Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten has acquired e-reading service Kobo for $315 million.
The move follows Rakuten’s acquisition of internet retailer Play.com earlier this year for £25m in cash, as part of the company’s European expansion plan.
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Solaris Books has acquired the sequel to Helix by sci fi author Eric Brown.
Editor-in-chief Jon Oliver acquired UK and US rights in Helix Wars in a deal with agent John Jarrold. The title will be delivered in spring 2012 with publication lined up for April next year.
Originally published in 2007, Helix revealed the worlds of a vast spiral construct, wound around a single sun with each twist composed of over 10,000 worlds, built by an ancient alien race known as the Builders.
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Academic Michael Hunter has won the 2011 Samuel Pepys Award for his "fascinating" biography of 17th-century scientist Robert Boyle.
Boyle: Between God and Science (Yale) was awarded the £2,000 prize and a specially commissioned medal at a special dinner held at St Paul's School, at which Pepys was a scholar, last night (25th October).
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The Commonwealth Writers prizes have relaunched today (19th October) with a new community website aimed at “connecting and inspiring new authors”.
The new site is a free-to-join forum for aspiring writers to get advice from established authors and publishers and debate the future of publishing.
Anova Books imprint Conway has acquired the official tie-in to forthcoming BBC series "Dig WWII" fronted by historian Dan Snow.
Publisher John Lee acquired world rights through agent Luigi Bonomi on behalf of documentary makers 360 Production.
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"Grange Hill" writer Phil Redmond is to pen a memoir and novel for Random House imprint Cornerstone.
M.d. Susan Sandon acquired world rights in the two books directly with Redmond, who is best known for creating three of Britain's longest-running drama programmes: "Grange Hill", "Brookside" and "Hollyoaks".
The as-yet-untitled memoir will be published in November 2012 to tie in with the 30th anniversaries of both "Brookside" and Channel 4, with an Arrow paperback to be released in 2013.
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A 27-year-old author from York has won independent publisher Route's competition to find a debut novelist.
Sophie Coulombeau's novel, provisionally titled Rites, will be published by Route next summer. The competition, supported by Arts Council England, was aimed at aspiring authors aged between 18-30 and living in Yorkshire.
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Random House parent Bertelsmann has appointed Thomas Rabe as its new chairman and c.e.o., effective from 1st January 2012, with the current encumbment, Hartmut Ostrowski, resigning from the executive board "for personal reasons", and moving to the supervisory board.
Rabe has served as chief financial officer and head of the corporate centre at Bertelsmann since 1st January 2006. He has also been responsible for the corporate investments growth initiatives, which include the music rights company BMG.
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Philip Roth’s tale of a polio epidemic has been shortlisted for the £25,000 Wellcome Trust Book Prize, with a six-strong shortlist that sees four novels in the running.
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John Burnside has won the Forward Prize for Best Collection after being shortlisted a previous three times for the poetry prize.
The 56-year-old received the £10,000 award for his collection Black Cat Bone (Jonathan Cape), praised by chair of judges Andrew Motion as "[a book] to linger over, as well as one to enjoy at first reading". He said: "It is a distinguished winner of the Forward Prize."
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Author Jojo Moyes, Hungerford Bookshop owner Emma Milne-White and Hammicks’ Sharon Murray are to join the judging panels for this year’s Costa Book Awards.
A total of 568 books have been entered for this year’s awards, with the category shortlists (first novel; novel; biography; poetry; and children’s book) to be announced on 16th November. The category winners will be revealed on 4th January 2012, with the Costa Book of the Year crowned on 24th January.
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Broadcaster and author Melvyn Bragg is to join the judging panel for the Sunday Times EFG Private Bank Short Story Award for a second year in a row.
Bragg will be joined by actor Ian Hart, playwright and novelist Hanif Kureishi, novelist Joanna Trollope and novelist and short story writer Edna O’Brien, who herself has just won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award.
The line-up is completed by Sunday Times literary editor Andrew Holgate and Matthew Evans, chairman of EFG Private Bank and non-voting chair of judges.
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Transworld has appointed Michelle Signore, currently editor-in-chief at John Blake, to the role of editorial director.
Signore will join Transworld on 17th October, and will report to publishing director Doug Young.
