PA six-month figures: fiction and digital up, overall sales down Publishers Association (PA) figures for the first six months of 2020 have provided context and to some extent qualification to strong recent financial reports from Bloomsbury, Hachette, HarperCollins & Simon Schuster. While the publishers all posted rises in sales and profits, the PA has reported…
Indie bookshops respond to second lockdown Following the announcement of a second lockdown, independent bookshops had to close their physical doors again from Thursday 5 November. Thankfully, many are prepared for it, as a result of their experiences earlier in the year – and a number are also using Bookshop.org to boost sales. We talked…
Bookshop.org starts trading in the UK More than 150 independent bookshops have signed up to Bookshop.org, the independent-friendly online bookseller that began trading in the US earlier this year (see BookBrunch stories here and here). The number is a 50% increase on that reported by Bookshop.org founder Andy Hunter to the Independent Publishers Guild conference…
Royal Mint launches first children’s books The Royal Mint and Owlet Press have unveiled a new partnership to publish a series of children’s books bringing the story of the Tooth Fairy to life ‘and revealing her long-standing collaboration with the original coin maker.’ The deal, brokered by The Royal Mint and Samuel Langley-Swain, author and…
Bookswap launches in the UK Estonian start-up BookSwap launches in the UK this month. Described as a ‘new, more sustainable way to enjoy reading’, the service enables people to swap the books they no longer want with other users. Founder Peeter Kruusvall said: “We all have tons of books in our homes.…
Between the Covers airs on BBC2 The first episode of Between the Covers, Cactus TV’s new book programme, aired on BBC2 on Friday evening (9 October). In the popular style of Cactus’ previous productions, among them the influential Richard and Judy Book Club, Between the Covers was hosted by broadcaster Sara Cox (right), and featured…
Carcanet ‘delighted’ as Louise Glück wins Nobel Prize for Literature Poet Louise Glück has been announced as the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2020. Born in 1943 in New York, she now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where alongside her writing she is a professor of English at Yale University. She debuted in…
Booker moves prizegiving to avoid Obama clash The 2020 Booker Prize winner announcement will now take place from the Roundhouse on Thursday 19 November, rather than on the previously announced date of 17 November. This decision has been taken to avoid a clash with the publication of Barack Obama’s memoirs, A Promised Land (Viking). Gaby…
Britannica Books launches in October New reference imprint Britannica Books is launching on 1 October 2020 with the Britannica All New Children’s Encyclopaedia, edited by Christopher Lloyd. It is the first encyclopaedia printed with Encyclopaedia Britannica in a generation, and is followed by 5-Minute Really True Stories for Bedtime, released in illustrated hardback and audiobook…
Americans dominate Booker shortlist The shortlist for the 2020 Booker was revealed at lunchtime today, with five American or American-based authors on the six-strong list, which also features four debuts. The full shortlist is: – Diane Cook (USA) with The New Wilderness (Oneworld Publications) – Tsitsi Dangarembga (Zimbabwe) with This Mournable Body (Faber & Faber)…