Inspectors from the European Commission Investigate European Publishers

This story originally appeared in the French publishing trade magazineLivres Hebdo.


The European commission agency Directorate General for Competition launched an investigation yesterday into several publishing companies, including all the major French publishers, suspected of possibly colluding on the price of digital books, reports the French publishing magazine Livres Hebdo.

Nordic Crime Dominates International Bestellers: Week of 2/28/2011

If January is any indication, 2011 is going to be another big year for Nordic crime all over the world. While Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy continues its run on many international lists, those books aren't alone. In the U.K., Norwegian Jo Nesbø tops the list with the eighth installment of his Harry Hole series, The Leopard.

One Book, One Day, 10 Countries

This spring, bestselling author Jean Auel will publish The Land of Painted Caves, the sixth and final installment in the Earth's Children series, which began with the 1980 classic The Clan of the Cave Bear. Some 30 years later, with more than 45 million copies in print in 30 languages, Auel is one of the most successful international authors in history.

Books, E-books, And Americans In Paris

Organized as part of a cultural cooperation agreement between the French Ministry of Culture and the French-American Foundation of New York, a group of six American publishing professionals spent a week in Paris, January 23–28, meeting their French counterparts at publishing houses, the publishers association, libraries, and bookstores, with an emphasis on observing the state of digital publishing in France.

The Fenn Fallout

With Grant Thornton, the financial company managing the affairs of Canada's bankrupt distributor H.B. Fenn, saying more details about the alternatives it is exploring on the Fenn bankruptcy are still a week or so away, some industry members are questioning whether distribution is still a viable business in Canada.

Canada Book Count Finds Encouraging Response

According to Canada's first-ever National Book Count, 2.7 million books were purchased from stores and online retailers or borrowed from libraries from January 10 to 16.

Pope Lights Up Lists

Pope Benedict XVI's Light of the World, coauthored with German journalist Peter Seewald, was a popular book in December. The work has been translated into 18 languages and landed on bestseller lists in Germany (#6), France (#8), and Italy (#15). Ignatius Press published the book in the U.S. last November after hearing about it at Frankfurt last October.

International Bestsellers: New Fiction in France, Germany, Spain

ix of the top 10 titles on France's fiction list were new. Prix Goncourt winner Mathias Énard landed at #2 with Tell Them About Battles, Kings and Elephants. (Open Letter just released Énard's Zone here; PW gave it a starred review.)

Canadian Publishers Debate Foreign Ownership Regulations

The Canadian government’s current and ongoing review of its long-standing policies of protecting the country’s cultural industries from high levels of foreign ownership prompted a lively discussion in Toronto earlier this week.

Tolstoy a Prominent Figure in Russia's Big Book Awards

This year being the centennial of Leo Tolstoy’s death, it seems unavoidable that he would figure prominently in a prestigious literary event such as Russia's 2010 Big Book Award. His life story is the subject matter and inspiration for two of the winning titles announced last Tuesday at the Russian National Library’s Pashkov House.

Follett a Hit Everywhere

October was a big month for new books in Italy: 12 of the 20 titles on Informazioni Editoriali's combined fiction and nonfiction bestseller list were new entries, including Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love at #2; Paulo Coelho's The Valkyries at #6; and Ken Follett's Fall of Giants at #10.

Giller Winner Gets Paperback House

Gaspeareau Press, the small press that published this year's winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, has made a deal with a larger Canadian house, Douglas & McIntyre Publishers, to make enough copies of The Sentimentalists available to meet the sudden demand winning Canada's biggest fiction prize creates.

Picking the Hot And Cold Global Markets

A panel of international guests from France, Holland, Israel, and the U.S. offered people attending Toronto's International Festival of Authors last week a sweeping view of how the economic crisis is affecting the publishing industry globally.

Selling Abroad: Funke in Germany, Houellebecq in France

Lots of new titles hit international bestsellers' lists in September, especially in Germany and France. German author Cornelia Funke, whose Inkheart series was published in the U.S. by Scholastic, debuted at #1 in September in Germany with her newest novel, Reckless.

Canadian Bestsellers as of August 2010

Penguin Canada Makeover Done

With the appointment of Rob Prichard as chairman of Penguin Group (Canada), the overhaul of the executive team of one of Canada's largest publishers that began with the departure of David Davidar following allegations of sexual harassment has been completed.

Publishers Ready for The Digital Dance

Canadian publishing has been watching the digital revolution to the south and waiting and preparing for it to cross the border. There are signs and stirrings, but so far the adoption of e-books and e-readers has been more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Children's Publishers Hope for Good Finish

After a slow start to 2010, Canadian children's publishers began to see a shift in business in the summer and now share guarded optimism that the year will finish on a good note. Despite an improved outlook for the fall, children's publishers are still exploring ways to spur growth throughout the year.

International Festival of Authors

The International Festival of Authors in Toronto is the biggest literary festival for the English market in Canada. (The French market has the Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival and the successful Salon du Livre.) This year, 112 authors (61 Canadians and 51 international authors) will participate in the 10-day festival that runs this year October 20–30.

Bookstores and Beyond

In the recent lean years, publishers have looked for new sources of revenue. Corporate partnerships can help cover the production costs for a book and provide new channels for sales.