Publishing world

Like every other business, the publishing industry suffered a major blow during lockdown.

Even as the demand for reading books in print, digital and audio, from War and Peace to Sally Rooney, surged, so bookshops had to shut.

Supplies were halted and publication dates have been shifted, while festivals, launches and book fairs have been largely either cancelled or moved online.  Read more

While none of the major New York City publishers who took part in PW's survey about their efforts to return employees to their Manhattan headquarters had fixed plans, no companies said they expected to begin bringing staff back in a meaningful way before Sept. 1. For the most part, they see the week of Labor Day as a target, but acknowledged that date may not be realistic.  Read more

Writers including Malorie Blackman and Nikesh Shukla have urged writers of colour not to give up and that their stories matter, as the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag took off over the weekend to illustrate the disparity between the advances paid by publishers to non-Black authors versus Black authors.

Head of Zeus is launching Aries, a new action and adventure imprint, in August with books from Brad Taylor, Ethan Cross and Matthew Harffy.  Read more

Bloomsbury chief executive Nigel Newton has said the beginnining of the pandemic had a severely negative impact on Bloomsbury's sales, but that overall the company had "transformed surprisingly well".  Read more