The Guardian view on the writing business: readers must ultimately benefit | Editorial

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 ]
News tagged with: #bookseller survey #household names #online shopping #dragged back #bookseller #harpercollins #pan macmillan #bloomsbury #bertelsmann

Other Publishing stories related to: 'The Guardian view on the writing business: readers must ultimately benefit | Editorial'


OverDrive Library E-book Reader Now Optimized for IPad

OverDrive Media Console--the iPhone app that lets users check out and read ebooks from their local libraries--has been upgraded to a universal app optimized for... Continue reading at PC World

[ PC World | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #iphone app #read ebooks


More over-50s own e-readers than youngsters

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 17/02/2011 - 13:50 More people aged over 55 own e-readers than the younger generation, according to a new study on digital reading habits. Data released by research company OnePoll shows 6% of readers in the over-55 category–equivalent to... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #younger generation #data released #digital device


E-reader market doubles over Christmas in the UK

Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 09/02/2011 - 14:28 The e-reader market doubled over Christmas, according to statistics given out by the Publishers Association at its annual digital seminar. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publishers association


Asda unveils UK's cheapest ebook reader

Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/02/2011 - 16:12 ASDA has launched the UK’s cheapest e-reader at £52. The View Quest Mediabox 5in Media Tablet went on sale today through its Asda Direct website. The Asda site does not sell ebooks with the supermarket chain instead... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #sale today #sell ebooks #supermarket chain #encouraging readers


Penton Launches Online Auction Business

For many publishers, "e-commerce" means dabbling in sales of intellectual property, such as work plans (August Home Publishing, Hanley Wood). Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #intellectual property #hanley wood


Apple Rejects Sony Reader App, Tightens Grip on Content Sales

Apple has reportedly rejected Sony's reader app from the App store for selling content within the app and letting customers make purchases outside the App store (such as within the Sony Reader Store, according to The New York Times. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #reader app #app store #content sales #selling content


Leahy Reintroduces Bill to Restore Reader Privacy Protections

One month before controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act are set to expire, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) last week reintroduced a reauthorization bill that would restore protections for reader privacy that were eliminated by the Act in 2001. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #reader privacy


Hearst pays €651m for Lagardère magazine business

Hearst Corporation has made a "binding offer" of €651m (£559m) for Lagardère's international magazine business, which includes a licensing agreement for fashion magazine Elle. Continue reading at Media Week

[ Media Week | 2011-01-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #hearst corporation #binding offer #licensing agreement


Eric Carle to write first book in four years for Puffin

Written By: Charlotte Williams Puffin is to publish a new picture book by The Very Hungry Caterpillar author Eric Carle, his first in four years. The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse will be published in October 2011, in a global, simultaneous publication with Philomel, a Penguin Young Readers... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2011-01-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #picture book #eric carle #simultaneous publication #motoko inoue


Summit Business Media To File for Chapter 11

Summit Business Media has joined the ranks of publishers seeking to reorganize and slash debt through a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Continue reading at Folio Magazine

[ Folio Magazine | 2011-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Adam Haslett on Stanley Fish's How To Write a Sentence.

In 1919, the young E.B. White, future New Yorker writer and author of Charlotte's Web, took a class at Cornell University with a drill sergeant of an English professor named William Strunk Jr. Strunk assigned his self-published manual on composition titled "The Elements of Style," a 43-page list... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2011-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #combined work