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 ]
Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai has been jailed for 10 years by a Chinese court for “illegally providing intelligence overseas”. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 22:55:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has bought a “joyous” book by Chessie King that aims to spread body confidence for women of all ages. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 08:50:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins Children’s Books is celebrating 30 years of the Dr Seuss classic Oh, the Places You’ll Go! with a deluxe version. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-24 01:20:02 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Nigel Newton, founder and chief executive of Bloomsbury Publishing will be presented with the London Book Fair Lifetime Achievement Award this year. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-23 20:55:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Pearson’s 25% stake in Penguin Random House earned the company £65 million in operating profit in 2019. Pearson has sold its 25% share of PRH to Bertelsmann in a deal expected to generated net proceeds of $675 million when the transaction closes. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-21 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bloomsbury Absolute has bagged a cookbook from Tom Kerridge featuring recipes from his two Michelin-starred pub, the Hand & Flowers. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 20:14:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Publisher Eva Bonnier and author David Lagercrantz are among the signatories of an open letter calling for the release of Gui Minhai, a bookseller imprisoned in China. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 16:34:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has won rights to publish an "extremely funny" book by comedian, writer and brand consultant Bella Younger, a.k.a. Deliciously Stella, about the highs and lows of being an accidental influencer. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-20 06:04:52 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Is there anything LeBron James can’t do? Before you attempt to form a response, let me save you some time; the answer, of course, is no. Case in point: HarperCollins yesterday announced a two-book deal with the LeBron James Foundation. James’ debut, a picture book titled I Promise,... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-02-19 16:36:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
A humorous behind-the-scenes look at bookseller prep for an author school visit. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-19 13:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Penguin Random House anticipates a full transition to green energy by 2022, writes Markus Dohle, well ahead of some of the new Bertelsmann guidelines. The post Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House: Climate Neutrality by 2030 appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2020-02-18 18:34:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Following the February 17 announcement by Penguin Random House parent company Bertelsmann that the conglomerate will be carbon neutral by 2030, PRH global CEO Markus Dohle sent a letter to employees outlining the publisher’s role in helping Bertelsmann achieve that target. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-02-18 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has bagged the sequel to Katherine Applegate’s novel The One and Only Ivan, soon to be a film from Walt Disney Studios. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-17 22:17:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bertelsmann is aiming to be climate neutral by 2030, taking its share of responsibility in the battle against climate change and global warming. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-16 23:22:53 UTC ]
More news stories like this
SOCKS, REFRIGERATORS, PILLS, and potatoes. The Object Lessons series from Bloomsbury Publishing makes us consider the ordinary in new ways. These elegant, concise books take deep dives into things we might see every day but never really notice. In High Heel, for example, Summer Brennan writes... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books
[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-02-16 16:00:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins Ireland, a new standalone publishing division, is being launched with Conor Nagle from Gill Books as its publisher. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-14 08:38:59 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bloomsbury will publish A Table for Friends: The Art of Cooking for Two or Twenty, the second cookbook from Skye McAlpine. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-02-14 08:34:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The bookseller planned to promote classic novels with covers featuring people of color for Black History Month. Critics accused it of “literary blackface.” Continue reading at The New York Times
[ The New York Times | 2020-02-05 23:31:49 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Today, Jeanine Cummins appeared at Winter Institute in Baltimore, and as Michael Calder reports for PubishersLunch, commented on the ongoing controversy over her new novel, American Dirt. Bookseller Javier Ramirez, who introduced Cummins, brought up the topic at the end of the formal interview:... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-22 18:16:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Canadian independent publisher (and bookstore!) Biblioasis has printed up a limited run of indie bookseller trading cards, featuring heroic comic book portraits of prominent booksellers. Why? Well, for starters, this week is the annual independent booksellers conference in Baltimore, the ABA’s... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2020-01-21 13:40:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this