Category Archives: Book News

Barnes & Noble has announced that they are considering spinning off its Nook business into its own company. he disclosure came as part of B&N’s holiday sales report that showed large increases in sales of Nook devices, but also revealed that earnings, hurt by lower than expected sales of the Nook Simple Touch and increased … Continue reading

The category award winners for the 2011 Costa Book Awards (formerly Whitbread Awards), which honor books by writers in the U.K. and Ireland, include: Novel: Pure by Andrew Miller First novel: Tiny Sunbirds Far Away by Christie Watson Biography: Now All Roads Leads to France: The Last Years of Edward Thomas by Matthew Hollis Poetry: … Continue reading

Apple is going to be holding an exclusive event in New York city later this month to possibly launch a new program for their iBooks and Publishing platform. Sources close to Apple report that the event will announce the launch of a new digital self-publishing platform, which would compete with Amazon (DTP) and Barnes and … Continue reading

Walter Dean Myers named today as the USA’s national ambassador for young people’s literature. The third person to hold the post since it was created in 2008. Mr Myers’ books chronicle the lives of many urban teenagers, especially young, poor African-Americans. He succeeds Katherine Paterson, the novelist best known for Bridge to Terabithia, and the … Continue reading

Journalist Caitlin Moran’s take on modern feminism How to Be A Woman has won the UK’s Galaxy Book of the Year. Moran’s book beat 10 other contenders chosen by industry experts to be crowned the overall winner by a public vote. It will be published in the USA in May 2012. Read more on bookbrowse.com

Anger among retailers over Amazon’s price check promotion continues to rise. The app incentivizes consumers to use their local retailers as showrooms and then buy the same product at Amazon at a discounted rate. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R.-Maine) called for Amazon to cancel its price check plans and described the online retailer’s promotion as “an … Continue reading

The writer and journalist Christopher Hitchens has died at the age of 62 after being diagnosed with oesophageal cancer in June 2010. According to the Guardian, the reactions to his illness from his intellectual opponents testified to his stature as one of the leading voices of secularism since the publication in 2007 of his anti-religious … Continue reading

The Kindle Fire, Amazon’s heavily promoted tablet, is less than a blazing success with many of its early users. Complaints include that there is no external volume control and the off switch is easy to hit by accident. Also there is no external volume control. The off switch is easy to hit by accident. Web … Continue reading

The list of 30 books that will be offered on World Book Night USA has just been released. If you are a USA resident aged 16 or over and would like to give away books, go to www.us.worldbooknight.org and complete the form which asks, simply, which book you want to giveaway, where, to whom & … Continue reading

The BBC’s award for short fiction is to turn international for one year to celebrate the Olympics, with the shortlist to be expanded from five stories to 10. The award is now open for submissions from publishers, agents and authors from anywhere in the world who have been published in the UK. The closing date … Continue reading