$5m book sales and 5m visitors already, and still India’s book fairs line up. The 37th Agartala Book Fair is underway

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East India’s second biggest book fair after Kolkata is underway in Tripura as the India love affair with books continues. As reported here a few days ago, already over 5 million people have visited Indian book fairs this year, spending the USD equivalent of over $5 million, and there’s no sign the appetite for books Read More …

Storytel wants to reduce visibility on hot romance and erotica because they are too popular

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Cupido is a Norwegian site dedicated to all things sensual, and now that includes podcasts. This month Cupido is launching what apparently translates as Cupido Handsfree – a great double-entendre if accurate. To mark the event Cupido tells us that 4,500 of Storytel’s 100,000 titles are categorized as “sensual”, referencing a report in the left-wing Norwegian Read More …

Over 5 million visitors spend over $5 million at India’s 2019 book fairs. And we’re only halfway through February

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India’s Kolkata International Book Fair wound up earlier this week and the numbers are in: 2.3 million visitors spent 230 million rupees (US$ 3.2 million) on books in twelve days. Given the price of books in India the volume must have been huge. This just weeks after 900,000 turned out to the New Delhi World Book Read More …

Tanzania’s 2018 Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature sets the scene for the Kenya Swahili Literary Festival

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Weeks before the first ever Swahili Literary Festival kicks off in Kenya in the first days of March comes news that the 2018 Mabati-Cornell Kiswahili Prize for African Literature will be presented at a special event at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania on Friday. Brittle Paper reports that, The prize winners…Tanzanian Zainab Alwi Baharoon, Read More …

Here’s looking at you, kid. The Casablanca International Book Fair is underway, but my eyes are on the Ibn Batouta Prize

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Casablanca. There can’t be many western readers who don’t see that name and immediately think of Bogart and Bergman. Even if you don’t know the film you know the quotes – Play it again, Sam. Here’s looking at you, kid. No matter that Bogart never actually said one of those. But this week the Casablanca Read More …

Emirates Publishers Association launches Manassah platform to showcase member publishers at regional and international book fairs

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When it comes to getting noticed in the international book markets, regional and international book fairs and festivals can play a significant role. At the professional end of the book fair spectrum there is the chance to network with agents, scouts, foreign publishers and see up-and-coming tech initiatives. While consumer-facing events can put a publishers’ Read More …

Can Oman’s Muscat International Book Fair this month beat its 2018 record of 1 million visitors?

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Now be honest. If we think of the Arab book markets at all, the Gulf state of Oman is probably not on the list. But Oman is full of surprises. The Muscat International Book Fair has been running most years since 1992, and at its debut fielded 200 publishing houses from 19 countries, attracting a Read More …

As the London Book Fair looms, invisible millions attend book fairs and festivals around the globe

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If it’s February it must be the Amar Ekushey Boi Mela in Bangladesh, an annual festival of books that runs the entire month of February. Last year the boi mela sold books to the USD equivalent of just shy of $10 million. But hands up anyone who has Bangladesh on their book market bucket list? Read More …

India’s Kolkata International Book Fair sees 700,000 spend $1.1 million in first five days, despite free ebooks available

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“Book fair rakes in Rs 8 crore with 7 lakh footfall ” is the headline in the Times of India this week, reporting on the first five days of the Kolkata International Book Fair. The Indian notation equates to 700,000 visitors at the event up until Monday, spending over 80 million rupees ($1.1 million) on Read More …

StreetLib completes January tranche of global expansion. 21 countries on 6 continents

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When StreetLib launched The New Publishing Standard in September 2017 we made clear the function of the journal was to stimulate debate about the much-neglected global book markets. It was not a StreetLib promotional tool, and not a vehicle to advocate digital at the expense of traditional formats. But occasionally StreetLib becomes part of the Read More …

Bookwire sees 65% ebook sales growth in Ibero-America in 2018. Moves into audiobooks

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Germany-based Bookwire has reported 65% sales growth and a 25% increase in titles registered for its Spain and Latin America market venture. The increase in Spanish-language titles was to the tune of 33,000, while for Portuguese-speaking Brazil the number of titles rose 40% to 32,000. Bookwire also announced its venture into the audiobook arena. Elena Read More …

Last week to register for Madrid Book Fair. Santo Domingo registrations are open

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Europe’s biggest consumer-facing book fair will be taking place in the El Retiro park in Madrid from May 31 through June 16. Anyone wanting to participate as an exhibitor will need to complete registration by noon on 11 February. The Dominican Republic will be guest of honour at the 78th Madrid Book Fair. In 2018 the Read More …

Venezuela’s National Book Centre understands the role of digital in building a nation of readers. Other countries should take notice

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Venezuela’s National Book Center (Cenal), backed by the Ministry of Culture, gave a three day workshop on the value of digital publishing at the end of January. Cenal president Raul Cazal stressed the need for quality content, but the workshop was focused on the mechanics of ebook production and distribution with the aim of boosting the Read More …

“A sweeping fantasy epic steeped in Pan-African history and folklore—one of the most anticipated books of the year.” Widely unavailable in Africa

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That was the Wall Street Journal this week. Well, maybe not that last bit. What the Wall Street Journal actually said was, Four years after winning the Man Booker Prize, novelist Marlon James returns with a sweeping fantasy epic steeped in Pan-African history and folklore—and one of the most anticipated books of the year Sadly Read More …

Storytel partners with airline and ups its reading game with Ztory buy out. Spotify gets into podcasts. Others discuss digital fatigue

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It sometimes seems like the US book market and the rest of the world are on different planets. “Capitalizing on Book Publishing Trends in 2019” is the title of a free webinair from Book Business later this month. I did think about signing up, but when they wanted my address and telephone number as compulsory Read More …

Scribd defies its critics. Hits 1 million subscribers

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It all seemed so improbable just a few years ago, when many believed Scribd would follow Oyster into oblivion as Amazon moved into the ebook subscription game. And then of course there’s all that nonsense about how people are reading less nowadays and how the digital reading fad has faded and how… By the logic Read More …

Cairo International Book Fair beats USA’s biggest book fair visitor numbers in first two days

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Last year the Washington National Book Festival clocked a record 200,000 visitors. The Cairo International Book fair has just beaten that in its first two days, averaging 108,500 visitors a day, despite cold weather and a venue that, because of renovations at the usual location, is challenging some would-be attendees. UK’s Bradford Lit Fest and Read More …

At Zee Jaipur Lit Fest French Ambassador awards Romain Rolland Prize for translation from French to Indian local languages

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In our Anglophone-centric  publishing world it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture of the Global New Renaissance unfolding, and to build a faux impression that the world of translations is all about translating English to other languages and other languages to English. But important as English is on the global publishing stage, it Read More …

Bangladesh’s month-long national book fair “to be bigger than ever” this year. Publishers promote on social media while ebook retailers look the other way

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When one thinks of the worlds biggest book fairs its unlikely Bangladesh is on the list of prime candidates, but in fact the annual Amar Ekushey Boi Mela in Dhaka is well up there in the running, not least for its duration. The boi mela lasts the entire month of February. The annual book festival Read More …

Turkey-based Armenian publisher Aras Publishing takes Publishing House of the Year award

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Turkey’s Aras Publishing this week received the coveted Publishing House of the Year Award from Dünya Books Magazine for its role as a window to Armenian literature. Explains Massispost, Aras Publishing was established in 1993 in Istanbul. It adopted a publishing policy which made it called “the window to Armenian literature” soon. With its books Read More …