Ed Nawotka

RX, which owns the London Book Fair, has announced that Adam Ridgway, previously commercial director at RX, will take over as fair director. He replaces Gareth Rapley, who was in the position for two years.

The new “Safeguarding National Security Ordinance” adopted by the Chinese government in Hong Kong threatens freedom to publish more than previous laws, say the International Publishers Association and European and International Booksellers Federation

This year’s 2024 International Congress of Arabic Publishing and Creative Industries brought together 380 attendees from around the world to discuss the role of Arabic language and culture in the book publishing business and beyond.

In the second of an ongoing series of articles spotlighting book business–related AI startups, we take a look at Shimmr, an automated book advertising service, and Likewise’s Pix, a chatbot and app that offers book recommendations.

The 2024 British Book Awards were held in London May 13, where ‘Murdle’ by G.T. Karber won Overall Book of the Year, Ebury was named Publisher of the Year, and Profile was given the prize for Independent Publisher of the Year.

Spotify has partnered with Blackstone Publishing and Bonnier Books UK to add their audiobooks to the platform. The new partnership will add several thousand new titles to Spotify’s Audiobooks in Premium service.

The CEO of Booktopia, Australia’s dominant online bookseller, has resigned, and the company has announced plans to cut costs, including laying off 50 people, following a 20% drop in book sales last year.

The audiobook market in the United States is steadily growing, the Audio Publishers Association reports, with revenue increasing by 9% to $2 billion in 2023 and 38% of American adults having listened to an audiobook in the last year.

The ABA has unveiled Indies Take The Gold, an Olympics-themed marketing campaign encouraging people to shop at independent bookstores on Amazon Prime Days, July 16 and 17. The Paris summer Olympics begin July 26.

Book2look, the German view inside embeddable book widget service marketed by Bowker, is now being implemented by Books-A-Million in the U.S., and HarperCollins, worldwide.