The 52% to 48% split in the UK's recent referendum on leaving the EU provided a slim and controversial win for the ‘leave' campaign, leading to an impending Brexit. However, what has become quite apparent is that the book industry has proven to be resolutely pro-Europe, with 78% of those surveyed by The Bookseller before the vote intending to cast their ballots for ‘remain.' Read more
Among many reactions to the annual report issued this month called the Statistics Yearbook from the United Kingdom's Publishers Association, this was one of my favorites, as quoted in one of The Bookseller Editor Philip Jones' commentary pieces on the report: Read more
A biography of a musical hall act has beaten an academic treatise on the human posterior in the closest race ever for The Bookseller's Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year. Read more
Academic texts on the human posterior and animal entrails, a tome on famous birdwatchers and a photography book showcasing the beautiful architecture of bus stops in the former Soviet Union are among the titles nominated for the 38th Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, administered by The Bookseller. Read more
What's the impact of social media on book sales? Yesterday, The Bookseller co-hosted an event at YouTube looking at the ways the channel is influencing the business of books. Read more
Last week we launched the latest Digital Census, The Bookseller's once a year opportunity to take a measure of what the book and digital communities think about this developing landscape. Read more
When London's Ian K. Ellard won the first future-of-the-book-business essay competition run by The Bookseller, "The Toast" ran on The FutureBook site the day before the US Thanksgiving. On one side of the pond, we were all buckling our brains into cockle hats. Read more
'I'm very reassuringly honest. It's a job as well as a calling. It's my living - I'm the chief breadwinner in my house. My husband is retired, he supported me through the two decades while I wasn't making enough to live on, and was doing all kinds of things to do with writing to survive - judging competitions, running workshops, appraising manuscripts.
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more
For the past five years or so, I've read books on my phone. The practice started innocently enough. I write book reviews from time to time, and so publishers sometimes send me upcoming titles that fall roughly within my interests. Read more
The Guardian calls Irish-Indian poet Nikita Gill "Britain's most-followed poet on social media"-she has 780,000 Instagram followers and 180,000 TikTok followers, and her Instapoetry has been reshared by the likes of Khloe Kardashian, Alanis Morissette, and Sam Smith-and she has published seven volumes of poetry and two novels in the U.K. But she is far less known on this side of the pond. Read more
Nikkolas Smith knows a thing or two about book bans. The illustrator has created five picture books over the last three years-four of which have been yanked off library shelves. There's I am Ruby Bridges, about the civil rights icon; That Flag about the confederate flag; Born on the Water, which explores slavery; and The Artivist which features a child supporting trans kids.
Simon & Schuster has acquired the largest Dutch publishing group Veen Bosch & Keuning, including all of its publishers in the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as sister companies Thinium and Bookchoice.
The Publishers Association (PA) has criticised the government's response to a House of Lords report on AI, saying that it has failed to make "any tangible commitments to protect the creative industries against mass copyright infringement".
'What makes you a poet is a gift for language, an ability to see into the heart of things, and an ability to deal with important unconscious material. When all these things come together, you're a poet. But there isn't one little gimmick that makes you a poet. There isn't any formula for it.'
'I'm very reassuringly honest'
‘My settings of Europe and English visitors weren't really doing it for them, so we decided Scotland would be good. I thought an island would be great, because it's a small community, and it's an opportunity for my main character to get away from it all. The team at HarperCollins have been so supportive and enthusiastic... Read more