Latest News from The Bookseller

Audiobooks making the right noises
Publishers react to evolving aural markets
After years of being tipped as the publishing industry’s “next big thing”, audio has finally arrived. According to Publishers Assocation statistics, the digital audio market rose nearly 25% in 2014 to £10m of invoiced sales—actual value sales would be far higher. Invoiced sales have jumped 170% since the start of the decade.

Printing error hits 'limited' Harper Lee stock
A "limited number" of copies of Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman (William Heinemann) have been found to contain a printing error, with Penguin Random House's printer Clays having to print replacement stock.
Copies affected by the technical fault at Clays have two lines missing on each of six pages towards the end of the book.


Hilary wins Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year award
Debut author Sarah Hilary has scooped the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award for Someone Else’s Skin (Headline).
Hilary was presented with the award by title sponsor Simon Theakston and broadcaster Mark Lawson at the opening night of the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival this evening in (16th July) in Harrogate.
She beat off stiff competition from a shortlist of six, whittled down from a longlist of 18 titles published by British and Irish authors over the last year.


PRH Children’s to release app as The Twits turn 35
Penguin Random House Children’s and the Roald Dahl Literary Estate will next week release the first ever Dahl app.
Twit or Miss is based on The Twits. Developed with Aardman Digital for children aged six to 11, it is a “food fight” game in which players have to swipe food away from the sleeping Mrs Twit and into Mr Twit’s beard to score points. There are an unlimited number of levels, but if players wake Mrs Twit she will hit Mr Twit with her stick, a move that signals the end of the game.


Barr amnesia book to PRH in “six-figure” deal
Penguin Random House UK Children's has acquired a teen book by Emily Barr in a six-figure deal.
Editorial director Ruth Knowles bought world rights to The One Memory of Flora Banks, along with a second stand-alone novel, from Lauren Pearson at Curtis Brown.
The book is about Flora, a teenage girl who lives with anterograde amnesia -  which involves inability to remember information encountered after its onset -and has to re-remember her life several times each day.


Amazon breaks global sales record on Prime Day
Amazon said sales during its first ever Prime Day broke global records, receiving 398 orders per second across Prime-eligible countries.

Sales on 15th July or Prime Day – when the retailer offered heavy discounts to encourage shoppers to sign up to Amazon Prime membership – were 18% higher than Black Friday 2014, there retailer said. Worldwide order growth increased 266% compared to the same day in 2014.
  
Virago acquires Carrie Brownstein memoir
Virago has acquired the memoir of American musician, actor and writer Carrie Brownstein.
Ursula Doyle, associate publisher of Virago, bought UK rights in the memoir, titled Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl, from Hal Fessenden at Penguin Random House US.


AAP: sales 'slow' in 2015 first quarter
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) StatShot report has recorded publisher book sales down 6.6% for the first quarter of 2015, at $2.2bn compared to $2.38bn for the first quarter of last year.
Data for the StatShot comes from just over 1,200 publishers. The figures represent publishers' net revenue in the US, rather than retailer or consumer sales figures.

Gardam to receive Charleston-Chichester Award
Writer Jane Gardam is to be awarded the Charles-Chichester Award for a Lifetime's Excellence in Short Fiction at a special event held at this year's Charleston Small Wonder Short Story Festival.
Gardam, who is the author of short stories as well as novels including the Old Filth trilogy, will receive the award on 27th September.
The two previous winners of the award are William Trevor and Edna O'Brien, making Gardam the first British recipient. An anthology of 87-year-old Gardam's short fiction (The Stories, Abacus) was published last year.

Canongate to publish Ten Days political thriller
Canongate has bought world rights to Ten Days, a thriller by author, memoirist and playwright Gillian Slovo.
Canongate's editorial director of fiction, Louisa Joyner, bought world rights from Clare Alexander at Aitken Alexander. Canongate will publish the book in hardback in March 2016 and in e-book in 10 digital instalments over the 10 days running up to publication.

Germany renews Vorsicht Buch!
Supported by a growing number of print publications, the “localism” movement in Germany is gaining momentum. Founded in 2012, the umbrella group Buy-Local-Verein (its name mixes English and German) now has approximately 600 members nationwide and is growing strongly.
Booksellers are heavily involved, supported by trade association Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (BDB); its managing director Alexander Skipis has just announced an extension of its campaign Vorsicht Buch! (Attention, Book!) for at least another 12 months.


Joseph Coelho wins CLPE poetry award
Performance poet Joseph Coelho has won the £1,000 Centre for Literacy in Primary Education’s Poetry Award (CLiPPA) for his first collection of poems Werewolf Club Rules!, illustrated by John O’Leary and published by Frances Lincoln.
Roger McGough, poet and chair of the judges, said Coelho is a “fresh new voice” in children’s poetry. “The book is a wonderful mixture of lyrical verse, personal experience, humour and insight. His delight in language, ability to tell everyday stories and use of comedy and pathos are what made this book our winner.”