THIS WEEK
News Review The headlines: in brief
Abbott tops in fiction as Amazon begins weekly cross-format charts Amazon has begun releasing weekly UK
RACHEL ABBOTT TOPPED THE FICTION SELLERS ON AMAZON’S CHART
book charts showing fiction and non- fiction bestsellers, based on sales and page reads. Although based solely on sales through
Amazon.co.uk—or reads and listens via its Kindle and Audible platforms—the data represents the first time print and digital sales have been recorded together, throwing a spotlight on the success of digital-only publica- tions which are not currently tracked by official book sales data collection company Nielsen BookScan. Fiction top-sellers for the week ending 21st July were Rachel Abbot’s And So It Begins (Wildfire), currently price promoted at 99p, and Darkness on the Fens by Joy Ellis (Joffe Books), avail- able via subscription scheme Kindle Unlimited. David Walliams’ The World’s Worst Teachers, the current Nielsen BookScan number one, is fourth on
Rights deal
of the Week
5,330
A Maldives resort 5,330 miles away from London is hiring a new bookseller to run its pop-up shop when it opens its doors again this October. Penguin Random House Ireland press officer Aimée Johnston was chosen from thousands of applicants to run the Barefoot Bookseller pop-up shop in the ecological resort of Soneva Fushi for a three-month stint earlier this year. With her placement now over, the shop is now on the hunt for a new bookseller for a six-month contract.
Letter to the editor
I don’t know if any of your readers know that one- time member of Transworld and Penguin publicity department Jenny Wilford died recently. I had sadly lost touch with her except for exchanging “We must meet” Christmas cards, but she was the loveliest person, and absolutely brilliant at promotions. All her authors at Transworld and Penguin loved her, not least because she was such fun and any campaign orchestrated by her produced such amazing coverage. Heaven is very lucky to have her up there. Thank you, Yours faithfully, Jilly Cooper
12 26th July 2019
Blackwell’s Oxford @blackwelloxford
Peter Saxel, our Classics bookseller, has just celebrated 50 years of working at Broad Street... Thank you, Peter, for 50 years of incredible bookselling!
Stat
Amazon’s most-sold list and does not feature in the most-read top 20, which is dominated by backlist books. Seven out of 10 of the most-read fiction books this week are Harry Poter titles, and nine of the top 10 most-read fiction books are by female authors, who also dominate the top 20 list. The new charts mirror those that
débuted in the US in May 2017. Simon Johnson, country manager, Amazon UK Books, said: “We’re very excited to be launching Amazon charts in the UK, giving our customers brand new insights into the most-read and most- bought books across all formats in our store. We hope that the weekly lists will inspire readers to try something new, whether in physical, e-book or audio.” The chart also includes pre-orders, and titles that feature in Amazon’s subscription schemes.
Headline Gnuse as girl goes to Fourth Estate US author Adam Gnuse’s “haunting” gothic début, Girl in the Walls, has gone to Fourth Estate in a six-figure deal. Associate publisher Helen Garnons-Williams pre-empted UK and Commonwealth rights (excluding Canada). Girl in the Walls follows 10-year-old Elise as she sneaks back into her childhood home to haunt the new family that lives there, after her parents die in a car accident. The title, which C+W’s Sue Armstrong found on the slush pile, will be published as a lead début novel in hardback in spring 2021.
Stead and Phillips promoted at Bonnier Books Bonnier Books UK has promoted Margaret Stead and Matt Phillips to newly created roles, with Stead made publisher of Zaffre and nascent liter- ary imprint Manilla, and Matt Phillips to take on the role of publisher of non-fiction at imprints Blink and John Blake. Stead joined Zaffre as publishing
director in August 2018, the latest move in a 20-year career that has included stints at Harvill Secker, Atlantic Books and Penguin Press. She has worked with authors includ- ing Henning Mankell, Richard Ford and Haruki Murakami. Phillips above has been publishing
director of Blink for three years, join- ing the firm from Penguin Random House’s sports imprint Yellow Jersey. His successes include the F2 football series and Jenson Button’s Life to the Limit. Kate Parkin, m.d. of adult trade publishing, said the pair had been crucial to Bonnier’s success.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
