Managing director says book chain ‘simply not profitable enough’, as Sally Rooney, Val McDermid and other authors write to protestMore than 1,300 writers including Kerry Hudson, David Nicholls, Sally Rooney, Michael Rosen and Val McDermid have backed a campaign for Waterstones booksellers to be paid the living wage.The support follows a petition from staff at Waterstones, signed by more than 6,000 people, which calls on the book chain’s managing director, James Daunt, to pay booksellers a starting living wage of £9 an hour, or £10.55 for the Greater London area. “Working for a rate of pay that is below the living wage results in booksellers who are stressed, preoccupied and who have little spare time and energy to devote to buying books, reading them, and keeping up with news and trends in the industry – all of which activities are undertaken outside contracted hours, and which many staff consider to be (and are encouraged to view as) integral to their role,” says the petition. Related: Balancing the books: how Waterstones came back from the dead Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2019-03-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
Novelist Kerry Hudson is setting out ‘a provocation’ calling for wholesale change to encourage and reflect broader spectrum of voicesThe award-winning novelist Kerry Hudson is set to make a bold call for change in UK publishing, which she believes is failing “to reflect the extraordinary... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-07-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones is set to open a store in Welwyn Garden City next month after being “petitioned” by the town’s residents. The chain will open a branch in Howardsgate on 25th July, with a special Peter Rabbit family fun day. The shop will include a cafe as well as a stock of close to 20,000... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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In the last four years, Waterstones has changed to a company which is more customer-focused, with booksellers who have more flexible working hours, more accountability and higher energy, according to the chain’s m.d. James Daunt was speaking on the subject of the value of booksellers in a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As the curtain raises on Independent Bookshop Week, Helen Dunmore argues that, despite the convenience of shopping online, readers need to browse real shelves packed with real booksThe 10 best independent bookshops in the world – our readers recommendWe read not only with our eyes, but with our... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-06-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones stores across the country will host midnight openings to celebrate the release of Harper Lee’s forthcoming novel Go Set a Watchman (William Heinemann), while the company’s flagship Piccadilly shop will host a festival. M.d. James Daunt has called the launch a "thrilling"... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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David Nicholls’ Us (Hodder & Stoughton), which was longlisted for last year’s Man Booker Prize, is being adapted into a drama for the BBC. The novel is being adapted by Drama Republic, who recently produced “The Honourable Woman” for BBC2, according to Broadcast. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Narrowly denied the top spot in the previous week’s charts, David Nicholls has bounced back to claim pole position in UK Official Top 50 with his seventh overall number one. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Lee Child achieves a personal best this week as his latest thriller tops the Official UK Top 50 for a third consecutive week. The paperback edition of Personal (Bantam) sold 22,680 copies in the seven days ending 9th May and marks the first time a Jack Reacher thriller has spent more than a... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-05-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House’s crime community Dead Good Books has created six awards to be presented at this year’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival by authors including Lee Child and Val McDermid. Each award has been created in collaboration with the Dead Good Facebook community and... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Karen Joy Fowler's We are All Completely Besides Ourselves and David Nicholls' Us are the next two books to be selected for the ITV Loose Women Book Club. The recently-launched book club called Loose Books, sees a different Loose Women panellist pick a book to read each month, which will be... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Authors including Philip Pullman, Michael Rosen, John Dougherty, and Alan Gibbons have signed a letter saying baseline assessment tests should not be brought in to primary schools. The tests, to be introduced in September 2015, will take place in the first few weeks after a child starts in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Oxford University Press has signed a host of book deals in the run-up to the Bologna Book Fair, including titles by Joel Stewart and Roland Chambers. OUP commissioning editor Peter Marley bought world rights Tiny Cops and Robbers, by Stewart, who is an illustrator who has worked with Julia... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones shops should be "significantly more entrepreneurial than they are at the moment", James Daunt has said. Speaking on a panel at the IPG spring conference about chain bookshops, alongside Blackwell's David Prescott, Daunt said that the "point at which we become more confident in... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones has passionate booksellers who are “handselling again”, breaking début novelists and “building careers”, according to publishers. Chief executives and sales directors of publishing houses have spoken to The Bookseller following the release of the chain retailer’s annual results (to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Last week two books—Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar (Puffin) and Michael Rosen’s We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (Walker)—achieved a unique feat, notching up their 1,000th week in BookScan’s Total Consumer Market Top 5,000. The two books are the UK book trade’s only remaining Evergreens:... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reports that physical books are gaining ground at the expense of digital are just plain wrongHas the ebook had its day? If you’ve skimmed a newspaper over the past month you could be forgiven for thinking just that. “The physical book market is making a comeback after years of decline,”... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With the public promiscuously hopping from one format to another, reports of the e-reader’s death look distinctly prematureWe have barely stumbled into 2015 and already some commentators are calling time on the ebook. The analysis was provoked by Waterstones’ managing director, James Daunt, who... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2015-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Waterstones’ core Christmas sales were up over 5% year-on-year but overall revenue was hit by lower sales of Kindle devices. The chain bookseller’s m.d, James Daunt, said the company had a “solid” Christmas and was pleased with sales of books, stationery and toys, with new stores in the estate... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Campaign group Amazon Anonoymous has delivered a "Christmas card" to the company's UK boss Christopher North challenging him to pay workers the Living Wage. The card, delivered to Amazon's UK headquarters in Slough yesterday (22nd December) was two metres wide and mimicked the design of an... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Anonymous campaigners hand-deliver giant Christmas card to online retailer’s UK headquarters and call for company to pay workers a living wageDisenchanted shoppers have taken over £5m worth of business away from Amazon this Christmas in protest at the internet retailer’s business... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2014-12-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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