Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. UK’s Bradford Lit Fest and USA’s Washington National Book Fest see record attendance Sharjah Publishing City sponsors Nigerian literature award Ireland: “A buoyant time for publishing. One of today’s most vibrant book markets.” Sweden-based Arabic-language audiobook firm Kitab Sawti attracts new investment Peru exempts Read More …
CreateSpace is on its final legs as Amazon completes its absorption into KDP Print this month, but it goes out with a bang, not a whimper. By the final of the Prix Renaudot in November CreateSpace will be history, but it might just also make history. When Actualitté posted the shortlist for the Prix Renaudot Read More …
Here’s a summary of TNPS posts from the past seven days. Book reading down slightly in New Zealand. More than half read NZ authors Storytel Brazil 2019 launch whispers grows louder Spanish book market valued at minimum $2.7 billion. Paperback and ebook sales both rising Côte d’Ivoire: francophone Africa publishing insights Is Amazon preparing a Read More …
In November it will be four years since Amazon launched a Kindle store (Netherlands, November 2014), and as I’ve speculated on several occasions here at TNPS, it seemed mostly unlikely there were any new Kindle store launches being planned. Amazon has set up token operations in Singapore and Vietnam, is opening a call centre in Read More …
The Hindu Young World-Goodbooks Awards 2019 are open for submissions, but as so often with these awards the prize is off-limits to any authors who aren’t backed by a traditional publisher. Excellence in writing, illustration and publishing will be recognised, says The Hindu, explaining the awards will also, acknowledge innovative publishing trends. The awards are Read More …
Amazon is preparing for its second foray into Colombia, with a Customer Service Centre due to open in Bogotá in October, bringing 600 jobs to the city. According to The City Paper the new service center will provide support to Amazon customers worldwide in Spanish, English and Portuguese 24 hours a day, 7 days a Read More …
There’s no question Amazon is, in a handful of western countries, a powerful player in the publishing industry, whether through its slow rise to become the dominant online retailer of print books, or its meteoric rise to become the dominant purveyor of ebooks. To which we can throw in the rise of the company’s own Read More …
Four out of ten Argentines have read one or more books in the past twelve months, according to a new study by the Universidad Argentina de la Empresa, but only 7% of those chose to read digitally. At first glance the study seems to reinforce a common narrative that Latinos don’t read, and that ebooks Read More …
You might think that, with almost four million visitors turning out for the January 2018 Cairo International Book Fair, there wouldn’t be anyone left to warrant another book event in Egypt. After all, as we all know Arabs don’t read. And if you believe that, I’m offering half-price flights to the Moon all next week. Read More …
The Bookseller breaks the news today that Amazon’s Audible UK has partnered with the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA) in a three year deal worth £150,000 ($195,000). Explains The Bookseller, The two organisations will develop the next generation of acting talent through scholarships and training opportunities in audio entertainment, while original audio Read More …
Russia’s ebook giant LitRes is seeing 46% growth this year as enthusiasm for the format grows, but overall ebooks are still just 6% of the Russian book marker, reports Eugene Gerden for Publishing Perspectives today. Russia’s Growing Ebook and Audiobook Sales in First Half of 2018 According to Gerden, LitRes says its ebook sales through Read More …
“Audiobooks are the future, not ebooks,” said Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle last week at Spain’s Forum Edita at the Barcelona School of Management of the Pompeu Fabra University. Talking about book publishing in general, Dohle said, The sector is experiencing the best moment of the last fifty years … and maybe of the last five Read More …
I often talk here about a digitally-driven Global New Renaissance unfolding, where the proliferation of smartphones around the globe and improved internet access around the world means anyone, anywhere on the planet can theoretically consume and produce content from anywhere on the planet. As we’ve seen with Netflix – As Netflix approaches the global revenue Read More …
Amazon has been in talks with a number of Swedish logistics companies, including PostNord, as it continues to explore its Scandinavian options. While Amazon has of course not confirmed a date, the expectation seems to be later this year, which is in keeping with speculation I explored here at TNPS back in March: Sweden’s Nextory Read More …
When the Audio Publishers Association issued its latest valuation of the US audiobook market last week the $2.5 billion figure understandably made the headlines. We can’t say for certain how accurate that figure may be, as it is, in the words of What’s New In Publishing, the result of the annual US sales survey (conducted Read More …
Unconfirmed rumours in the Indian press suggest Amazon is readying its in-beta Audible India launch for November, to mark the India celebration of Diwali. If true the timeline will catch many by surprise. Amazon is believed to have started progressing Audible India in early 2017 and The Times of India reported Audible IN was widely Read More …
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 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 long-term decision Read More …
It’s the twenty-first century. Even in Africa. And contrary to popular opinion, the internet is not only available across the continent but is shaping the continent’s future. This from IT News Africa this past week: If there was ever a time to watch progress in Africa, it would be now. As we have seen so Read More …
Yesterday Reuters ran the headline “Amazon eyes Latam expansion,” explaining that, having already established itself in Mexico and Brazil, Amazon was now looking at further expansion in Latin America. Seeking Alpha was also presenting this as breaking news. Explained Reuters, Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri met with Amazon’s Elaine Feeney, vice president for infrastructure global expansion Read More …
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 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 long-term decision Read More …
