Latest book news from The Bookseller

LATEST NEWS Moran and Ebury top the bestseller charts The paperback of Caitlin Moran’s fiction debut How to Build a Girl is the UK’s 11th number one of 2015, earning the author her first UK bestseller and her publisher Ebury its first Fiction number one.  Avon's Ridding moves to Head of Zeus Caroline Ridding, publisher of the Avon imprint at HarperCollins, is to join Head of Zeus in August to set up a new fiction imprint. The new HoZ imprint, to be called Aria, will publish original, full-length mass-market fiction from new and established authors, predominantly in e-book format.  HoZ c.e.o. Amanda Ridout has worked with Ridding before, starting Avon with her in 2007. The publisher said Ridding – who was previously book buyer for Tesco - had built Avon into "a multi-million pound business with generous double-digit profit margins". Connect Books: sales drop but business 'stabilising' Connect Books has delivered a “much improved” operational performance in the last six months, although sales were down 3% to £103.4m. The Norwich-based company, which comprises Bertrams, Dawson Books and Wordery, also saw its underlying operational profit decrease by 18.6% to £1.9m compared to £2.3m in the first half of 2014. Nigella and Hairy Bikers back on BBC TV Nigella Lawson will return to television this autumn with a BBC TV series to accompany her latest cookery book, Simply Nigella: Food to Nourish Body & Soul (Chatto & Windus), BBC2 controller Kim Shillinglaw announced yesterday (21st April), as part of a raft of new programming for the channel. The Hairy Bikers, Mary Beard and Brian Cox will also be back. The new Lawson series, "Simply Nigella", is her first for the BBC since "Nigelissima" in 2012, and will air in the autumn.   Tesco reports £6.4bn loss Tesco has reported the worst results in its history – registering a pre-tax loss of £6.4bn in the last year.  The UK supermarket, a big vendor of books, and currently being investigated by the Serious Fraud Office after it overstated its half-year profit forecast last August by £263m, sustained £4.7bn of it losses due to a fall in the property value of its UK stores. Débuts strong on Orwell shortlist Three début authors have made the shortlists for this year’s Orwell Prize for political writing. Welsh joins World Book Night line-up Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh is taking part in World Book Night tomorrow (23rd April), joining writers such as Lynda La Plante and David Almond at an event at London’s Shaw Theatre. Welsh, whose latest novel A Decent Ride was published this month by Jonathan Cape, will discuss his reading journey and the books that have inspired him. Child, Galbraith, King on Crimefest shortlists Lee Child, Robert Galbraith, Stephen King and Anthony Horowitz are among the authors shortlisted for the 2015 Crimefest Awards. Picador dips in The Pool for Klaussmann launch Picador is partnering with new women’s website The Pool to mark the publication of Liza Klaussmann's new novel, Villa America, while celebrating the launch of the site. The Pool was recently founded by women’s magazine editor Sam Baker and presenter Lauren Laverne, and provides varied content aimed at women in regular slots throughout the day. Villa America is being serialised nightly this week on the site with the audio reading also available.  Second Hemsley cookbook for Ebury Ebury Press has acquired a second cookbook from Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley, titled Good + Simple. The deal for UK and Commonwealth rights was done by Lizzy Gray, editorial director at Ebury Press, and Cathryn Summerhayes from WME, with Doris Cooper at Clarkson Potter picking up North American rights. Ebury published the Hemsley sisters’ first cookbook, The Art of Eating Well, in June 2014. It has sold 70,434 copies through Nielsen BookScan to date. App for Granta magazine Flagship literary publication Granta is aiming to improve its digital offering with a new app and an improved search function on the website. The app, which is currently being developed by software development company Dogfi.sh, will allow readers to download the magazine directly onto a mobile phone or tablet. Dogfi.sh has also improved the website’s navigability to help readers find stories or discover new writers. BBC TV adaptations for Billingham The BBC has commissioned two TV series based on books by crime writer Mark Billingham, the author revealed on “BBC Breakfast” this morning (21st April).