From the moment Livraria Cultura acquired Fnac Brazil’s 12 bookstores last July (along with its e-commerce site) there was a question mark hanging over the stores – Livraria Cultura had long intimated intent to be a tech company rather than a bricks & mortar retailer, and was struggling for cash. Despite this, a joint statement Read More …
When it comes to the global book markets, book fairs are often a better barometer of interest in books than book sales as reported by retailers. Vast numbers of books are sold at book fairs and festivals that are untracked by the retail stats counters and go largely unremarked on the Anglophone publishing circuit, where Read More …
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 …
The 200th anniversary of Frankenstein and the 75th anniversary of The Little Prince are being celebrated at the 4th Guayaquil International Book Fair in Ecuador, which ends its five day run on Sunday (Sept 5-9). It’s just one of countless book fairs and festivals across Latin America that pass unnoticed by the outside world but Read More …
With the current tax-exemption on books set to expire on October 11, Peru’s Congress this week provided publishers with a twelve month reprieve, extending the VAT exemption of domestic and imported books for one more year. The exemption is a short-term measure meant to hold the status quo while the government completes its planned review 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 …
The Oceanos 2018 Portuguese Language Literature Awards semi-finalists were announced this past week, but it’s not a full representation of the Portuguese-speaking world, with semi-finalist only from from Brazil, Portugal, Mozambique and Cape Verde. The Oceanos finalists will be announced late October, but the semi-finalist line up. for the first time since the award launched in Read More …
A fall in the sale of textbooks in Spain led to a slowdown in growth of the mainstream Spanish book market in 2017, coming in with an estimated price tag of 2.318 billion euros. By mainstream I mean that parts of the Spanish book market – for example, sales from self-publishers and small presses – Read More …
It’s only a whisper right now, but the TNPS prediction back in May that Storytel has Brazil in its sights for 2019 now has a little more substance. Back in May TNPS was the first English-language industry journal to break the news that Storytel had been in talks with Brazilian publishers, along with those in Read More …
Despite fixed price laws and the notable absence of Amazon from the Portuguese book scene, indie bookstores are struggling to compete with the bigger chains, and are uniting to seek assistance from the state. Independent Portuguese booksellers from Lisbon, Aveiro and Sines joined forces to call for state intervention to protect them from the country’s Read More …
