Latest news from The Bookseller

Rising stars of 2015 transcend the call of duty There is one thing that all of this year’s eclectic and extensive selection of Rising Stars have in common: whatever their job and whatever area of the industry they are working in, they have all gone the extra mile. Going above and beyond the call of their nine-to-five jobs’ duties, 2015’s 39-strong list is full of movers and shakers determined to make their own way in publishing by carving out their own careers (see the full list here).

Remote e-lending hits bookshop and library footfall Pilots carried out into remote e-lending from libraries have found that e-books accounted for less than 5% of library loans, with footfall to libraries and bookshops likely to drop as digital borrowers are less likely to visit branches. A tiny proportion, less than 1% of people, used the "buy" buttons next to titles to purchase the e-book after borrowing. The research also showed that e-book borrowers tended to be more affluent and less likely to visit libraries.

Shamsie calls for 'Year of Publishing Women' Author Kamila Shamsie has suggested a 'Year of Publishing Women' to help reset the gender imbalance when it comes to published authors. Writing in this week’s issue of The Bookseller, Shamsie said the basic premise of the initiative, which she proposed would take place in 2018 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote in the UK, was that “all new titles published in that year should be written by women”.

Amazon launches kids subscription service and tablet Amazon UK has launched a subscription service for children that includes e-books, educational apps, videos and games. The company has launched the service at the same time as revealing a new Amazon Fire Tablet aimed at children, priced £119 and upwards.  The subscription service called Fire for Kids Unlimited, is aimed at children aged 3-10 years-old and is priced at £1.99 per child or £4.99 for the whole family, including up to four children, for Amazon Prime members and £3.99 and £7.99 respectively for those who aren’t Prime members.

S&S to publish memoir by Bellingham’s widower Simon & Schuster UK has acquired My Lynda, a tribute to Lynda Bellingham by her husband Michael Pattemore. Bellingham died in October after battling colon cancer. In the book, Pattemore describes how he struggled to cope with her illness and his experience of grief, both when he confronted the news of her illness and when he learned it would be terminal.

IBW launches dedicated website Independent Booksellers Week has launched a new dedicated website for the event and is encouraging people across the trade to tweet using the #giveabook and #bookaday hashtags. The new website will showcase the bookshops taking part in IBW and the events running throughout the week. Publishers are also being encouraged show support for their local independent bookshops by getting involved in The IBW Bookshop Crawl, tweeting using a #giveabook hashtag and taking over the popular #bookaday hashtag.

Waters and Guru-Murthy to judge Winton Science Prize Author Sarah Waters and Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy are among the judges for this year’s Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. The panel will be chaired by mathematician and Royal Society Fellow Ian Stewart, who co-wrote the Science of Discworld series with Terry Pratchett and Jack Cohen. Also on the judging panel are science journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Inside Science Dr Adam Rutherford, electrical engineer Dr Jo Shien Ng, and Guardian Books Editor Claire Armitstead.

Pan Mac publishes Rotherham sex abuse whistleblower Pan Macmillan has acquired an autobiography by Jayne Senior, who worked with victims of sex abuse in Rotherham and who became a whistleblower for The Times. For 14 years, Senior tried to help girls from Rotherham who had been groomed, raped, tortured, pimped and threatened with violence by sex traffickers.

Carys Davies makes Frank O'Connor shortlist A Welsh author is among six writers shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award 2015. Carys Davies' The Redemption of Galen Pike (Salt Publishing) is in the running for the €25,000 award, which is the single most lucrative in the world for a collection of short stories. Also on the shortlist is Kirsty Gunn, who is a New Zealander living in Britain. She is shortlisted for Infidelities, published by Faber. Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra makes the list for My Documents (Fitzcarraldo Editions UK).

Scottish poet Greig wins Caterpillar prize Louise Greig, a poet from Aberdeen, has won the inaugural children’s poetry prize organised by The Caterpillar. The Caterpillar, an arts and literature magazine for children based in Ireland, launched the €1,000 prize last year to find adult writers, published or unpublished, of poetry for children aged 7-11.

Railton appointed Four Colman Getty creative director Four Colman Getty has promoted Matt Railton to the new position of creative director, and has also made two appointments to its Culture team. Railton, currently account director, has been appointed to the new position of creative director. He will continue to handle projects across publishing, visual and performing arts, including projects for HarperCollins Children’s Books and the University of Dundee, but his new role will also see him working across the Culture section of the business, building on Four Colman Getty’s creative and digital offer.

Faber backs Sheers with free sampler campaign Faber is running its biggest ever sampler campaign in support of Owen Sheers’ second novel I Saw a Man. The publisher will print 300,000 chapter samples to be given out with copies of the Daily Telegraph tomorrow (Saturday 6th June), with a discount code for the Faber website. The sampler will also include information about Sheers, and a link to read an extended extract online. The book is currently BBC Radio 4’s “Book at Bedtime”. Film4 has optioned film rights.