The Book Network News: Issue 1
Welcome to the first issue of The Book Network News.
This new series summarises the latest news on independent books, people and insight into the publishing industry. It’s perfect for authors, book lovers and publishing hopefuls. Read on to find the latest headlines from the past few weeks.
1. Boldwood Books hits five million copies sold in two years since launch
In just 2 short years Boldwood Books has exceeded a phenomenal sales achievement of five million books, and has recently signed seven new authors, bringing their total number of authors to 67.
Boldwood Books is an award-winning independent global fiction publishing house, they also recently won the RNA Publisher of the year award. Launched in 2019, they have published over 160 titles, signed 67 authors and sold over 4 million books worldwide.
The new authors' books will be across a range of different genres from women’s fiction and mystery to historical fiction and thriller. The authors include: Helen Rolfe, Samantha Tonge, Catherine Coles, Chrissie Walsh, Debbie Howells, Tracey Emerson and debut American author Erin Litteken.
In a statement from The Bookseller, the publisher and company founder Amanda Ridout says "It's thrilling to have sold five million books in just over two years to readers all over the word in whichever format they choose which has been at the heart of the company's promise since it was founded. Thanks are due to all our brilliant authors, the Boldwood team and to all our retail and industry partners who have helped us reach this milestone. It has been a wonderful collaborative endeavour."
Read more at The Bookseller
2. SP Books and British Library to release first edition of The Jungle Book
This week SP Books has announced a collaboration with the British Library to release the first publication of Rudyard Kipling’s original manuscript of The Jungle Book.
The independent publisher was founded in Saint-Germain-des-Prés by Jessica Nelson and Nicolas Tretiakow with the aim of creating a unique collection of great manuscripts. They specialise in the publication of facsimiles of manuscripts: novels, musical scores, poems, fairy tales, stories, essays, letters and scientific papers. On Thursday 25th November, the press will publish the script in book form featuring Kipling’s original text and illustrations. It will also contain work by French artist Maurice de Becque.
Other original manuscripts
SP Books has also launched other original manuscripts in the UK such as Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Lady Susan by Jane Austen and The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
The publisher says “The manuscript of The Jungle Book immerses the reader in Kipling’s beautiful handwriting and unseen drawings, as well as creating a new bond with Kaa, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, Toomaï, Kotuko and friends.”
Read more here at The Bookseller
3. Publishers Take on a Climate Pledge to become more sustainable
Publishing Declares, which launched on 15th October 2021 by the Publishers Association and partnered with the Booksellers Association, Society of Authors, and British Printing Industries Federation, is a sustainability pledge to help raise awareness of the sustainability issues within the UK book publishing industry.
As of today there are 82 signatories (and counting) from across the industry. Alongside the Big 5 UK publishing houses (Penguin Random House, Hachette UK , HarperCollins UK, Simon, and Schuster UK, and Macmillan), small independent presses such as Comma Press, b small publishing, Jacaranda Books, Canongate Books and Firefly Press are also taking on this environmental pledge.
The signatories pledge to:
Take action on climate - Join the global climate effort to limit warming to 1.5°C by setting ambitious, measurable targets across our own operations and extended supply chain to achieve net zero as soon as possible and by 2050 at the latest.
Protect life on land - Protect nature and biodiversity, working with supply chain partners that are resource efficient, use sustainable materials and processes wherever possible in the content we produce, and constantly innovating to make use of new and recycled materials.
Strengthen partnerships - Collaborate with our peers, authors, illustrators, supply chain partners and business partners to translate our climate aspirations and commitments into tangible actions to safeguard our planet for future generations.
Educate for sustainability - Empower our colleagues to become climate literate and support them to bring that knowledge into the work that they do.
Advocate for sustainability - Use our expertise, platform, and voice to raise awareness and drive positive climate action wherever we can.
Publishing Decares says “We have a responsibility to use our collective voice to inspire positive change, as we reduce our impact and transform our ways of working. We invite everyone in the UK book and journal industry – from printers and publishers to booksellers and authors – to join us in this effort.”
For more information and to sign the climate pledge click here: Publishing Declares
4. US Department of Justice Stops Simon & Schuster Purchase
The US Department of Justice is suing to stop a $2.2 billion book publishing deal that would reshape the publishing industry. Penguin Random House, owned by German media giant Bertelsmann’s, is already one of largest publishers in the world and it wants to buy Simon & Schuster, the third largest publisher in the US.
In a recent statement warning against this consolidation, Attorney General Merrick B Garland said “If the world’s largest book publisher is permitted to acquire one of its biggest rivals, it will have unprecedented control over this important industry.” He further states risks such as “lower advances for authors and ultimately fewer books and less variety for consumers.”
The purchase of Simon & Schuster would reduce the so-called Big Five, which dominate American publishing and include HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan, to four. This deal has also raised concerns from other writers and publishers. The Author’s Guild, a writers’ organisation, are against this acquisition as there would be less competition for author’s manuscripts.
In a statement given by Daniel Petrocelli, a lawyer for Penguin Random House, “The Department of Justice’s lawsuit is wrong on the facts, the law, and public policy” and they have “not found, nor does it allege, that the combination will reduce competition in the sale of books.”
For others, such as Mary Rasenberger (chief executive of the Authors Guild) this lawsuit can be seen as an unexpected act of intervention “given that so many other major mergers and acquisitions in the publishing industry have gone through recently and over the last few decades with nary a raised eyebrow from The Department of Justice.”
Read more about this at The Bookseller or The Guardian
5. FutureBook Awards: Marcus Rashford, Bad Form Review and PRH's Lit in Colour among winners
The winners for FutureBook Awards were announced on 19th November at the FutureBook Conference in London.
Across six categories: Discover, Event, Team, Sustainability, Start Up and Campaign, 24 companies/teams were shortlisted. At the beginning of November it was announced that Marcus Rashford had won FutureBook Person of the Year award for making a real difference in publishing through his actions and advocacy.
Rashford’s deal with Macmillan Children's Books saw him launch his first children's book, You Are A Champion, as well as the The Marcus Rashford Book Club. Rashford and Macmillan also worked together to help donate books to children who lacked access to reading materials, with partners such as Magic Breakfast, the National Literacy Trust, BT and WH Smith.
In the hotly contested Discovery category, Bad Form Review and Penguin Random House's Lit in Colour scheme jointly won the Discover award. Founded by Amy Mae Baxter, Bad Form Review is about Black, Asian, and racialised community writers. In addition, the Lit in Colour campaign works to increase students’ access to more books by writers of colour, as it was recently revealed that only 0.7% of English Literature GCSE students in England study a book by a writer of colour. Other winners included Hachette's Feminist Book Box, the Booker Prize 2020, Bookshop.org and the campaign for Empire of the Vampire (HarperVoyager).
To read more click here