It's been a pretty good year for publishers. Bertelsmann revenues were the highest for seven years, although admittedly its profits were down and the acquisition of Penguin is part of the mix. Read more
It's a sign of the times that previously unknown British author E L James has topped the New York Times bestseller list with an erotic romance, Fifty Shades of Grey. Read more
This week's there's an interesting story from the US about writer Kate Alcott, whose first novel The Dressmaker has just sold 35,000 copies in hardback and been sold for translation in five countries. It seems explicable in terms of the subject-matter because The Dressmaker is about a seamstress who goes on board the Titanic as a lady's maid, is wooed by two men from Read more
The staggering number of 285,000 new titles and editions were self-published and published by community presses in the US last year, balanced against a slightly lower figure of 275,000 coming from traditional publishing houses. Read more
So how does the world look as we venture forth into the new decade? This week we'll look at the US and next week at the UK publishing worlds in an attempt to assess how the turmoil in the book trade is affecting writers.
This weekend the Javits Center in New York has been thronged with the thousands of people attending BookExpo, the biggest annual book show in North America. It's clear from the coverage that a mass of interesting author events and the usual promotional round are making this BookExpo seem as busy as ever, and attendance figures are only slightly down. Read more
How is the economic slowdown affecting books? We've managed to stay off the subject of the recession for over two months, so now is the time to have another look at how it is affecting the book business. Read more
No sooner had the dust settled on Bertlesmann's surprise appointment of German print supremo Markus Dohle to succeed Peter Olson as CEO of Random House US, than another unexpected change hit the American publishing world. Jane Friedman, the successful and popular head of HarperCollins, also announced her immediate departure. Read more
In News Review of 5 Novemberwe noted the beginning of the Writers' Guild strike in the US. Since then there have been occasional stories in the media about tv companies being forced to put out a diet of reruns and American audiences deserting their tv screens. Read more
'When I started writing in about 1990, publishers were very keen on the teenage market. They knew kids were spending money on music and that there were films for kids that age, but books somehow weren't quite happening. The fuss when Junk came out was because it really was a book for teenagers.
You only have to look at the extent of the global reach of the winner the day after to see what a big deal the prize has become internationally. Coverage from right round the world, all the big American media outlets, but also from across the Continent, the Far East, the southern hemisphere, the Middle East.
A Harry Potter first edition found in a Highland bookshop's bargain bucket could be worth £60,000, according to auctioneers selling it.
The hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first book in JK Rowling's stories about a boy wizard - was published in 1997. Read more
How do booksellers keep up with the latest trends in a fast-changing world? It used to be simple: just read the newspaper, watch TV, or listen to the radio. But now, with the rise of social media, blogs and podcasts, booksellers need to be more alert and adaptable than ever.
In recognition of the one year anniversary of BookTok being announced as Person of the Year at The Bookseller's FutureBook conference 2022, creators reflected on another year on the platform and look ahead to 2024.
Publishing attracts people who love books, reading, and ideas. But for many Black professionals in publishing, there's a disconnect between the love of the medium and their work experiences, which can be rife with isolation, exclusion, and stalled routes to leadership.
The UK books market's volume sales this autumn have slid 8% compared with 2022 with value down a shallower 1%, as almost all the big brands including Jamie Oliver, David Walliams and even Richard Osman have been suffering a contraction in their Christmas run-in hardback releases.
Benjamin Franklin once wrote to the Royal Society of London: "I have already made this paper too long, for which I must crave pardon, not having now time to make it shorter." Read more
"I was in the gym when the email from my editor telling me I'd won the award popped up on my phone, and I can still clearly remember how amazed and thrilled I felt. My books are now published in nine languages, but to discover that one of them has sold over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone is just so special. Read more
In her Reith lecture of 2017, recently published for the first time in a posthumous collection of nonfiction, A Memoir of My Former Self, Hilary Mantel recalled the beginnings of her career as a novelist. It was the 1970s. "In those days historical fiction wasn't respectable or respected," she recalled. "It meant historical romance. Read more
'No one was going to stop me from writing and no one had to really guide me towards science fiction. It was natural, really, that I would take that interest.'