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News stories from the book world in July 2006

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July 2006

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Libraries still under threat

31 July 2006

It has become a cliché to say that UK libraries, in common with those in many parts of the developed world, are in crisis, but there have been many signs this year that the crisis is deepening. David Lammy, the new Minister for Culture, indicated at first that he would intervene directly to stop library closures. He now seems to have realised the size of the task and pulled back.  Read more

Dog days for the chains

24 July 2006

The bookshop chains continue to report poor sales figures on both sides of the Atlantic. In the US Borders have just forecast a higher than expected loss for their second quarter, blaming it in part on retiring CEO Greg Josefowicz's pay package. They also announced lower sales in the US and a steep decline in sales at their UK company.   Read more

Random House bags BBC Books

17 July 2006

This week's announcement that Random House UKPenguin Random House have more than 50 creative and autonomous imprints, publishing the very best books for all audiences, covering fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children’s books, autobiographies and much more. Click for Random House UK Publishers References listing has acquired a majority stake in BBC Books brings to an end several years of negotiation and rumour. Although it has achieved a recent return to profitability, the BBC has never managed to make the kind of profits on its publishing that its roster of household name authors, and domination of the TV tie-in field, should have produced.   Read more

Success with number seven

10 July 2006

Emma Darwin is about to get published, at last. Her first novel, The Mathematics of Love, will be coming out from Headline Review in the UK in the autumn.  Read more

Celebrating Africa

3 July 2006

Just as Bob Geldof is pointing the finger at countries which pledged aid to Africa last year but have failed to deliver on their promises, the success of the inaugural Cape Town Book Fair has provided an encouraging signal for the book world. 10,000 tickets were initially printed but on the first day of the Fair word spread quickly that a reprint had been ordered and final numbers of vis  Read more