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Books for African schoolchildren

2 May 2016

Book Aid InternationalSupplies much-needed books to developing countries, raising funds from publishers and general public; 'Reverse Book Club' is masterly idea-for just £5 ($10) month you can provide 48 books to go to where they're most needed, a charity which focuses on providing books for Africa, has developed a new programme. Inspiring Readers is a school-based programme that aims to improve the reading opportunities of a quarter of a million African children though the provision of book cupboard libraries in primary schools. Already tested, the scheme has shown that it makes a big difference.  Read more

Books for Africa

28 December 2015

This year the charity Book Aid InternationalSupplies much-needed books to developing countries, raising funds from publishers and general public; 'Reverse Book Club' is masterly idea-for just £5 ($10) month you can provide 48 books to go to where they're most needed, which goes from strength to strength, has sent over 1.1 million books to partners in Africa, beating their previous donation levels. Books and libraries are a crucial resource in sub-Saharan Africa. They are vital for quality education; they raise literacy levels, provide information and underpin development.  Read more

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

So what are fiction editors looking for in 2015?

26 January 2015

So what are fiction editors looking for in 2015? A handful of British editors have contributed to a recent article in the Bookseller, speaking up for home-grown talent, strong debut novels and - perhaps surprisingly - books in translation.  Read more

Reaching for an international book market

5 January 2015

As we enter another new year it seems that the book world is becoming ever more global. Our new list of 2015 International Book Fairs brings home just how many are aspiring to international status and trying to establish themselves as attracting a truly worldwide audience of publishers, booksellers and authors.  Read more

Ebook buyers reading more books

20 October 2014

A new Mintel survey this week shows that ebook fans are increasing their reading because ebooks are cheaper. These UK figures show that 26% of consumers who have bought an e-book in the last year are reading more than they used to because e-books cost less than paperbacks, a figure that rises to 38% of 16 to 24-year-olds.  Read more

Paperbacks - a surprisingly resilient format

5 May 2014

When I first came into publishing, paperbacks seemed the coming thing. Surely it was only a question of time before the power of consumers drove paperbacks to centre stage and ousted those expensive hardbacks?  Read more

The remarkable Mike Shatzkin

6 January 2014

Mike Shatzkin is the Founder & CEO of The Idea Logical Company and is described on its site as ‘a widely-acknowledged thought leader about digital change in the book publishing industry'. This is rather to understate the influence of this remarkable man.  Read more

Google triumphs

18 November 2013

After eight years of litigation over Google's scanning of more than 20 million books in libraries, Judge Denny Chin has come down in their favour:  Read more

Bestselling trends

11 November 2013

A recent investigation by USA Today into their bestseller lists of the last thirty years throws an interesting light on changes in bestsellerdom and background changes in the way in which books are bought and sold.  Read more

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20 January 2020 - What's new

January 2020
  • ‘The biggest kick is reading something new and exciting and then getting other people to share your enthusiasm... Beyond all the cant and hypocrisy in publishing, that's what it's all about... I have always found comfort in the confines of a book or a manuscript, Reading is how I spend most of my time and is still the most joyful aspect of my day.
  Read more

Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2020

Information

Closing date: 
2 March 2020
Entry: 
Open to writers of any nationality writing in English. Entry fee £20
Prize: 
£15,000 for each prize plus a publishing deal with Bonnier for Best Unpublished Manuscript

Submissions for the two 2020 Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prizes are now open. The international prize is now in its fifth year. Entries are accepted from writers of any nationality, writing in English. The deadline is 2 March.  Read more

'Sometimes the ideas just come to me. Other times I have to sweat and almost bleed to make ideas come. It's a mysterious process, but I hope I never find out exactly how it works. I like a mystery, as you may have noticed.'

— J K Rowling

'The biggest kick'

20 January 2020

‘The biggest kick is reading something new and exciting and then getting other people to share your enthusiasm... Beyond all the cant and hypocrisy in publishing, that's what it's all about...'

On receiving the Maxwell Perkins Award for lifetime achievement:  Read more