Skip to Content

News stories from the book world in May 2005

May 2005

Web sales take off

30 May 2005

Last month figures were released which showed that in the UK internet shopping overtook purchases from mail order catalogues for the first time. Last Christmas web sales in Britain rose by 20% over the previous year to £3 billion. In the US the trend is changing even faster and the comparative figure was 28%.  Read more

How good's your spelling?

23 May 2005

Email may in the long run spell the death of formal communication, but in the short term it really tests out your ability to spell. Most of us have experienced the irritation of emails bouncing back because of something misspelled in the address line.  Read more

New deal for authors

16 May 2005

The British publisher Macmillan’s New Writing initiative may have been missed by those who don’t read either the Guardian or the Bookseller, but it does present an interesting comment on the current state of publishing. Macmillan will look at directly submitted manuscripts and from them choose a small number of books to publish on the new list.  Read more

Google Print under attack

9 May 2005

There are growing signs of concern amongst UK publishers and authors about the Google Print project reported on in News Review 10 18 October 2004.  Read more

Children's books go global at Bologna

2 May 2005

The recent Bologna Children's Book FairThe Bologna Children's Book Fair or La fiera del libro per ragazzi is the leading professional fair for children's books in the world. has focused attention once again on fast-paced international growth in the children's book market.  Read more