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 ]
International publishers are calling for a presidential pardon to free imprisoned Egyptian publisher and bookseller Khaled Lotfy. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-14 06:05:25 UTC ]
More news stories like this
An indie bookshop which was the official bookseller of the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival has been replaced by organisers in favour of Waterstones. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-14 03:02:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Author and screenwriter Sarah Alderson is moving from Hodder imprint Mulholland to HarperCollins imprint Avon in a two-book deal, starting with a "perfect summer thriller". Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-13 10:19:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Fourth Estate founder and former HarperCollins chief reveals plans for a June festival based around Evelyn Waugh’s iconic novel, and reflects on the evolution of the book business. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-12 12:31:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Rowan Yapp will join Bloomsbury as publishing director to run the cookery and illustrated non-fiction lists after more than a decade at Vintage. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-09 14:28:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins Children’s Books has triumphed in an eight-publisher UK auction for début author Aisling Fowler’s Middle Grade magical adventure series Fireborn. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-09 01:49:54 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some ideas from a seasoned bookseller on events to generate business in the slow month of January. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-08 13:00:11 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has wrapped up a deal for the "life-changing" freezer-filling cookbook from Shivi Ramoutar. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 12:50:12 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has scooped the début picture book from “Queer Eye” star Jonathan Van Ness about a gender non-binary guinea pig. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 06:46:35 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Avon has scooped two books from writer Debbie Howells, who was previously published by Pan Macmillan. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-08 03:56:39 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bloomsbury has pre-empted Lisa Harding’s second novel about a failed actress struggling with motherhood and addiction. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2020-01-07 02:13:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Some suggestions of what booksellers should read this year, and what they might avoid. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-01-01 13:00:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Saga author Pam Weaver is returning from Pan Macmillan to HarperCollins imprint Avon in a three-novel deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-19 17:25:21 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has made a string of promotions in its HQ and Mills & Boon publicity team with Lucy Richardson becoming head of publicity, while Joe Thomas and Isabel Smith also step up. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-18 21:48:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Germany-based media and services company Bertelsmann says it will buy the 25% of publisher Penguin Random House that it doesn't already own for $675 million Continue reading at ABC News
[ ABC News | 2019-12-18 11:47:31 UTC ]
More news stories like this
‘Tis the season of realizing the limits of your spacial awareness! “Measure twice, cut once”? In this economy? Luckily, UK bookseller Waterstones has opened our eyes to a new way of rectifying our (easily preventable) gift-wrapping fuck-ups. Behold: This is a public service announcement 🎄 📚... Continue reading at Literrary Hub
[ Literrary Hub | 2019-12-16 16:31:30 UTC ]
More news stories like this
To mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Brideshead Revisited (Penguin), the newly unveiled The Brideshead Festival will "celebrate and interrogate the ongoing appeal of this seminal novel and its screen adaptations", masterminded by former HarperCollins c.e.o.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 23:13:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this
Bloomsbury Continuum has won a five-way bidding war for a “manifesto for modern masculinity” by Book of Man founder Martin Robinson. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-15 15:29:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this
HarperCollins has pre-empted a “mesmerising” French Alps-set thriller by freelance journalist Catherine Cooper in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-13 05:55:18 UTC ]
More news stories like this
The Bookseller is to create a Rising Stars-style listing of individual booksellers to coincide with the Booksellers Association Conference in September 2020. The Bookshop Heroes special, supported by the BA and sponsored by HarperCollins, will be published to coincide with the annual conference. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2019-12-11 22:52:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this