Latest book news from The Bookseller

James ties down second consecutive number one, half-year market gains E L James’ Grey had its second straight 300,000-plus weekly print sale—pushing the book's combined UK e-book and physical sales over the 1 million unit mark—while the overall British print books market has experienced its first half-year rise in seven years.

Apple loses e-book price fixing appeal Apple did conspire with publishers in the US to fix the prices of e-books, an appeal court has found. The technology company had appealed against an earlier decision by Judge Denise Cote, who said that Apple and publishers were guilty of conspiring to raise the prices of e-books Apple appealed the decision and yesterday the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Cote's decision.

Targeting newspaper reviews is "blinkered" It is "incredibly blinkered" to only target traditional newspaper reviews for books, The Pool c.e.o. and co-founder Sam Baker has said. Speaking at The Bookseller's Marketing and Publicity conference yesterday (30th June), Baker also admonished the industry for its obsession with the hardback, saying that publishers needed to "remember real people buy paperbacks".

Amazon launches one-hour London delivery Amazon UK has launched Prime Now in London, which will allow customers in the capital to receive purchases within one hour of ordering them. Only Amazon Prime members are eligible for the service, in a further move to encourage customers to sign up to the £79-a-year membership.

Fenwick:'authors have best reader knowledge' Authors are not used enough in marketing and publicity by publishers, writer Liz Fenwick has claimed. Speaking at The Bookseller's Marketing and Publicity conference Fenwick, who is published by Orion, said that she thought in general publishers did not speak enough to authors, or on a regular enough basis. "Most authors are interacting with our readers on a daily basis," she said, meaning that authors know their readers best.

Canelo reveals first signings A complex thriller set in China, a detective drama set in Catalan and new take on Sherlock Holmes are the first three titles to be released by new digital publisher Canelo. The digital-only start-up, founded by former Profile digital publisher Michael Bhaskar and former Quercus employees Iain Miller and Nick Barreto has already signed 30 titles since its creation in January, with the first three titles to be released next week on 13th July.

Alison Morrison's killer jailed for life Trevor Gibbon, who was found guilty of murdering former children's publisher Alison Morrison, has been jailed for life. Gibbon was convicted of Morrison's murder last week. He stabbed her dozens of times as she walked to work in Harrow in December 2014. The attack happened shortly after Morrison had obtained a restraining order against Gibbon, who had been harassing her family.

Quercus wins three at CWA Awards Christopher Fowler and Pierre Lamaitre are among the winners of this year's Crime Writer's Association's (CWA) Dagger Awards, with Quercus taking home the most awards for its authors. At a ceremony last night where the winners of the Daggers were revealed, the CWA also announced the shortlists for three further awards, The Goldsboro Gold Dagger, The John Creasy (New Blood) Dagger, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. The CWA also announced it would be launching a new scheme called Dagger Reads, more details of which are due to be revealed later this month.

PA 'busts myths' on copyright The Publishers Association has released a paper "Copyright and the Digital Single Market: Busting the Myths" intended to expose "major myths and inaccuracies" around copyright and the digital single market.

Ilfeld replaces Spackman as Watkins m.d James Spackman, former managing director of Watkins Media [pictured], has left the company to concentrate on agenting and publishing for cycling books. He will be placed in his role by the owner, US entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld. Spackman was appointed as Watkins m.d in June 2012, leaving his position as sales and trade marketing director in Hodder to do so.

Scribd makes cuts to romance in its catalogue Scribd has announced to publishers and distributors that it is "making some adjustments, particularly to romance" in its $8.99-per-month ebook subscription service.

New policy/comms teams at Springer Nature In the first staff announcement following completion of the merger to create Springer Nature, the setting-up of a new global policy and external relations team and a new communications team, also with global responsibility, has been announced.