Latest News from The Bookseller

Hachette UK results show Ferguson fall-off Hachette UK finished 2014 with a net sales decline of 10% in the final quarter, compared to the same period in 2013 which saw Sir Alex Ferguson claim the Christmas number one, according to annual results released by French parent company Lagardere. Across 2014 as a whole, Hachette UK saw a sales downturn of 4.6%. Lagardere attributed the fall to the impact of a strong 2013 "which had gained from the exceptional success of Sir Alex Ferguson's autobiography as well as The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith".

Faber and Granta power Folio Prize shortlist Independent publishers have come out on top in the shortlist for the 2015 Folio Prize for Fiction, with Faber and Granta getting three books each on the list. Faber’s three titles are All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews, about sisters, suicide and how to carry on after grief; Family Life by Akhil Sharma, about a boy torn between duty and survival; and Outline by Rachel Cusk, about a female writer.

Four indies shut up shop Four independent bookshops are closing their bricks and mortar stores after nearly 200 years in business collectively. The Ian Allan Bookshop in Cardiff’s Royal Arcade is set to close at the end of this week after nearly 130 years of a bookshop in business on that site, including a Blackwell’s which vacated in 2002. For the last 12 years, it has been occupied by Ian Allan Bookshop, which sold specialist transport and military history titles.

Walker dominates Carnegie and Greenaway longlists Walker Books is the publisher with the most books on the longlists for this year’s CILIP Carnegie and Kate Greenaway awards, with four books listed for the Carnegie and six for the Kate Greenaway (full longlist below). Walker’s Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman, Hello Darkness by Anthony McGowan, More Than This by Patrick Ness and Trouble by Non Pratt are all on the longlist for the 2015 CILIP Carnegie Medal.

Holroyde leaves Caroline Sheldon agency Agent Penny Holroyde is leaving the Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency after nearly a decade at the end of this week. Holroyde, will leave on Friday (13th February) to start a new venture, details of which she will reveal in the spring.  In her 10 years at the Caroline Sheldon agency, Holroyde worked with authors such as Thomas Doherty, Tom Avery and Jenni Desmond.

Folio Holdings Board to assume Gavron's role The non-executive Folio Holdings Board is to assume responsibility for the role the late Lord Gavron played as Chairman of The Folio Society, it has been confirmed. Gavron died this weekend at the age of 84.

BBC changes ending of Casual Vacancy The BBC has changed the “bleak” ending of J K Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy for its TV adaptation, due to be screened this month. Screenwriter Sarah Phelps told the Telegraph that she had had to come up with a redemptive ending for the story, set in the fictional village of Pagford.

Karen Joy Fowler novel to Serpent's Tail Serpent’s Tail is to bring out a novel by Karen Joy Fowler, Sister Noon, which appeared in the US in 2002 but which has never been published in the UK before. The indie publisher had success last autumn with Fowler’s Man Booker Prize-shortlisted novel We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, which has now sold 198,626 copies through Nielsen BookScan.

Riddell, Scheffler contribute to freedom of speech title Illustrators such as Chris Riddell [pictured], Axel Scheffler and Peter Sís have contributed to a book defending freedom of speech after the terror attack on Charlie Hebdo in France. The book will be published on the 12th February by German children’s publisher Aladin and is entitled Illustrators Defend Freedom of Speech, or Zeichner Verteidigen Die Meinungs Freiheit in German.

Two novels from Jacqueline Wilson in 2015 Bestselling children’s author Jacqueline Wilson will publish two new novels this year, including a contemporary re-imagining of the classic Victorian novel What Katy Did. First to be published will be The Butterfly Club, Wilson’s 101st book, about a triplet who lives in the shadows of her two sisters. It will be published under the Doubleday imprint on the 12th February.

Uncertain winner for management book award A book that urges managers to embrace uncertainty has been named the overall winner of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) Management Book of the Year competition. Not Knowing by Steven D’Souza and Diana Renner (LID Publishing) received the top honour (£5,000) in a ceremony at the British Library last night (9th February), after also winning in the Commuter’s Read category.

Gillian Anderson joins Oscar's First Book judges Actress Gillian Anderson will be on the judging panel for this year’s Oscar’s First Book Prize, which awards the best first book for children aged five or under published in 2014. The £5,000 prize was set up by the Evening Standard last year in memory of Oscar Ashton, the son of the paper’s executive editor and columnist James Ashton, who died in 2012 at the age of three-and-a-half from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It is sponsored by Waitrose.