Sharjah 2.23 million. Algiers 2.2 million. 4.4 million visitors to Arab book fairs in the past two weeks. The Arab Renaissance gathers momentum

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The Sharjah International Book Fair just missed last year’s record-breaking 2.38 million visitors, but it was still a fabulous show, with 2.23 million turning out to the UAE’s biggest literary event. Sales numbers haven’t been announced yet, but at day 7 (of 11) were reported to be running at 15% higher than 2017’s record-breaking sales. Read More …

Storytel confirms Brazil launch for 2019 as Mexico launch nears

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Back in May 2018 The New Publishing Standard was the first English-language industry journal to break the news of Storytel’s Latin America plans. Storytel’s Latin American ambitions. Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Colombia for 2019? Since when the Mexico launch has been confirmed as set for end 2018. Storytel confirms Latin America ambitions. Mexico launch this Read More …

The TNPS Week In Review – Nov. 4-Nov 10

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This past week on TNPS:   Sales down but visitors up at Brazil’s Porto Alegre Book Fair. The world’s untracked book sales redux.   The Handmaid’s Tale released in UAE as Arab book market globalisation builds.   Bangladesh Book Fair in Kolkata sets the scene for Kolkata IBF and the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela.   Read More …

Amazon finally launches Audible in India, almost a year after Storytel. Sticks to one audiobook subscription model against Storytel’s unlimited ebooks and audio

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Impossible to second-guess why this took so long – the expectation was early 2018 – but Amazon has finally launched a beta version of Audible in India, and it has stuck to its standard model despite an almost year long head start by rival Storytel. Sweden’s Storytel beats Amazon’s Audible to the India audiobook market Read More …

Big Bad Wolf preps for third Philippines run. Aims for 30 cities in 2019

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There are three contenders for “the” global publishing story of the year here at TNPS, and regulars will not be surprised to learn Big Bad Wolf is among them. But unless one of the other two produce a remarkable rabbit from a hat in the next two months then Big Bad Wolf is going to Read More …

With an online population bigger than the Netherlands, Myanmar gets its first national ebook store with telco MPT

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While the Big 5 western ebook retailers look the other way, the digital format continues to gain ground across south and south-east Asia, driven by mobile. Next year Storytel will launch in Singapore, while Thailand’s Ookbee has long had a strong presence across SE Asia. Yet bizarrely neither Amazon nor Apple offer ebooks in any part Read More …

After the Scribd-NYT subscription deal, Sweden’s Bookbeat ties a bundled deal with Dagens Nyheter. But are Storytel’s rivals up to the challenges ahead?

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If the Scribd-New York Times subscription bundle made the headlines in the Anglophone world, it is Bookbeat’s deal with Dagen Nyheter that is the big news in Scandinavia. Bookbeat, second player to Storytel in the Nordic audiobook and ebook subscription stakes, has signed a deal with the Swedish digital news service (Dagens Nyheter = Today’s Read More …

Online bookstore Kitab Yatra launched in Nepal

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Nepal’s population of close to 30 million spread out across the Himalayan republic presents its own unique logistical problems for bookstores and publishers. The capital, Kathmandu, is the largest city with just 1.5 million residents (3 million for the wider urban area) and the next biggest city, Pokhara, comes in with a population of just Read More …

Is the latest boycott a sign Amazon is preparing to shutter Abe Books?

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Today’s headlines about the Abe Books boycott are perhaps the least of Amazon’s worries, as it reels from a quarter trillion dollar stock market devaluation, a billion dollar loss on its India Marketplace, and a new fraud inquiry that saw Amazon’s country head Amit Agrawal, logistics firm Darshita Pvt Ltd directors Pradeep Kumar and Ravish Read More …

Plympton’s “Cli-Fi” for Amazon; what agents want in YA; PublishDrive’s new royalty model – The Hot Sheet Reviewed – 1st November edition

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The Hot Sheet is a publishing industry news-sheet for authors, produced every two weeks by Porter Anderson and Jane Friedman, and reviewed here every other Sunday (when possible) as one of the best bi-weekly industry overviews available to authors. We’re not interested in delivering breaking news, but perspective on stories that are likely to retain meaning for your Read More …