Abu Dhabi International Book Fair oversubscribed by 100 publishers as the Arab Renaissance blossoms

Posted onLeave a comment

The 29th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which runs April 24-30 this year, has had to turn away over 100 publishers this year as demand massively exceeded available space at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. This despite fierce competition from the annual Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival and the once in a lifetime celebrations as Sharjah becomes Read More …

Spotlight on Africa: Nigeria’s Clever Clogs Books and the Akada Children’s Book Festival

Posted onLeave a comment

With the International Publishers Association’s second African Seminar just two months away, TNPS is taking a close look at the many opportunities unfolding across this vast continent with a series of short posts and studies. Today it’s the turn of a small Nigerian publishing house start-up in Lagos, Clever Clogs Books, that despite only having Read More …

Sharjah’s Children’s Reading Festival counts us down to the Sharjah World Book Capital celebrations

Posted onLeave a comment

They say a picture is worth a thousand worlds, and what says it better than this image from  the Sharjah World Book Capital twitter account today. ( @SharjahWBC ). The Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival typically draws a crowd of around 300,000. NB By the time you see this it will be 5 days, or 4 Read More …

Kindle CN store among the few survivors as Amazon crashes out in China

Posted onLeave a comment

Jeff Bezos has on many occasions said he welcomes failure, because failure helps the company rethink and revitalise. That’s not a luxury every company has, but then most companies aren’t Amazon. From the Firephone to holidays to diapers, not everything Jeff Bezos touches turns to gold. This week comes news that the latest admission of Read More …

Optimising New Technology in Book Development and Distribution – Nigeria’s International Book Fair embraces the future

Posted onLeave a comment

Organised by the Nigeria Book Fair Trust, the 18th Nigerian International Book Fair in Lagos will run for six days from 6 May. The dates have been up on the book fair’s Facebook and twitter accounts for a while now but this week the event was formally announced by Gbadega Adedapo, Chairman of the Nigerian Read More …

As the Tehran International Book Fair goes head to head with at least 8 other major global book events later this month, let’s not forget the writers and readers of Iran

Posted onLeave a comment

Starting April 24 and running through until May 4, the 32nd Tehran International Book Fair has China as guest of honour this year, and as usual the event promises to be spectacular, with around 2 million visitors piling in. Last year’s incarnation brought in sales worth the USD equivalent of $38 million, but despite this Read More …

Iceland’s Bókmenntahátíð í Reykjavík kicks off next week with the inaugural Halldór Laxness Award among many attractions

Posted onLeave a comment

If it’s 2019, it must be time for the bi-annual Bókmenntahátíð í Reykjavík which this year has a spring date for the first time.  That will be April 24-27 for those who fancy a spring break in Iceland. Don’t worry if you flunked Icelandic at school. Bókmenntahátíð í Reykjavík is of course the Reykjavík International Read More …

New Zealand authors struggle to survive on earnings from their writing, mirroring UK authors’ plight. But is there such a thing as a fair wage for writers?

Posted onLeave a comment

At end March a body called Copyright Licensing New Zealand published a study on author earnings in New Zealand which embarrassingly only reached my desk this week (hat-tip to Book Squad). Commissioned by Copyright Licensing New Zealand in conjunction with the NZ Society of Authors, NZ Writers’ Guild and Playmarket, the report by Horizon Research, Read More …

Sharjah to be Special Guest of Honour at Moscow International Book Fair in September

Posted onLeave a comment

Not much to report here but it’s such a fine example of the Global New Renaissance unfolding, that I’m allotting it an item of its own. Earlier today the news broke on twitter – and we have since had a few more details via the UAE’s The National, which reports Ahmed bin Rakkad Al Ameri, chairman Read More …

Iraqi Kurdistan’s 14th Erbil International Book Fair closes with 400,000 visitors as another MENA book fair record tumbles

Posted onLeave a comment

With one million titles on offer it was always going to be a big attraction, but even so the numbers soared over previous years, setting a new record of 400,000 visitors. In 2017 100,000 was the record, so a clear sign that the Arab Renaissance is gaining momentum. The Erbil event in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Read More …

Sweden’s subscription model faces its biggest challenge yet as Bonnier and Storytel go to war

Posted onLeave a comment

It was a confrontation waiting to happen, and perhaps the real surprise here is that it hasn’t happened sooner. Storytel has long since established itself as the market leader in audiobook subscription, and an essential component of any publisher’s marketing strategy. Not least of the Swedish publishing giant Bonnier. But from the day Bonier launched Read More …

Tunisia’s International Book Fair sets new attendance record at halfway point. But is digital the next big step for Tunisian publishing?

