Category: Europe

Four in ten books sold in Sweden are through a subscription service. But might both print and ebooks be the casualties of the great Scandinavian experiment?

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Forty percent of books sold in Sweden are through a subscription service. Total book sales revenue in Sweden increased by 6.2% last year but, perhaps unsurprisingly given the rise and rise of the subscription model in Scandinavia, digital is leading the charge. And traditional bookselling outlets are getting hammered. While there are many upsides to Read More …

Storytel raise half billion kroner for Latin America and Asia expansion

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While Storytel has been having a rough time in the Swedish publishing media over its variable royalty arrangements, the Stockholm stock exchange has (albeit without much enthusiasm – see below) agreed to a quest to raise an additional half billion kroner ($55.8 million). Sweden’s Digital runs this story with the headline, Storytel takes in a Read More …

Ever dreamed of owning an English bookstore in Italy? Now’s your chance!

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Tucked away in the heart of Italy, the Mediterranean to the west, the Adriatic to the east, Venice to the north, Rome to the south, lies Florence, a city that has had key roles in the arts since before the Renaissance and right up to the modern day, with its central role in Dan Brown’s Read More …

Storytel’s royalty model “rigged and manipulated.” Storm brews over Storytel’s privileged agreement with Bonnier

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With Storytel under increasing pressure from rival operators in the Swedish audiobook arena two things were inevitable. First, Storytel’s market share would fall. And consequent on that Storytel would need to review its royalty arrangements for its content suppliers – in this case established publishers, as Storytel does not deal direct with authors as per Read More …

French booksellers boycott Prix Renaudot after CreateSpace title shortlisted

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As reported here yesterday, a CreateSpace self-published title made it through to the shortlist for the prestigious French literary award the Prix Renaudot. Amazon’s CreateSpace goes out with a bang – cracks shortlist for prestigious French literary award Today comes news some French bookstore owners are now boycotting not just the CreateSpace title but the Read More …

The Week In Review

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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 …

Amazon’s CreateSpace goes out with a bang – cracks shortlist for prestigious French literary award

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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 …

President and First Lady leads today’s National Reading Day in Poland

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Stefan Żeromski’s Przedwiośnie will be read out by Poland’s presidential couple today at the annual National Reading Day event in Warsaw aimed at encouraging Poles to read more books. President Andrzej Duda and First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, joined by Deputy Prime Minister and Culture Minister Piotr Gliński and actors and other public figures, will read Read More …

Ireland: “A buoyant time for publishing.  One of today’s most vibrant book markets.”

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The Bookseller reports new appointments at the HarperCollins Dublin offices, as part of the planned doubling the size of the HarperCollins operation in Ireland. The new appointments are Nora Mahony as an assistant editor reporting to publishing director Eoin McHugh, and Jacqueline Murphy as sales executive. See The Bookseller OP for more on these two. Read More …

The Week In Review

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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 …