Latest from The Bookseller including Trade welcomes E L James surprise

Perfect 10 for Keyes’ ‘Woman’ Marian Keyes has notched her tenth UK Official Top 50 number one, returning to the pole position for the first time in over two years.   Keyes’ The Woman Who Stole My Life (Penguin) sold 24,139 copies through Nielsen BookScan’s Total Consumer Market, an impressive 27% rise on its first week sales. She bumps David Nicholls from number one after his one-week reign with Us (Hodder) which had a week on week volume decline of 22.7% selling 19,195 units and dropping to third. Trade welcomes E L James surprise Booksellers have welcomed a new title in the Fifty Shades of Grey series but have mixed opinions on how well a fourth book will sell.  News there would be a new title in the series told from Christian Grey's perspective and entitled Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as told by Christian broke yesterday (1st June) via author E L James’ Twitter account, and was a surprise to retailers, even though the book’s release date is set for 18th June, in just over two weeks’ time.  MUP buys politics books contracted to Bloomsbury Manchester University Press (MUP) has acquired 58 titles in politics and sociology which had been scheduled to appear with Bloomsbury. Earlier this year, Bloomsbury Academic announced it would no longer be commissioning books in the fields of politics, international relations or sociology as it looked to focus on other areas in the humanities and social sciences. Novels from female perspective miss out on major awards Books written by women or men from the perspective of a female character are less likely to win major literary awards than books written from a male perspective or about men, research by author Nicola Griffith has found. Griffith analysed the last 15 years of winners for six fiction awards – the Man Booker Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the Hugo Award, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics’ Award, and the Newbery Medal. Toby Eady Associates bought by David Higham Literary agency David Higham will incorporate Toby Eady Associates, following an acquisition of the business. Toby Eady Associates was set up by Eady in 1968, and represents authors including Bernard Cornwell, Rachel Seiffert and John Carey. Under the new arrangement, Eady will continue to work independently, looking after English-language rights to his authors' work, while utilising David Higham's resources in film, TV and translation markets. Ansip: 'vested interests will fight us on copyright reform' "Vested interests" profiting only a few will attempt to hold up the reform of copyright, Andrus Ansip, vice president for the digital single market (DSM) at the European Commission, has said. Speaking at the European Digital Forum in Brussels yesterday (1st June), Ansip said that copyright rules in Europe are a “mess”, and “we need to act with some urgency” to reform them. He also said that people “were tempted into illegal downloads” because they could not access their content when they went abroad. Blackwell's Oxford holds 'Empathy Festival' Blackwell’s Oxford is holding what it is calling the first ever Empathy Festival from 5th-12th June. The company’s flagship bookshop will host five events over five days on the subject of empathy in conjunction with Roman Krznaric, author of Empathy: Why it Matters and How To Get It (Rider). The festival will look at why 98% of people have the ability to empathise but very few fulfil their empathic potential. Nosy Crow series tops one million sales mark Nosy Crow has said it has broken the one million sales mark for the first time with its The Rescue Princess series, written by author Paula Harrison and illustrated by Sharon Tancredi. The publisher has sold almost 10,000 copies of the books in the UK through Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market. The vast majority of the remaining sales were of export sales in other countries, and very small number of e-books. Ebury signs Del Boy 'memoir' Ebury Publishing will publish the "autobiography" of “Only Fools and Horses” character Derek ‘Del Boy’ Trotter, titled He Who Dares. Kelly Ellis, senior commissioning editor, acquired world rights in all languages from the John Sullivan estate. The comedy character, a South London entrepreneur, was portrayed in the long-running BBC sitcom by actor David Jason. Blink signs Amy Childs memoir Blink Publishing has singed a book by TV star Amy Childs, who first appeared on ITV2’s “The Only Way is Essex”. The book will recount Childs’ rise to fame and her business career. Blink’s acquisitions director Clare Tillyer bought world rights to the book from The Can Group. John Murray publishes 'Natural Histories' tie-in John Murray is to publish Natural Histories, a book of a major BBC Radio 4 series which begins today (2nd June). "Natural Histories" is a weekly series, presented by wildlife expert Brett Westwood, which explores the stories of 25 “unexpected species that have managed to get under the skin of human society and change the way we see the world”. The series is a partnership between Radio 4 and the Natural History Museum. The book will be written by Brett and Stephen Moss, who wrote Tweet of the Day (John Murray) and is scheduled for October. LBBYR acquires debut by script developer Clarke Little Brown Books for Young Readers (LBBYR) has acquired the debut children’s novel by Ed Clarke, head of film and television at Shoebox Films. Rowan and the Heart of Oak is a fiction title about fairies and how a girl deals with the disappearance of her mother. One day Rowan runs away to London’s Hyde Park where, underneath a beech tree, her tears open up a world of fairy clans. Walker to publish non-fiction series Walker Books has acquired a children’s non-fiction series that helps children explore science, maths, politics and geography through football. The books are written by Alex Bellos and Ben Lyttleton and the first, The Football Academy, will be published in hardback in September 2016.