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5 January 2015 - What's new

5 January 2015
  • We've just published our annual listing of books fairs across the world, 2015 International Book Fairs, an update on the most important fairs across the globe. Although these are mainly directed at publishers and booksellers, many also offer author events and other attractions such as festivals for the general public and also events of interest to self-publishers. As indie publishing has grown, so have the seminars and other events catering for authors who are publishing their own book. Even if you're not self-publishing, your local book fair offers a really good opportunity to see what's happening in the book world.
  • 'I became a reader overnight. I remember exactly what happened. I was 14 and went to John Menzies newsagent. Every book that had a vaguely smutty blurb I bought... The only exception to the highbrow erotica was Alan Paton's Cry the Beloved Country. I thought, "This is as boring as shit..." After 40 pages, something started to change...' Alan Warner, author of The Sopranos and Their Lips Talk of Mischief in the Independent on Sunday, quoted in our Comment column.
  • Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl has qualified for the Nielsen Book Platinum Award, achieving sales of more than 1m copies recorded by BookScan in the UK. Added to this are her huge international sales, especially after the release of the highly successful film. Gillian Flynn was the subject of our Success Story back in 2013. We have other Success Stories on a wide range of authors.
  • Our News Review this week: 'As we enter another new year it seems that the book world is becoming ever more global. Our new list of 2015 International Book Fairs brings home just how many are aspiring to international status and trying to establish themselves as attracting a truly worldwide audience of publishers, booksellers and authors...'
  • Still on an international theme, Book Aid International has just reached one million books sent to Africa in its 60th year (They say that for every £2 ($3) you give they can send a new book to Africa.)
  • This week's links are strong on year-end lists of articles on particular themes, offering the chance to read up on them if you're interested: a fascinating overview on changes in the academic publishing world, Academic publishing and scholarly communication: a status report | Harvard Magazine Jan-Feb 2015; a range of articles on children's publishing, Publishers Weekly's Top Children's Stories of 2014; so what effect are subscription services having on sales of low-priced ebooks? Ebooks in 2015: Dull new world - Tech News and Analysis; change and stability in the world of global publishers, The World's 56 Largest Book Publishers, 2014; and - related to our Book Aid International link above, Worldreader on Book Donations in the Digital Age - Publishing Perspectives.
  • 'Fiction is not a dream. Nor is it guess work. It is imagining based on facts, and the facts must be accurate or the work of imagining will not stand up.' Margaret Culkin Banning in our Writers' Quotes.