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News stories from the book world in January 2014

2014

'A pretty good year for publishers'

29 December 2014

It's been a pretty good year for publishers. Bertelsmann revenues were the highest for seven years, although admittedly its profits were down and the acquisition of Penguin is part of the mix.  Read more

Is it ghostwritten? Does it matter?

15 December 2014

There's been quite a lot of talk about ghostwriting this last week.  Read more

Two successful new writers

8 December 2014

Two extremely different but very successful novels have launched new book-writing careers.  Read more

P D James

1 December 2014

It is sad to read about the death at 94 of the highly-respected and much- loved P D James. Most people know her as an author and her body of work has given vast enjoyment to a great many people. At the age of 93, she said she wanted to write just one more crime novel.  Read more

Publishing still going strong

24 November 2014

Two interesting pieces of news from the last week show that publishing - of both the traditional and the new variety - is stronger than you might think.  Read more

Amazon and Hachette bury the hatchet

17 November 2014

It's a great relief to all parties that Hachette and Amazon have come to an amicable settlement after many months of wrangling in a dispute which has been very much in the public eye, even though it was never made public exactly what the argument was about.  Read more

Readers loyal to print

10 November 2014

Latest figures from the States suggest that readers are not parting with their print books, in spite of the growth in ebook sales, which have reached $8.5 billion in value worldwide. In the US the figures show that 23% of all male adult readers and 33% of females ones read ebooks.  Read more

Prizes, prizes and competitions

3 November 2014

The growth of literary prizes of one kind and another seems unending, although it's a pity from the point of view of unpublished writers that so many of them are restricted to books which have come from traditional publishers.  Read more

28 million books published worldwide in 2013

27 October 2014

Some encouraging publishing-related figures have emerged this week. The number of books published worldwide in 2013 was an astounding 28 million, raising the question of whether there are enough readers - and buyers - for them all. In the US there were 390,000 ISBNs for self-published books and 300,000 for trade (general) books.  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

Frankfurt: a bustling and positive Fair

13 October 2014

Frankfurt was much more ‘business as usual' than anyone might have predicted. With just a few less visitors than last year, the mood was pretty upbeat, with a lot of solid rights business being done.  Read more

All the fun of the Fair

6 October 2014

We're just coming up to the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two., which starts on Wednesday. and publishers from all over the world are about to converge on Frankfurt for the annual jamboree. It is remarkable really how well this big fair has retained its international dominance in the face of digitisation and instant communication.  Read more