Latest News from The Bookseller

Sales dip at Hachette UK in first half Sales at Hachette UK were down 3.5% in the first six months of 2015 compared to the year before, because of a “slate of new releases that was not as strong as the first half of 2014”, according to results announced by Hachette's parent company Lagardere. E-books represented 33% of sales in adult trade in the UK, falling from 36% in the first half of 2014. In the UK the digital market is “stabilising and has been impacted” by the increase in VAT brought in on 1st January this year, Lagardere said.

Zoella reveals new book details Zoe Sugg revealed the title and cover of her next novel in a video on her “More Zoella” vlog channel yesterday (30th July), and praised her Penguin editor Amy Alward for helping her to write.

Cape brings forward Clegg release Jonathan Cape is to bring forward the release date of Bill Clegg’s Man Booker-longlisted Did You Ever Have a Family. The book was originally due to be released on 17th September, but it was this week included on the Man Booker Prize longlist for 2015, prompting Jonathan Cape to move bring the release forward to 25th August.

Suffragette titles shortlisted for biography prize Two books on suffragettes are on the shortlist for this year’s 'Slightly Foxed' Best First Biography Prize. Sophia, Princess, Suffragette, Revolutionary by Anita Anand (Bloomsbury), about Indian suffragette Sophia Duleep Singh, joins Lady Constance Lytton – Aristocrat, Suffragette, Martyr by Lyndsey Jenkins (Biteback), about a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria who disguised herself and took on a false name to fight for rights for women.

Nurnberg to open new Warsaw office Andrew Nurnberg Associates will open a new office in Warsaw, to be run by Marcin Biegaj, currently senior agent and sales director at the Graal Literary Agency. The opening follows a decision by Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Warsaw's BookLab Literary Agency to part company.  BookLab – run by Aleksandra Lapinska - will continue to operate as a separate agency and will be responsible for extant contracts drawn before 1st July until their natural expiry.

Blackwell joins Bookseller as head of marketing Sophia Blackwell is to join The Bookseller as head of marketing. Blackwell is currently marketing manager at global professional publisher Kogan Page and has previously worked in marketing and publicity management roles at Bloomsbury, Palgrave Macmillan and Taylor & Francis. Blackwell is a publicity and marketing mentor for the Society of Young Publishers and has been a trainer on online marketing for the Publishing Training Centre.

Sphere launches online game for 'Milo' Sphere has launched an online game to accompany the release of Virginia Macgregor’s novel What Milo Saw in paperback. Described as “essentially a guessing game”, the game, of the same name, will see players having to focus on the detail of an image as if seen through a moving pinhole to find out how observant they are.

Melville House in Rough Trade partnership Independent publisher Melville House has formed a UK retail partnership with British music company Rough Trade. The collaboration will see Rough Trade stores in London and Nottingham featuring dedicated Melville House displays. These will include both new and backlist titles, with prominent displays of Melville House’s Art of the Novella, Neversink and Last Interview series, as well as exclusive Melville House merchandise. Other promotions and events are also in the pipeline.

MJ signs blogger Alessandra Peters Michael Joseph has signed up 16-year-old food blogger Alessandra Peters to write a cookbook. Cookery publisher Lindsey Evans bought world rights in The Foodie Teen direct from Peters. Peters is a blogger, photographer and health enthusiast who has been cooking her way through an autoimmune disease and numerous food intolerances.

'Dagger Reads' initiative from CWA The Crime Writers' Association has launched Dagger Reads, an online literary initiative that showcases and promotes the shortlisted titles for the 2015 Dagger Awards. Dagger Reads focuses on the books in contention for the CWA Goldsboro Gold, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel and the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Daggers. It is designed to provide readers, shops and libraries with a comprehensive guide to each book and its author.

Profile and The Globe produce Shakespeare 'Guide' Profile Books is joining forces with Shakespeare’s Globe to celebrate the 400-year anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. In March next year, Profile will publish a revised edition of Andrew Dickson’s The Rough Guide to Shakespeare (Rough Guides), titled The Globe Guide to Shakespeare: The plays, the poems, the life, with Shakespeare’s Globe. The book includes accounts, critical commentaries and reviews of noted productions and will be published as a £19.99 Crown Quarto paperback. World rights were acquired from Sarah Chalfant at Wylie.

Niven to adapt 'All the Bright Places' for film US author Jennifer Niven is writing the screenplay for her YA novel All the Bright Places, which is published in the UK by Penguin Random House. The book, published last January, is about a girl who learns to live by becoming friends with a boy who intends to die. It is longlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize 2015.