Signore said: "Working at John Blake for the last 12 years has been a wonderful experience and enormous fun. To be able to help build on the outstanding non-fiction list at Transworld, however, is the most amazing opportunity—I can't wait to join the team there and get started."
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Five titles have been shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize, including Autofellatio by James Maker which began as a self-published e-book before finding a publisher.
Maker's title, published by Big Fib, joins three other titles from indies: Love, Hope & High Heels by Clare Campbell (Tollington Press); Homo Jihad by Timothy Graves (Paradise Press); and London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp (Myriad Editions). Julian Corkle is a Filthy Liar by D J Connell (Blue Door) completes the list.
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Turkey is to be the the Market Focus partner of London Book Fair 2013.
The announcement was made last night (19th September) at an official signing event attended by Turkish Ministry Of Culture and Tourism general director of libraries and publications, Onur Bilge Kula, and coordinator of the Turkish Organising Committee for International Book Fairs, Ümit Yasar Gözüm.
The Market Focus programme, in partnership with the British Council, will be supported by a series of public events across the UK featuring visiting Turkish authors.
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Virgin Books has acquired a title by craft journalist Perri Lewis, which will enlist the world’s top makers to explore different crafts from dressmaking to decoupage.
World rights to Material World: Inspiration and Secrets from the Frontline of Craft were acquired by Hannah Knowles, senior editor at Virgin Books, from Kate Shaw at The Viney Agency.
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Photograph specialist and publisher The Francis Frith Collection is to publish a tie-in title to forthcoming BBC series “Britain’s First Photo Album”.
The BBC2 10-part daytime series will be fronted by John Sergeant and broadcast in 2012. The title focuses on Victorian photographer Francis Frith, who in the 1860s began a project to photograph every town and village in the UK, and will be published in collaboration with Reef TV, the independent TV production company which made the series.
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Stories from Jon McGregor and M J Hyland have been shortlisted for the sixth BBC National Short Story Award, announced this evening (9th September) on BBC Radio’s “Front Row”.
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Previous Man Booker Prize for Fiction winner Alan Hollinghurst has missed the shortlist for this year’s prize, which includes two debuts—Stephen Kelman and A D Miller— and a wealth of titles from indies.
Bookies’ favourite and previously thrice-shortlisted Julian Barnes has made the six-strong list, announced this morning (6th September), his The Sense of an Ending (Random House/Cape) the only title from one of the major publishers.
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The Edinburgh International Book Festival, Scottish indie Cargo and US publisher McSweeney's are to team up on a four-volume collection of stories from authors including Roddy Doyle and Ali Smith.
Fifty authors are to take part in the project, entitled Elsewhere, providing stories commissioned by the festival over the past 12 months. Cargo will be the main publisher with McSweeney's to contribute the design. Authors Michael Morpurgo, Alan Warner, Jackie Kay and Michel Faber are also to take part.
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E-book sales now account for over 10% of Random House Group UK sales, as worldwide earnings for parent company Random House surged despite a dip in sales.
In the first six months of 2011, Random House worldwide reported revenue of €787m (£697.3m), down from €791m (£701.0m) last year, according to figures from parent company Bertelsmman. However, earnings before interest and taxes surged from €40m (£35.5m) to €69m (£61.2m) during the same period.
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BBC Four has acquired an Australian adaptation of Christos Tsiolkas’ Man Booker-longlisted novel The Slap.
“Hotel Rwanda” actress Sophie Okenedo, Jonathan La Paglia and Melissa George will star in the series of eight one-hour episodes, described as a “very well made tale of our times” by the channel. BBC Four will broadcast in October.
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American crime writer Karin Slaughter has written a digital-only short story exclusive to Amazon, with all the proceeds going to benefit libraries.
Julian Barnes, Sebastian Barry and bookies favourite Alan Hollinghurst are seen by the trade as the Man Booker Prize for Fiction frontrunners after the longlist was revealed on Tuesday (26th July).
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Angry Robot is to publish a debut novel by Canadian writer Madeline Ashby.
vN is set in a near-future where robots and humans live side by side, and follows Amy, who has grown up with a cybernetic mother and human father. Alone of her kind, her "human-protecting failsafe" has stopped working and she's soon on the run from the law. Her only friend is a robot boy programmed to only like humans.
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