowed, would see Bertelsmann have almost one-third of English-language book sales. The move follows a year when a population cocooned at home, reaching for comfort reading, inflated the profits of big publishers. Bloomsbury and Pan Macmillan recently announced that they would be returning furlough payments; HarperCollins did not take them.Many of the UK’s smaller publishers fared rather differently: a Bookseller survey last summer found 60% feared they would cease to exist by autumn. Indies tend not to have the backlists full of household names that, say, a Penguin has; they depend far more on serendipity, on a customer wandering into a shop intending to buy one thing but coming out with something else as well. This happens far less with online shopping; at least one publisher lost up to 90% in sales. Some also found it difficult to qualify for furlough. They took to social media to announce their plight, or to try new selling tactics; some crowdfunded; some received emergency Arts Council England cash. Many were dragged back from the brink, for which we should be grateful. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2021-03-28 17:25:47 UTC ]
The Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association's annual gathering in Denver, renowned for being a high energy show, was an especially exuberant affair this year. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-10-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
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‘She saw and felt things us ordinary mortals missed,’ her agent says of Booker prize-winning author who died on Thursday• Hilary Mantel remembered: ‘She was the queen of literature’• ‘The pen is in our hands. A happy ending is ours to write’: Hilary Mantel in her own wordsThe Booker... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2022-09-23 11:29:23 UTC ]
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I’d begged my way into this job in the hopes that it might lead me closer to a literary life. And it would. Eventually. The post Shelve This In Memoir: Confessions of a Teenage Bookseller appeared first on The Millions. Continue reading at The Millions
[ The Millions | 2022-09-05 10:00:28 UTC ]
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Lethal Tides tells the story of pioneering oceanic researcher Mary Sears and her leading role in creating one of the most important intelligence gathering operations of World War II. Languishing in academic obscurity and roundly ignored by her male colleagues, Sears is selected for command by... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2022-09-04 15:00:53 UTC ]
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High inflation and supply chain challenges combined to drop earnings at Penguin Random House 20.7% in the first half of 2022 compared to a year ago. Revenue rose 6.2%, to €1.92 billion, but even there the news was disappointing with parent company Bertelsmann noting that excluding the favorable... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-31 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Abby West has been named v-p and editorial director at Amistad, with promotions for Tara Parsons and Laina Adler to v-p and deputy publisher of their respective imprints. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-30 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In the absence of in-person regional trade shows and conferences the past few years, two Midwestern booksellers who craved connection began organizing in-person bookseller gatherings on their own. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Large houses and small presses discuss the need for face-to-face fall bookseller gatherings. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This year’s bookseller gatherings offer plenty of opportunities for meeting authors and illustrators and sharing bookselling tips. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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This season’s regional shows mark the first time that many booksellers have been able to get together in person since the start of the pandemic. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-26 04:00:00 UTC ]
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An executive editor at HarperCollins India and a 2022 Frankfurt Fellow, Rahul Soni says, 'Literature is still considered very much a luxury' in India. The post Frankfurt Fellows 2022: Rahul Soni of HarperCollins India appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2022-08-15 18:17:45 UTC ]
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HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray, testifying in the trial over whether the Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster sale will go through, said he was “shocked” by the price PRH offered for S&S. Later in the day, the defense cross-examined the government's economic witness. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-08-10 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Noir has long been obsessed with books—books as objects, as evidence, as repositories of the past, and occasionally as glimpses into other worlds of possibility. It’s no wonder, then, that booksellers often turn up in fiction, and especially in mystery. There’s something intoxicating about the... Continue reading at Electric Literature
[ Electric Literature | 2022-07-29 11:00:00 UTC ]
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Many people may have forgotten that before it became a tech and ecommerce behemoth, Amazon started as an online bookseller in 1994. Nearly three decades later, Amazon is celebrating the roots of its business with a major campaign for its books division. The goal of the campaign, titled "That... Continue reading at AdWeek
[ AdWeek | 2022-07-25 13:00:00 UTC ]
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This week on The Maris Review, Isaac Fitzgerald joins Maris Kreizman to discuss his memoir, Dirtbag, Massachusetts, out now from Bloomsbury Publishing. Subscribe and download the episode, wherever you get your podcasts. * On deciphering truth from fiction when writing memoir: “My parents were... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-21 08:51:06 UTC ]
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More than 200 unionized HarperCollins employees are on strike today following months of contract negotiations, which began in December 2021 and which, they say, have not yielded a fair agreement for workers. HarperCollins, based in New York City—where the median rent recently reached $4,000 a... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2022-07-20 15:00:15 UTC ]
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Roughly 100 unionized HarperCollins workers began picketing the publisher's New York headquarters this morning as part of a one-day strike in their fight for a new contract. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-20 04:00:00 UTC ]
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Gail See, a Minneapolis-area bookseller for many years and a leader in Minnesota's literary community, who served as president of the ABA board from 1984-1986, has died at age 94. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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In his grouchy, funny memoir, “A Factotum in the Book Trade,” Marius Kociejowski writes about what a good bookstore should feel like, famous customers he’s served and more. Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2022-07-18 18:02:04 UTC ]
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HarperCollins wins a British crime thriller debut, Gallery takes on a memoir by a former Scientologist, and more. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-15 04:00:00 UTC ]
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