Latest from The Bookseller

Child’s Personal best in UK Top 50 Lee Child and Paula Hawkins gave Transworld two fiction number ones last week, with Child nabbing his 11th top spot on the Official UK Top 50 since records began.  Child’s 19th Jack Reacher book, Personal (Bantam), sold 31,994 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, shifting twice as many units through the tills as his Transworld stablemate Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train (Doubleday, 14,541 copies), the second bestselling book overall.

Kobo has 'no interest in fighting publishers' Kobo has said it has “no interest in fighting publishers”, after signing its first publishing deal with journalist Kevin Donovan for a book about Canadian radio presenter Jian Gomeshi, who is currently awaiting trial for sexual assault. The Canadian e-book retailer has signed world English language rights in print and digital to Jian Ghomeshi – Secret Life via Donovan’s agents Jesse Finkelstein and Samantha Haywood of Transatlantic Agency – in the first deal of its kind for the company.

Dead Good Books creates crime awards Penguin Random House’s crime community Dead Good Books has created six awards to be presented at this year’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival by authors including Lee Child and Val McDermid. Each award has been created in collaboration with the Dead Good Facebook community and celebrates an element in crime writing.

Carroll joins Pedigree Books Phil Carroll, former head of book buying for Sainsbury's, is joining Pedigree Books Ltd as its interim head of sales. Pedigree Books, sister company to Pedigree Dolls & Toys, publishes annuals, yearbooks, learning and seasonal activity formats for children. Carroll will join the company on Monday 4th May and will work alongside Matthew Reynolds, publishing director at Pedigree. In his new role, he will be responsible for driving forward Pedigree’s sales team across all sales channels and ranges.

Quadrille launches The Knowledge guides Quadrille is launching a new series of pocket guides aimed at "demystifying a wide and eclectic range of subjects". The series is called The Knowledge, and will be published in hardback form, priced at £10. The books will text-led and feature line illustrations, aimed at both the gift and self-purchase market. Six launch titles will be published in June, covering red wine, jazz, the periodic table, opera, whisky and stargazing, with more titles planned for 2016.

Lincolnshire library campaigners urge minister to intervene Library campaigners in Lincolnshire are continuing their fight against council cuts, submitting new evidence to the secretary of state urging them to intervene in the council's decision.

Former PA president Graham dies Former Butterworths chairman and past president of the Publishers Association Gordon Graham passed away last Friday (24th April).

Fifty Shades in Texas lawsuit A judge in Texas has ordered $10m be set aside for a potential payout to a woman who was defrauded out of royalties from the sale of Fifty Shades of Grey by E L James. The Star-Telegram reported that State District Judge Susan McCoy said Amanda Hayward, who is from Australia, should put the money into an investment fund and escrow accounts until a final accounting determines how much she may owe Jennifer Pedroza, who is from Arlington, Texas.

Germany’s Tolino launches self-publishing platform Tolino, the digital alliance run by German booksellers, has launched its own self-publishing platform. Tolino Media was created using software developed by publisher Droemer Knaur for its own self-publishing platform, Neobooks, and is aimed at rivalling Amazon. Authors using the Tolino Media earn 70% royalties of the sale price, compared to 35% if they sold their books via Amazon. Books published on Tolino are also distributed to the alliance’s bookselling partners, which include more than 1,000 online bookshops.

UK authors auction for Nepal earthquake victims Authors Louise O’Neill, Naomi Wood, Rowan Coleman and Cathy Cassidy are among the writers donating items for an auction to raise money for victims of the Nepal earthquake. The 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit Nepal on Saturday 25th April, and so far more than 5,000 people have been confirmed dead, with the UN estimating that 8m people have been affected in some way. Authors for Nepal has been set up by Surrey-based writer, Julia Williams, who also works as an editor at Harlequin.

Bright Group opens US office Bright Group International, the agency that represents children’s illustrators such as Benji Davies and Yasmeen Ismail, is opening an office in the US. The company said Bright USA, which is based in New York, “will grow exponentially over the next few years as we explore the vast and deep landscape of the US children’s publishing world”. The US office opened on Monday (27th April) and is run by managing agent Alli Brydon, a former freelance children’s book editor who will lead the acquisition of US-based authors and illustrators.

Buyer's Guide submissions close next week Submissions for The Bookseller’s Autumn Buyer’s Guide will close this week. Books with a UK publication date between July and December 2015 are eligible for inclusion. The closing date for submissions is 5pm on Friday 1st May. Amendments and new titles can also be made up to this deadline. Submissions can be made via the Buyer’s Guide website.