Bookopedia News
New Book From John Brown
The Return of Richard & Judy
Richard Madeley has spoken of plans to front a book club with wife Judy Finnigan.
The presenter told the TV Times "advanced talks" had been taking place after they were approached by publishers to take part in a project.
Richard & Judy
Back to books: Richard & Judy are in talks for a new project However Channel 4, which has been showing a revamped version of the massively popular book club which the couple previously presented, said it had not been in discussions with the couple.
Madeley, who has been the subject of speculation as a possible replacement for Adrian Chiles on The One Show, told the TV Times: "This is very much a joint project we will do together."
Better Capital, which bought Reader's Digest UK out of administration, has agreed to pay the magazine's former US parent a small percentage of its revenue in return for the right to use the Reader's Digest brand.
The Daily Telegraph understands Better Capital, Jon Moulton's latest private equity vehicle, will pay Reader's Digest Association (RDA) about 2pc of its total sales, which amounted to £75m last year.
The revelation will outrage Reader's Digest's British staff who will lose at least 10pc of their pensions, after the UK scheme was cast aside when RDA dumped the British division into administration.
The long awaited follow up to Return to Oz , has at last been announced. Fans of the travel writer John Brown will be pleased to hear that his new book 'North of Watford Gap', is now available via your nearest Waterston's or independent bookshop. No prizes for guessing what it's all about - I think the cover says it all -
Waterstones
The best thing that happened to bookselling during my time as a writer was the brave initiative of Tim Waterstone in establishing a chain of superb bookshops throughout the country. They were well-placed, inviting, efficiently-run and a wonderful improvement on WH Smith, the newsagents which were little more than pretend bookshops.
It was a bad day for authors when Tim Waterstone decided to sell his bookshops to WH Smith and retire. Four or five years ago there was a rumour that he might be tempted to come back and buy up the rival bookselling business Ottakers. But he did not come back and high street bookselling in this country has declined so rapidly since then that it seems in danger of disappearing.
What has gone wrong? The ending of retail price maintenance was a great blow to small independent bookshops. Waterstone's, which had bought Ottakers, was filling its windows and tables with cut-price paperbacks and three-for-the-price-of-two options, and appeared to be in a strong position. Publishers were obliged to pay, and pay heavily, for good positions for their titles in their shops.
But fundamentally Waterstone's had no real interest in books and was not looking to the future. The future lay with internet bookselling which Waterstone's has eventually started, but where it will find difficulty matching the super-efficiency of Amazon. Its policy of looking backwards and following what sold well last year or the year before has now hit the buffers. Celebrity books sold badly last Christmas and their sales dipped steeply. It is no surprise to hear managing director Gerry Johnson has left the sinking vessel. And it is too late now, I reckon, for his replacement, Dominic Myers, to call on Tim Waterstone
IPad's Book-like Touches May Appeal To Traditional Readers
It's not just that the iPad is beautiful. Nor is it just that the touch-screen interface is more intuitive than the controls on the plastic shell of the Kindle — which up to now has been the dominant e-reader.
So what is it? Simply this: Books on the iPad are electronic without losing their essential bookness, in a way that e-books haven't been before.
Hay is lovely, except for the festival
When I heard the news that Pervez Musharraf, former president of Pakistan, is to appear at this year's Hay-on-Wye literary festival, I first thought that someone was making a mordant joke, the purpose of which was to indicate that literary festivals are getting a bit out of hand. But no – he's really turning up, apparently.
I wonder what he's going to talk about. As military dictators go he was, I am sure, one of the nicer ones, but his connection with the realm of literature seems tenuous at best, unless I have missed something. Then again, Hay has always been happy to give the powerful, or the formerly powerful, a platform: who can forget Bill Clinton in 2001, calling it "the Woodstock of the mind"? Cont'd
Richard & Judy to The Rescue
Their television book club has turned many an unknown novel into a bestseller almost overnight. And despite being off the air, it seems Richard and Judy have retained the Midas touch when it comes to publishing.
Struggling author Ruth Saberton turned to the chatshow hosts after her novel was rejected by publishers, and popped an unsolicited 400-page manuscript through the door of their Cornish home.
To her amazement, Richard Madeley then contacted her personally to say how much he had enjoyed reading it.
Armed with a written endorsement from the 53-year-old presenter, Mrs Saberton tried the same publishers again – and this time secured an estimated £10,000 deal.
Read -more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article
March Sales Figures Point To Continued Growth On The High Street
Mid-size high street retailers are going in to the second quarter of the year in a strong position after a second consecutive month of improvements in retail spending, according to accountants and business advisers BDO LLP
Amazon -Boom
Profits at online retail giant Amazon leapt by 71% in the last three months of 2009 as shoppers spent more than ever during the festive season.
Amazon reported a net profit of $384m (£238m), up from $225m in the same quarter a year ago.
Sales rose 42% to $9.5bn, helped by favourable changes in foreign exchange rates, the firm
Just when you thought celebrity books were dying
A bidding war has broken out among publishers for the rights to the singer's autobiography, with the price apparently reaching more than £5million.
Random House, HarperCollins and Penguin are all understood to be among the bidders, with industry insiders claiming competition has grown so fierce that the eventual fee could be the highest-ever paid for a celebrity's memoirs.
Penguin Boss Unfazed By March Of Ebooks
The relentless march of the electronic book – epitomised by Amazon's Kindle reader and the forthcoming Apple iPad – threatens to hollow out the publishing world in the same way as the internet has altered forever the dynamics of the music industry.
Penguin boss John Makinson likens the rise of the ebook to the moment when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 15th century.
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