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The theme of the International Digital Publishing Forum
conference on day one at Book Expo in New York was “Putting Readers First,”
but whether power has shifted from publishers and retailers to readers -
asserted in a keynote by Canelo Publishing’s Michael Bhaskar - was quickly
challenged by Bloomsbury c.e.o. Richard Charkin, who says it “has
transferred to authors.”
For Charkin, the author is “our fundamental customer, and the
next few years will be all about looking after the author. We’ve got a long
way to go.” |
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Narrowly denied the top spot in the previous week’s charts,
David Nicholls has bounced back to claim pole position in UK Official Top
50 with his seventh overall number one. |
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Watermark Books in King’s Cross is to shut at the end of July.
In announcing the closure Farah Taylor, buyer and manager of
Watermark Books, also warned the government it needed to review business
rates for small businesses.
Watermark is closing so its parent company Lagardere Services
Travel Retail UK & Ireland can “concentrate on building its duty free
and fashion businesses”, said Taylor. Relay, a convenience store in Cannon
Street train station, also run by LS Travel, will also shut. Both shops
will close their doors on 31st July. |
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German writer and director Jenny Erpenbeck has won the 2015
Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for The
End of Days (Portobello Books), translated by Susan Bernofsky,
in the prize’s 25th anniversary year.
Erpenbeck and Bernofsky were presented with the £10,000 award,
which they will share, at a ceremony supported by Champagne Taittinger at
the Royal Institute of British Architects this evening (Wednesday 27th
May). |
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Anthony Horowitz’s forthcoming James Bond novel will be called Trigger Mortis
(Orion), and the book will see the return of iconic Bond Girl Pussy Galore.
Plot details for the book have also been revealed today (28th
May), on what would have been James Bond creator Ian Fleming’s 107th
birthday.
It is the first time the plot of a new Bond novel has been
revealed ahead of publication. |
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University College London will next week launch UCL Press, the
first “fully Open Access university press in the UK”.
The in-house publishing arm, which will launch on 4th June,
will focus on scholarly monographs, textbooks and journals. It will make
all its books, journals and monographs freely available online, “creating a
diverse and accessible global knowledge resource”. |
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The government is to introduce a new enterprise bill which it
says will cut £10bn of red tape, modernise the business rates appeal
system, and help small businesses to resolve disputes faster.
The bill was announced today (27th May) in the Queen’s Speech. |
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Publishing Technology’s results for 2014 are “disappointing”,
the company’s chairman Martyn Rose has said, but “highlight the degree of
change” the firm has undergone.
Results reported for the publishing software and services
company show gross revenues were £14.4m in 2014, down 15% from £16.9m in
2013, while gross profit was £1.6m in 2014, down 72% from £5.8m in 2013.
The company made a pre-tax loss of £4m, compared to a profit of £0.7m in
2013.
In his report Rose said that 2014 was “a year of considerable
change in our business”. |
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SAGE has purchased Pion Limited, an independent publisher of
academic journals.
The sale, which was brokered by Bertoli Mitchell LLP, was
announced jointly by chairman for Pion, David Cohen and Ziyad Marar, SAGE’s
global publishing director. The acquisition results in Pion’s entire
publishing portfolio becoming a part of SAGE’s journal program. |
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Oxford University Press has chosen hashtag as its ‘children’s
word of the year’ because of its significant use in the 500 Words 2015
competition.
The 500 Words competition was launched by presenter Chris
Evans on the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2011, and is for stories of 500
words or less by children aged 13 and under. Every year Oxford University
Press analyses the stories children write for its competition to track
changes in vocabulary. |
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Debbie Hicks has been appointed as creative director of The
Reading Agency, charged with delivering the goals set out in the charity's
2015-2018 business plan.
Hicks, a founder member of the Reading Agency, will start in
the role in July 2015. She will also continue to be the strategic lead for
the Reading Well: Books on Prescription programme, though stepping away
from the day to day management of the scheme. |
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Yorkshire-based indie publisher Bluemoose Books will move into
independent bookshop The Bookcase in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire for Independent
Bookshop Week (20-27th June). |
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