Haymarket Author Denied Visa

By Claire Kirch

Chicago publisher Haymarket Books expects to put on hold a book tour for Omar Barghouti scheduled for April because the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has denied him a visa to enter the country. Barghouti, the founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Campaign, is the author of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions: The Global Struggle for Palestinian Rights. The book is being released in April with a 4,000-copy first print run.

 

If Barghouti is not able to obtain a visa, the lack of a tour will hamper sales, but Haymarket said more is at stake than selling copies of a book.

                                                                                                              …read more

Jamie top, while Faulks boosts fiction

Philip Stone

Click to buy

Sales of Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s 30-minute Meals (Michael Joseph) fell 22% week-on-week, but its 39,118 sale in the seven days to 19th February is easily strong enough to ensure it spends another week (its 17th in total) at the summit of The Official UK Top 50.

Despite having gone on sale less than five months ago, its total sales to date of 1,416,303 copies puts it fifth on a list of the bestselling non-fiction books since records began in 1998.                                                      …read more

Click to buy              

From some perspectives, we are tipping right now and publishers’ metrics will show it

Posted by Mike Shatzkin

Sometimes, and it would seem quite often these days, the future comes faster than you expected it.

Followers of this blog, and of my speeches before there was a blog (this one’s from 2001!), know I’ve long been expecting ebook reading to supplant print book reading for many people. I’ve been wrong about the timing. (Ten years ago I’d have expected to be where we are now three or four years ago.) I’ve been wrong about whether a dedicated device for reading would make much of difference. (I read so comfortably on a phone, and before that on a PDA, that I figured few would want yet another device for reading only.) And I’m rethinking my expectations around enhanced ebooks and the utility of social reading.                                                                                              …read more

SFWA announces the 2010 Nebula Award Nominees

Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America is proud to announce the nominees for the 2010 Nebula Awards.

The Nebula Awards are voted on, and presented by, active members of  SFWA. The awards will be announced at the Nebula Awards Banquet on Saturday evening, May 21, 2011 in the Washington Hilton, in Washington, D.C.. Other awards to be presented are the Andre Norton Award for Excellence in Science Fiction or Fantasy for Young Adults, the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation and the Solstice Award for outstanding contribution to the field.              …read more

Westfield London to hold Gruffalo event for Red Nose Day

Laura Richards

Macmillan Children’s Books is to hold a Gruffalo fundraising event tomorrow for Red Nose Day. As a supporting partner of this year’s Comic Relief, the popular children’s book character will be hosting the fundraiser in Westfield Shopping Centre, London.                                                        …read more

Trade gears up for World Book Day

Caroline Horn

Bookshops, libraries, museums and theatres will be celebrating this year’s World Book Day (Thursday 3rd March) with a range of high profile and community initiatives.                                                              …read more

Donaldson, Hutchinson and MacPhail win Royal Mail Awards

Graeme Neill

Click to buy

 Julia Donaldson, Barry Hutchinson and Catherine MacPhail have been named the winners of Scotland’s largest children’s book prize, the 2010 Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children’s Books.

More than 16,000 children voted for their favourite children’s books of 2010 and each winner won £3,000.

Donaldson won the early years category (0-7) for her picture book What the Ladybird Heard (Macmillan), which is illustrated by Lydia Monks. 

                                                                                                              …read more

Montaigne title wins Duff Cooper Prize

Neill Denny

Chatto’s How to Live: A Life of Montaigne has won The Duff Cooper Prize, beating Costa-category winner The Hare with Amber Eyes and Keith Richards’ huge-selling autobiography.

Winning author Sarah Bakewell was presented with the award by Andrew Marr at a glitzy ceremony at the French Ambassador’s residence in Kensington Palace Gardens.                                                     …read more

Atwood, Bennett and Nick Cave to headline WBN Trafalgar Square event

Charlotte Williams

Click to buy

  Margaret Atwood, Alan Bennett and John Le Carré will be among the authors headlining the World Book Night launch event in Trafalgar Square on 4th March. Graham Norton will compere the event, with Philip Pullman, Sarah Waters, Mark Haddon and Derek Walcott also among those who will be reading and performing on the night. Nick Cave, Rupert Everett, Hanif Kureishi, D B C Pierre, Edna O’Brien and Lemn Sissay complete the line-up.

                                                                                                               …read more

Publishing proliferates thanks to POD and digital

Philip Jones

Print on demand, digital and self-publishing are continuing to push up the number of books published in the UK and overseas, according to new output data issued by Nielsen Book. The statistics also reveal that the number of publishers has risen with 2010 seeing 3,151 new publishers registering for an ISBN, the highest for 10 years.                                         …read more