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News stories from the book world in August 2015

August 2015

Surprise bestsellers for the silly season

31 August 2015

It's the colouring books and a self-published sleep aid which are making the headlines and topping the charts as summer moves in to autumn in the northern hemisphere - not that those of us in the UK feel we've had much summer.  Read more

End of an era as Authonomy bites the dust

24 August 2015

It's sad to see the end of Authonomy, which HarperCollins UK has decided to close at the end of September. The first of the author submission sites, it worked through peer review in that submissions were ranked by users and the best-ranked were considered for publication by HarperCollins.  Read more

Looking forward to the autumn

17 August 2015

As many in the northern hemisphere are still sunning themselves (or sitting out the rain if they're in the UK), the book trade is hotting up for the autumn. In the UK It looks as if 8 October will be Super Thursday, when the combination of big books being launched reaches its peak. A successful generic Booksellers' Association promotion, Books Are My Bag, will launch on the same day.  Read more

What's the next challenge in the book business?

10 August 2015

A recent report from Enders Analysis has said that it would be a mistake to see the ebook revolution as the key disruption in the book trade. The authors of the report are much more concerned with the reduction in the time people spend on reading, due to time spent on mobile devices, which is eating into book reading time.  Read more

A 'diverse and international' Man Booker longlist

3 August 2015

The longlist for this year's Man Booker Prize is both diverse and international, with a wide range of different kinds of writers and a number of debuts. The longlist features three British writers, five US writers and one each from the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, India, Nigeria and Jamaica.  Read more