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News stories from the book world in May 2012

May 2012

Shock horror announcement

28 May 2012

That’s not putting too strongly the chorus of disapproval which greeted the surprise announcement from James Daunt of Waterstones that he had agreed an alliance with Amazon which would see Waterstones selling Kindles in their shops and providing wi-fi acess so that customers can browse the shop’s stock and then order ebooks on their Kindles.  Read more

Risky new model for academic publishing

21 May 2012

As if there wasn’t enough change going on in the publishing world at the moment, the British government has decided to take a hand in academic publishing, having just concluded that a new model would work better.  Read more

Pottermore not just pottering

14 May 2012

J K Rowling’s Pottermore site seems to have succeeded all expectations. The ebook store has sold £3m worth of Harry Potter ebooks in its first month. Sales appear to have been driven by pent-up demand and sales values are high because many fans are buying the complete ebook bundle, which is priced at £38.64.  Read more

Agenting in a changing world

7 May 2012

An article in a recent edition of the Bookseller focused on the London agency Conville and Walsh, a relative newcomer to the agency business but a successful one. How is the world of agenting being affected by the changes in the book world, and what impact does this have on writers?  Read more