Oh yes indeed, it’s that time again already: the July BookMachine publishing news wrap is here! Remember to follow the article link for hyperlinks and the full piece…
This month in publishing news, it’s been all about the publisher’s best friend: the indie bookshop! The 2017 Independent Bookshop Week got well underway towards the end of June with the announcement of its annual Book Award, with winner Sebastian Barry praising the importance of independent bookshops and the culture they help to build. Publishers, too, seem to have thrown their weight behind this year’s celebrations with more gusto than usual, and the whole industry was set abuzz by hundreds of offline events and online by the lively #IBW17 hashtag.
Though Independent Bookshop Week finished in early July, it’s been a month of promising news for bricks-and-mortar bookstores, with the BA and PA getting airtime in the House of Commons and sales in bookshops almost even compared to this point last year. Print has been widely reported to be continuing to rise, while digital doom apparently looms for eBooks because of a ‘Shelfie’ craze. Worse still, some of the digital retailers have decided it’s time to forget about fighting print and declared war on each other instead! However, while bookshops are stable, libraries are looking less happy, with cuts and growth across the UK continuing to cause chaos to the sector… [READ MORE]