Latest book news from The Bookseller including Watchman calls time on Grey, debuts at number one in UK

Watchman calls time on Grey, debuts at number one Harper Lee soared to the top of the UK Top 50 with the release of Go Set A Watchman (William Heinemann), selling 168,455 copies last week and earning over £1.8m. This is the author’s first number one since Nielsen BookScan records began in 1998 and her highest-ever single week sales. The much-anticipated follow-up to To Kill A Mockingbird (Arrow) became the first Original Fiction title to sell more than 100,000 units in a single week since Dan Brown’s Inferno (Bantam) in May 2013.

Simon Johnson joins Amazon Former HarperCollins managing director Simon Johnson has begun a new role at Amazon. Amazon confirmed to The Bookseller Johnson had been recruited as its director of seller services, beginning earlier this month. Amazon’s seller services is its third party marketplace arm, which allows businesses or individuals to trade on the Amazon website. The seller services businesses accounts for 44% of products sold globally on Amazon websites and tens of thousands of UK companies trade on the platform in the UK, including booksellers.

Spider's Web plot details revealed Maclehose Press has today (22nd July) released the first plot details for David Lagercrantz’s The Girl in the Spider’s Web, a continuation of Stieg Larsson’s bestselling Millennium series. The book has been under a global embargo, and centres on characters Lisbeth Salander, the hacker who gave the series’ first book its title – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – and on journalist Mikael Blomkvist.

'True original' Doctorow dies US novelist E L Doctorow has died at the age of 84. Doctorow, known for works including Ragtime (Penguin Modern Classics) and The March (Abacus), passed away yesterday in New York from complications from lung cancer, his son told the New York Times.

Sam Allardyce to publish autobiography Football manager Sam Allardyce’s autobiography will be published this autumn by Headline. Non-fiction publishing director Jonathan Taylor bought world rights to Big Sam: My Autobiography from Mark Curtis at Select Management. Allardyce spent almost 20 years as a player, and 25 years as a coach manager. He has managed clubs including Blackpool, Bolton, Newcastle United and most recently West Ham United. Allardyce’s contract with West Ham United was not renewed at the end of the 2014/15 football season.

Milton leaves Orion Orion General m.d. Lisa Milton has officially left the company. Earlier this year, Orion Publishing Group’s parent company Hachette UK announced major changes in senior management at the publisher. Orion c.e.o. David Young will retire at the end of the year, with Little, Brown c.e.o. David Shelley adding Young’s role to his portfolio.

Vaizey to launch wi-fi pilot scheme today Culture minister Ed Vaizey will today (22nd July) officially launch a pilot scheme by BT and Barclays to give free wi-fi to up to 100 libraries and community centres across the country. The pilot scheme will run for two years, and as well as free wi-fi there will also be hands-on digital support from Barclays Digital Eagles and BT Digital Friends, who are specially trained and will give free advice. Vaizey will launch the scheme at Nunhead Library in Southwark, London, later today.

Haig title sells for six figures in US Random House Children's Books US has bought the rights to Matt Haig’s upcoming Christmas book, A Boy Called Christmas, for a six-figure sum from Canongate.

HMH US reaches new sales agreement with Amazon US educational and trade publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has reportedly reached a new e-book sales agreement with Amazon. Publishers Lunch reported that the publisher “looks to be working with a modified form of agency across their e-book accounts now”, although Houghton Mifflin Harcourt declined to discuss its retailer terms.

Octopus signs Instagram 'sensation' Unspirational Octopus Publishing Group’s Cassell imprint has commissioned a book by Instagram “sensation” Unspirational. Commissioning editor Hannah Knowles acquired world English rights to Texts From Your Ex from Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein, on behalf of Foundry Literary + Media.

Baddiel pens second children’s book HarperCollins Children’s Books will publish The Person Controller, the second children’s book from author and comedian David Baddiel. Illustrated by Jim Field, the book is about Fred and Ellie and will be published this October. Baddiel said: “If you’ve ever played a video game and thought ‘yeah, it’s fun… but it’d be better if that was actually me, leaping through space, or building enormous towers in blocks out of the ground, or beating the entire Real Madrid team to score a goal” - The Person Controller might be for you’.”

Waterstones to introduce contactless payment Waterstones will roll out contactless payment across its estate “shortly” following a successful trial. The company has trialled the payment method – whereby customers don’t need to ender their debit or credit card pins – recently in a small number of stores, which proved successful. It will now shortly roll the payment method out to its other stores across the UK. WH Smith began introducing contactess payment at some of its travel stores in late 2012.