It was never going to be easy for new kid on the Scandinavian audiobook block, Bokus Play. Storytel is far and away the strongest player, both at home and abroad, with BookBeat and Nextory so comfortably in second and third place it seemed like there was no room for a fourth player. Even one with Read More …
After the resounding success of the Sharjah International Book Fair in the UAE, extolling a message of cultural tolerance and publishing freedom, the Arab literary arena was this week plunged into controversy once more as the Kuwait International Literary Festival kicked off. Running November 14 through 24 the Kuwait event was already standing in the Read More …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