Posted onLeave a comment

With all the attention focused on London, Bologna and preparations for New York, you could be forgiven for thinking that the rest of the global publishing industry had been put on hold for Q2. The reality is rather different. Around the world vibrant book fairs and festivals are attracting huge crowds, largely unnoticed by the Read More …

StreetLib partners with Storyweaver to globally distribute 5,000 free multilingual stories in UNESCO’s Year of Indigenous Languages

Posted onLeave a comment

Italy-based digital books distributor and publishing facilitator StreetLib has partnered with India’s Storyweaver to deliver 5,000 free multilingual stories to the world’s children, as part of its commitment to UNESCO’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. Full disclosure: The New Publishing Standard (TNPS) is published by StreetLib to further the debate about the global book markets. Read More …

Peru’s Lima International Book Fair targets 590,000 visitors and $6 million in sales this year

Posted onLeave a comment

Registration is underway for FIL Lima, the international book fair that will run in the Peruvian capital July 19 through August 4. And, and to make sure everybody can get in the floor space has been increased by 1,500 square metres (1,800 sq yards). Event organiser José Carlos Alvariño, who is also president of the Peruvian Read More …

14th Erbil Book Fair underway in Iraq’s Kurdistan. 100,000 visitors expected

Posted onLeave a comment

Iraq is probably on few authors or publishers lists as a place to sell books, and no question the bookselling infrastructure leaves much to be desired. But you would be wrong to dismiss Iraq, or any part of the Middle East, as a no-go area for booklovers. This past week the Erbil International Book Fair Read More …

Dates announced for Italy’s 9th Salento Book Festival

Posted onLeave a comment

The website, twitter and Facebook pages have yet to be updated, but the dates are out for the 9th incarnation of the Salento Book Fair in the Italian province of Lecce. The travelling exhibition will stop at Corigliano d’Otranto , Galatina , Galatone , Gallipoli, Nardò and Aradeo. Reports Teatri Online, Over a month of book presentations, Read More …

Storytel launches in Singapore. Adds 65,000 subscribers in Q1, bringing in $32m from streaming services. Targets 39% annual growth

Posted onLeave a comment

There were no big surprises from Storytel for Q1 2019, with the final numbers missing forecasts by such a tiny number as not to matter. 835,000 subscribers forecast and 834,700 delivered. That’s up 65,600 on Q4 2018. 297 million SEK forecast from streaming revenue materialized as 296 million. At this rate Storytel is in serious Read More …

New competition in the India ebook space as telco Bharti Airtel launches ebook store for smartphones

Posted onLeave a comment

This week the Indian telco giant Bharti Airtel finally launched its long-anticipated ebook store Airtel Books. Long anticipated? In fact Bharti Airtel signaled its intentions back in December 2017 when it bought into the digital-focussed Indian publisher Juggernaut Books. Bharti Airtel acquires strategic stake in Juggernaut Books So no surprise that the launch this week Read More …

African Publishing – The $5 Billion Digital Opportunity as Nigeria becomes 7th largest country by online population

Posted on1 Comment

At the IPA Africa Seminar in Lagos in 2018 it was reported that the African book market was worth $1 billion. Not a staggering amount, but enough to raise eyebrows among many in the global publishing industry who believed Africa was a publishing backwater not worthy of their attention. This June comes the second IPA Read More …

Marvel’s China-first strategy is a lesson western publishers can learn from

Posted onLeave a comment

Marvel’s newest superhero movie, Avengers: Endgame, launches across the world in April, and is predicted by some optimists to be the first Hollywood movie to break the half billion dollar mark at the US box office. Given none has yet broken the $400 million mark, that’s wildly ambitious. Observes The Hollywood Reporter, The biggest U.S. Read More …