Former Blue Peter presenter and children’s author Konnie Huq led a delegation to 11 Downing Street today to hand-in a letter signed by 90 MPs calling for VAT on digital books to be scrapped, alongside representatives from leading literacy and accessibility charities. This comes as children’s laureate Cressida Cowell pledges her support for the campaign.…
The first ever cohort of Publishing Assistant apprentices have started their year-long programme of work and training this week. All under the age of 25 and from diverse backgrounds, the apprentices will be working for some of the biggest publishers in the country. LDN Apprenticeships are delighted to be delivering the first ever Publishing Assistant…
The Publishers Association has today released its five key industry priorities, following the announcement that a General Election will be held on 12th December. The UK Publishing Manifesto has been shared with all political parties ahead of the election and outlines what UK publishing needs from a new government to ensure the industry’s continued success. …
An urgent programme of work to support the publishing industry with the core legal and logistical challenges of a No Deal Brexit has been convened by the Publishers Association, with a free industry-wide event being held on Thursday 10th October at the Barbican Centre in London. The Brexit Forum for Publishers will focus on three core…
Demos report Quality Control finds that the majority of UK adults (59%) believe social media content should be edited by moderators (based on a nationally representative poll of 2,000 adults in the UK). The public thinks moderation would most help combat disinformation or ‘fake news’ (48%), followed by self-harm or suicide (41%) and terrorism (35%).…
From crime to cookery, politics to picture books, there’s something for everyone. The Publishers Association are delighted to present its 2019 Summer Recess Reading List for Parliamentarians. All the following titles have been nominated by a selection of our members, including big and small publishing houses across the country, as their recommended reading for the…
UK publishing industry income was £6bn in 2018, with digital growth in some areas offsetting print decreases in others, according to new figures released today by the Publishers Association. Overall, there was a 3% increase in digital sales income (to £2.6bn) and a 5% drop in physical sales (to £3.4bn). Global exports remain crucial to…
New research supports Axe the Reading Tax campaign to remove VAT on digital publications. Read the full report. Young people who are the most engaged with reading are more likely to read both on paper and on screen than their peers who have low engagement with reading, finds new research by the National Literacy Trust.…
Peter Phillips, CEO of Cambridge University Press, has been elected as the new President of the Publishers Association. Peter succeeds Charlie Redmayne, CEO of HarperCollins, who remains as an officer on Publishers Association Council. The Presidency transferred at the Publishers Association’s Annual General Meeting, which took place today (Wednesday 10 April 2019) at the Science…
The Export Toolkit was showcased at The London Book Fair this afternoon with a launch event in Cafe Europe (National Hall Gallery) from 12:30 – 1:30pm, coinciding with the presentation of the new British Book Award for Export. Designed for those just beginning their export journey, or who wish to develop their existing strategy, the…
To celebrate World Book Day 2019, Downing Street opened its doors to 30 schoolchildren to ‘share a story’ and celebrate the importance of reading. The children, aged between 7 and 9 years old, joined World Book Day authors and illustrators Abi Elphinstone, Sibéal Pounder, Rob Biddulph and Alex T. Smith, for a morning of reading,…
The number of women in senior leadership roles, representation of LGBT+ staff and representation of disabled staff are all high within publishing, finds the most comprehensive survey ever conducted of the UK publishing workforce. However, despite positive results in many areas significant progress still needs to be made around the numbers of BAME staff employed…
Professor Daniel Gervais will deliver the Charles Clark Memorial Lecture at The London Book Fair on Tuesday 12 March 2019, focusing on the changing role of intermediation in delivering informational and cultural goods, exceptions as the new rules, and copyright and progress. Professor Gervais is a specialist on international IP law and currently Milton R.…
A template for agreements between academic publishers and universities for the deposit of metadata relating to journal articles has been launched today by the Publishers Association following input from members of the Publishers Association’s Academic, Professional and Learning Publishers Council. The template is designed to provide those negotiating such agreements with a framework for discussions between publishers and staff in the university and library sectors. It relates…
The first Industry Commitment to Professional Behaviour in Bookselling and Publishing (published today, 7 December 2018) has been created and endorsed by The Association of Authors’ Agents, The Booksellers Association, The Publishers Association and The Society of Authors. Download the Industry Commitment to Professional Behaviour in Bookselling and Publishing. The Principles laid out in the…
London. 4 December 2018: Tessa Jowell, Frances D’Souza, Jesse Norman and Isabel Hardman have been announced as the winners of the 2018 Parliamentary Book Awards, the only political book awards curated by bookshops and voted for by parliamentarians. Tessa Jowell and Frances D’ Souza won Best Memoir by a Parliamentarian for The Power of Politicians,…
Key legislation that has just come into force means the UK government can now apply a zero-rate of VAT to digital publications, bringing the rate into line with print publications. The UK government is being urged to axe the reading tax after this landmark change in EU law, which previously required a VAT levy on…
Ruth Davidson, Alan Johnson, Tessa Jowell and Yuval Noah Harari among shortlist. Shortlist highlights fight for gender equality in modern politics. London. 7 November 2018: Ruth Davidson, Alan Johnson, Tessa Jowell, Isabel Hardman and Yuval Noah Harari are among those on the shortlist for the 2018 Parliamentary Book Awards, the only political book awards voted…