Saturday, October 03, 2015

Latest News from The Bookseller

Richard Johnson
Under c.e.o. Richard Johnson, the past few years have seen breathtaking change at Bonnier Publishing, the English-language wing of family-owned Swedish media giant Bonnier. There have been five start-ups, overseas and in the UK, most recently a UK adult fiction business headed by Mark Smith; and there have been acquisitions including, this year, Igloo Books and digital romance/ erotic publisher Totally Entwined.
Books by Karl Ove Knausgaard, anti-FGM campaigner Hibo Wardere and Romanian novelist E O Chirovici are among the highlights agents are taking to the Frankfurt Book Fair.
In the first of The Bookseller’s collection of key titles, 15 agencies have shared the books they are betting on for the fair, with a number of titles already the subject of auctions and pre-empts.
London Book Fair
The London Book Fair and Bologna Children’s Book Fair have revealed their respective exhibition dates for 2017.
Patrick Ness
YA author Patrick Ness is to write and executively produce an eight-part Doctor Who spin-off series, set to air in 2016.
Michelle Adams
Headline has bought a “compulsive” debut thriller in a six-figure deal.
Commissioning editor Emily Griffin pre-empted British Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, to If You Knew My Sister by Michelle Adams, plus one further novel, from Madeleine Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Literary, TV & Film Agency.
Hannah Westland
Profile Books has promoted Hannah Westland to the position of Andrew Franklin’s editorial deputy.
Westland has been the publisher at Serpent’s Tail since 2012, and before that was an agent at Rogers, Coleridge and White. Her authors at Serpent’s Tail include Zoe Pilger, Sarah Perry, and Jami Attenberg.
John Murray, an imprint of John Murray Press, has acquired In Pursuit of Memory: The Fight Against Alzheimer’s, following a "hotly contested" six-figure auction. 
Publisher Georgina Laycock bought world rights to the book - a human history of Alzheimer’s, the science behind it and the race to find a cure - from Carrie Plitt at Conville & Walsh. 
US rights have already been sold to Tracy Behar at Little Brown US. Anna Alexander and the JMP Rights team will be selling translation rights at Frankfurt Book Fair.
Submissions for FutureBook Awards close at midnight tonight (Friday 2nd October).
BAMB
Books Are My Bag has teamed up with The Busking Project to launch The Bookshop Buskers.
The initiative will see buskers and street theatre bring “high streets to life” on Saturday 10th October as part of the industry-wide Books Are My Bag (BAMB) campaign. The partnership’s aim is to provide customers with a lively shopping experience and to remind them that high streets are dynamic social hubs that bring communities together.
Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is revising its two Nepal travel guides in light of the devastating earthquakes in April.
Nepal (£17.99) and Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya (£14.99) will be reissued in December. Joe Bindloss, LP’s destination editor covering Nepal, said: “We wanted to get the revised books into the market quickly so that people thinking of coming to Nepal would be able to make an informed decision about whether or not to travel.”
Wellcome Book Prize logo
Joan Bakewell, Sathnam Sanghera, Tessa Hadley, Damian Barr and Frances Balkwill will judge the Wellcome Book Prize 2016.
Michael Morpurgo has signed a three book deal with HarperCollins and the first new title will be published later this month.
Eagle in the Snow, released 8th October (h/b, £12.99), was inspired by the true story of Henry Tandey, the most decorated British soldier of the First World War and the man who allegedly had the chance to kill Hitler at the Battle of Marcoing. Publication will be accompanied by a nationwide PR and marketing campaign.
The next two novels, whose titles are yet to be announced, will be published between now and 2019.

No comments: