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NEWS REVIEW


13.05.16 www.thebookseller.com


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BONNIER PUBLISHING


RIGHTS DEALS


SPHERE SNAGS SIX-FIG ‘SUPERLEAD’ IN SEVEN-WAY AUCTION Sphere has signed two books from thriller writer Karen Dionne for a “significant” six-figure sum, following a “heated” seven-way publisher auction. The first book in the deal, The Marsh King’s Daughter, is slated to be Sphere’s “superlead publication” next year. July 2017 is its expected release date. Sphere secured UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, including audio, through Lorella Belli. US rights were sold for a “major” seven-figure sum at auction to Putnam.


TONY ROBINSON MEMOIRS TO PAN MAC Pan Macmillan has acquired the


autobiography of Sir Tony Robinson. No Cunning Plan will be “warm, witty and just a little bit rude”, said editorial director Ingrid Connell. Pan Mac acquired world rights from Sarah Dalkin at Jeremy Hicks, and will publish in September.


SPOONS CARPETS FLOOR SQUARE PEG Square Peg is


publishing Kit Caless’ appreciation of pub chain Wetherspoon’s carpets. As documented in his blog, Caless found that each branch’s carpet was unique, with its design


inspired by either the building or the pub’s name. Publishing director Rosemary Davidson acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Spoon’s Carpets: An Appreciation from Sarah Such Literary Agency, to publish in October.


Bonnier buys Blake


Bonnier Publishing has bought independent publisher John Blake. The purchase of the commercial


non-fiction publisher, whose owner, former journalist John Blake right, set up the company in 1991, was made for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition takes place with “immediate effect” and, according to Bonnier, there are “no planned changes to headcount”. Bonnier has said its aim is to


“grow the company back to £4m-plus” within the next two years, reporting that John Blake’s turnover last year was £2.2m and that it published some 110 titles. Bonnier Publishing has expanded rapidly over the past two years, acquiring publishers Igloo Books, Totally Entwined Group and absorbing Weldon Owen US, and launching new imprints, including Zaffre. John Blake Publishing will


Teo takes £10k prize to finish Ponti


become part of the Kings Road Publishing division, led by c.e.o. Perminder Mann. It will remain at its current location in Fulham, with Blake staying on in his current role and reporting to Mann. Blake, founder and publisher, said he was “thrilled” to be joining “the most innovative and exciting book publisher in Europe”.


Shepherd herded to Bonnier


Bonnier Publishing has appointed Dan Shepherd, global sales and marketing director at DK Worldwide, as c.e.o. of Igloo Books Group. He succeeds current c.e.o. John Styring, who will step down in August. Richard Johnson, group c.e.o. of Bonnier Publishing, said: “Dan’s


very impressive track record, combined with his ambition, drive and communication skills, means that this is a fantastic coup for us and we are delighted he has agreed to join Bonnier Publishing. The goal is to make the Igloo Books Group the biggest mass-market publisher in the world in three years’ time and I’m looking forward to working with Dan to achieve this.”


INTERNATIONAL Copyright ruling rocks Germany


A court ruling that ends the decades-long practice of distributing copyright levies equally between authors and publishers has rocked Germany’s book industry. According to the German Federal Supreme Court, the Bundesgerichtshof (BGH), publishers are not entitled to half of the monies distributed by the collecting society Verwertungsgesellschaft (VG Wort). BGH ruled in favour of author and copyright expert


Martin Vogek, who set the ball rolling when he took VG Wort to court in 2011. The court upheld two earlier


rulings, both contested by VG Wort, that payments can only be made to the holder of the rights. The judges ruled that this is effectively the author, because publishers are not considered rights-holders under German copyright law. VG Wort’s argument—that publishers facilitate the exploitation of published works in the first place— does not justify them to receive a blanket revenue share from VG Wort, the court decided. Alexander Skipis, chief executive of the trade association Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels, said it was a heavy blow to German publishing culture.


The winner of the inaugural Deborah Rogers Writers’ Award, a £10,000 prize for an unpublished writer, is Sharlene Wen-Ning Teo above for Ponti, a work of fiction about “a misfit adolescent girl growing up in sultry, sweaty Singapore”. The prize was founded to grant financial assistance to first- time writers in order to enable them to finish their book. It was established in recognition of the support late literary agent Deborah Rogers gave to new writers, “wherever they came from”. Rogers died in May 2014. The judges called Ponti “a


breath of fictional fresh air”. Author Ian McEwan, who was Rogers’ client for almost 40 years, presented Teo with the £10,000 prize at a ceremony in London. The two runners-up were Imogen Hermes Gowar for her historical novel The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock and scholar and journalist Guy Stagg for his work of non-fiction, The Crossway.


AWARDS & PRIZES











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