Skip to Content

Publishing

‘Change is a new constant'

13 November 2017

British publisher Richard Charkin of Bloomsbury, on the blind spots that might keep the publishing industry from seeing what's ahead.  Read more

Penguin Random House change - Bertelsmann to buy out partner Pearson

16 January 2017

The first major publishing news of the New Year has been the announcement that Pearson, having declared a profit warning because of change and volatility in the educational market and declining sales in higher education, is intending to offload its 47% stake in Penguin Random House - and its partner Bertelsmann is keen to acquire it.  Read more

Summer (in the northern hemisphere at least)

25 July 2016

So what does summer mean for writers?  Read more

A sobering story

18 January 2016

It's a slightly demanding read, but Mike Shatzkin's latest post on The Shatzkin Files is essential reading if you want to understand the contemporary bookselling scene and how it is increasingly controlled and shaped by the huge conglomerates which dominate the web.  Read more

Subscription service Oyster hits the rocks

5 October 2015

The announcement that the subscription service Oyster is to close down has prompted a lot of ruminating on the subject of how these services work.  Read more

Penguin Random House swoops on Ehrlin's bestseller

7 September 2015

The speed with which Penguin Random House has moved to do a world English language deal for Ehrlin's bestselling picture book, The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep, is an indication of how much the big publishers are now relying on self-publishers to produce saleable books. Once the author has established a market, it's easy to see why the publishers want to jump on board.  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

Shatzkin on the future

15 June 2015

Mike Shatzkin's long piece on his blog gives an update on why the publishing business as we have known it is not going away anytime soon. Shatzkin is one of the most respected but also down-to-earth commentators on the publishing world.

Read the blog if you have the time, but if not here is a summary of what's of particular interest to authors.  Read more

Two indie publishers on how they work

25 May 2015

Independent London publishing house Atlantic has recently had a new managing director, Will Atkinson. He put forward the company's publishing philosophy very clearly in an article for Bookbrunch, which sadly is behind their paywall. It is possible however to quote what he says in his article, ‘Publishing culture and commerce':  Read more

Ebooks challenged by print books

11 May 2015

The trends on ebooks show a backwards shift. Whilst in 2012 there was a rapid shift towards ebooks, this has now reversed itself in favour of print books. To some extent this seems to be because ebooks are losing their novelty, but there's a real change in buying patterns, particularly amongst heavy readers.  Read more

Syndicate content