Latest news from The Bookseller

Retailers praise 'excellent' Man Booker longlist Retailers have praised the 2015 Man Booker Prize longlist as “excellent” and containing a “rather lovely mix” of publishers. However literary agent David Godwin has said the dominance of US writers on the list means people's “worst fears have come to pass”. The longlist was announced yesterday (29th), and features established writers alongside debut authors. Blantern promises library data improvement The chair of the Leadership for Libraries task force has promised to look into how better data can be provided on library numbers and usage, following arguments on whether the number of children using libraries has gone up or down.   Goldsmiths to launch 'inventive' university press Goldsmiths, University of London is preparing to launch Goldsmiths Press, a new university press built on digital-first publishing, and interested in unconventional projects traditionally excluded by publishers. Dooré to replace Espiner at Borough Press Suzie Dooré is to move from Hodder & Stoughton to HarperCollins, replacing Katie Espiner as publishing director of The Borough Press. Dooré has been at Hodder & Stoughton for nearly 10 years, publishing literary commercial fiction for both Hodder and its literary imprint Sceptre. She has worked with authors including Chris Cleave, Erin Kelly and Tom Rachman. Prior to Hodder she was the head fiction buyer for Waterstones for three years, and before that an editor and buyer on QPD, BCA’s literary book club. Cowell's 'sadness' at Dragon series end Cressida Cowell has said she was “sad” to bring the How to Train a Dragon series to a close with How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury (September, Hodder), adding that it was also “very difficult” to tie up all the ends. In the book, the hero of the series Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III must battle to defeat Alvin the Treacherous to become king. Hogarth pre-empts Caine Prize winner's novel Hogarth in the UK and US have pre-empted world rights to an “astonishing” debut by 2015 Caine Prize winner Namwali Serpell. Poppy Hampson, editorial director at Chatto & Windus and Hogarth UK, bought world rights to The Old Drift in a “major” joint acquisition with Alexis Washam, executive editor, Crown and Hogarth US. Rights were acquired from PJ Mark and Will Francis at Janklow & Nesbit. Game of Thrones app from HC UK HarperCollins UK has teamed up with George R R Martin and digital product studio Reason to produce a new Game of Thrones app. Released today (30th July), the free app is designed as a "bridge product" for fans of the TV series who have not yet read the books. The app asks users where they are in the storyline and then offers them a spoiler-free selection of over 40 extracts from across the books, along with maps and introductions from the very first battle of the series to the infamous "Red Wedding" scenes. 'Newsnight' explores LGBT YA Authors James Dawson and Julie Mayhew yesterday (29th July) celebrated the increase in LGBT characters in YA novels in an episode of BBC2's "Newsnight". 'Conscious Uncoupling' divorce book to Yellow Kite Yellow Kite has acquired a book about divorce by the woman who coined the phrase “conscious uncoupling”, used by actress Gwyneth Paltrow to describe her separation from musician Chris Martin. Publisher Liz Gough bought UK and Commonwealth rights to Katherine Woodward Thomas’s Conscious Uncoupling from Lance Fitzgerald, v.p. and director of subsidiary rights at the Crown Publishing Group. Woodward Thomas offers a five-step blueprint for how people can navigate a breakup with honour and respect. Amazon 'to strike NY education e-book deal' Amazon is poised to strike a deal with New York’s Department of Education to create an “e-book marketplace” for 1,800 public schools, according to reports. Capital New York has reported that the deal, worth $34.5m, will be one of the department’s "most expensive" contracts and will create the department’s first unified e-book storefront. World Book Night is 'catalyst for change' World Book Night is a “catalyst for change”, with many recipients of books “motivated to change their reading habits by their interactions with volunteers”, according to research commissioned by The Reading Agency, which runs the event. The annual event sees individuals and institutions hand out books to people who do not usually read for pleasure. This year 250,000 books of 20 specially printed World Book Night titles were given out. Kobo in Mexico book chain partnership Two Mexican book chains have partnered with Kobo to create a new e-book reading service called Orbile. Kobo will power the e-bookstore for both publisher and retailer Libreria Porrúa, which has nearly 70 bookstores in Mexico and, chain Gandhi, which has 30 stores. While the two retailers are competitors in other areas of business, they have jointly created Orbile, powered by Kobo, to offer a “unified e-reading service to Mexican readers.”