Michael Chabon, Connie Willis and Ted Chiang are among the winners of this year’s Hugo Awards handed out Saturday night at the World Science Fiction convention in Denver. The Bookseller, taking a cue from the Booker Prize, has opened up voting on the “Diagram of Diagrams” for the oddest book title of the last 30 years.Hugo AwardsThe Bookseller
Nielsen Wants ISBNs for Each eFormat
In their role as exclusive UK ISBN registrar, Nielsen Book has issued a statement indicating they will exclude from their database titles that use a single ISBN to represent all e-book forms of a particular. In other words they are rejecting that practice that is currently favored by most large publishers, requiring the assignment of a different ISBN to each different electronic edition of the same title. As quoted from the statement in the Bookseller, Nielsen notes that “we acknowledge that [publishers'[ e-book initiatives to date may not have required per-format identification…. We believe that hardwiring bibliographic and identification practice […]
Olympics, Summer Doldrums Affect Publishing in China
With the Olympic Games well underway in Beijing, the NYT’s Charles McGrath checks in with China’s publishing industry and finds the summer blues are affecting them as well. “Publishing is always a little slow in the summer,” remarks Jo Lusby, the manager of Penguin China. “But there’s also a feeling that right now nobody is paying any attention to books. Some publishing people have just left town.” The Olympics also affected the timing and scheduling of the annual Beijing Book Fair, pushed back to September and moved to Tianjin, an hour away – resulting in “a lot less interest” in […]
Lunch Weekly for Monday, August 11
Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut George Bishop, Jr.’s TO MY DAUGHTER ON HER FIFTEENTH BIRTHDAY, in […]
Fewer Novels for France
The French publishing industry still releases the bulk of their fiction lists between mid-August and the end of October (“la rentrée littéraire”) but this year’s crop of 676 novels will be 7 percent smaller than last year’s batch of 727 titles, according to magazine Livres Hebdos. Part of it, however, is that “French publishers looking to spread their publishing output throughout the year.” The magazine’s Vincy Thomas says: “These books are fairly dark, very depressing – a bit like France. There is a ‘grande malaise’, a sort of depression, in France at the moment. This is not a joyful country; […]
Another African Memoir Is Next Starbucks Pick
Helene Cooper’s THE HOUSE AT SUGAR BEACH, a memoir about growing up in Liberia during the country’s civil war, will be Starbucks’ next book selection when Simon & Schuster releases the book on September 3. “First told in a Wall Street Journal cover story that generated far-reaching critical acclaim and reader interest, the story of Helene Cooper’s extraordinary life, now fully explored in memoir form, is a compelling personal tale rent from the broader pages of Liberia’s recent turbulent history.” Cooper is the diplomatic correspondent for the NYT. Starbucks director of content development Nikkole Denson says “our customers enjoy engaging, […]