Bonnier Books is acquiring rival Swedish subscription-based audiobook and ebook platform Nextory, pending approval from the Swedish Competition Authority. Bonnier already owns audio and ebook service BookBeat. Nextory is one of Europe’s largest audiobook streaming platforms, operating in 10 countries. The Swedish Herald reports that Bonnier will acquire all shares of the company for an undisclosed amount. “We have built Nextory into a significant and profitable business, and I am very proud of what we have achieved,” Shadi Bitar, Nextory ceo and co-founder, said in the announcement. “We have had interest from other players before, but now both the buyer […]
Obituary: Wendell Berry
Environmental activist and author Wendell Berry, 92, died at his home in Kentucky on Monday. He wrote essays, fiction, and poetry about agriculture and the natural world, including The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture and the Port William stories and novels. Berry received a National Humanities Medal from President Barack Obama in 2011 and the National Book Critics Circle’s Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. Counterpoint will publish a new essay collection from Berry, Dispatches from Rural America: Sixteen Essays, on October 27.
Distribution: Four to Lakeside
Lakeside Book Company will take over sales and distribution for Karis Parenting on September 1, Académie du Vin Library on October 1, and Les Editions Goelette and Empress Editions on January 1.
People 9/2
Commissioned Economists’ Study Demonstrates that Increased Library eBook Lending Reduces Consumer Book Sales
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the Authors Guild jointly commissioned a comprehensive study on “The Impact of Library E-Lending on the Book Economy,” which demonstrates that a significant rise in library ebook borrowing leads to fewer book purchases in the retail marketplace. The new study both recognizes and respects “the crucial role of libraries as both public institutions and market participants” (unlike a recent survey by the Authors Guild on its own). The real target — and audience — is state legislators who continue to consider or pass laws that seek to interfere with Federal copyright by regulating […]
New Books Publishing September 1
This week’s fiction releases include new novels by Marlon James, Amanda Peters, Robert Harris, and Mr. Beast’s book with James Patterson, while nonfiction includes work by Angela Duckworth, Jared Diamond, and Kai Bird. September’s children’s releases include books by Tomi Adeyemi, M. T. Anderson, Sabaa Tahir, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Gregory Maguire’s Galinda origin story. 27 works of fiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-fiction-publishing-september-1 13 works of nonfiction https://bookshop.org/lists/new-nonfiction-publishing-september-1 24 children’s titles https://bookshop.org/lists/september-2026-children-s-releases Also publishing this week are new books by M. J. Hastings, Darianne Schramm, Autumn Krause, Torsten Weitze, Chloe Benjamin, Joseph Fink, […]