News

The UK publishing industry significantly increases the commercial and cultural value of film, television and theatre productions, acting as the foundation of the UK’s £92bn creative industries sector. Research launched today produced by Frontier Economics for the Publishers Association demonstrates the contribution of publishing to the wider creative industries. The Contribution of Publishing to the Wider…

Read the government’s transcript of Nick Gibb’s speech at the summit here. Textbooks took front and centre stage at the International Textbook summit hosted at the Royal Society by the Department for Education and Cambridge Assessment. Speakers and delegates from around the world gathered to share best practice, debate the importance of textbooks, how we…

Audiobook downloads hit a record £31 million sales last year, up 22%, according to new figures released today by the Publishers Association which mark the start of Love Audio Week. The statistics, pre-released ahead of the Publishers Association’s annual publishing yearbook, show that the audiobook market continues to boom as audio publishers across the UK…

By William Bowes, Director of Policy at the Publishers Association At last week’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR), organised by the World Intellectual Property Organisation, many delegates asked for educational materials to be made copyright free. This was presented as a solution to several learning and development goals. Whilst the goals are…

Publishers have today called for the UK government to support new powers that would allow VAT to be removed on ebooks, audio books and online newspaper and magazine subscriptions in the UK. At a European Union meeting today (Friday), Finance ministers will discuss new proposals that would allow all member states to reduce the amount…

I am pleased to announce that BrambleKids, Fil Rouge Press and SplashMaps® are heading to the New York Rights Fair (NYRF) to exhibit at the UK pavilion.  They will be supported by the Department for International Trade (DIT) through their Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) scheme. The NYRF is a new book fair for the trade…

Applications for the 2018 Young Stationers’ Prize and five Young Stationers’ Awards are now open Now in its fifth year, the Prize recognises someone under 40 who demonstrates noteworthy success in their career; how they have made an outstanding contribution to the sector in which they are working; or achieved success outside their immediate world…

“Publishing is one of the major creative industries, contributing strongly to the fastest growing sector of the economy. Whilst uncertainty and change causes challenges for businesses of all kinds, our sector has responded well through diversification and innovation, and as a result, we’re in a stronger position than many predicted just a few years ago.”…

Incoming president Charlie Redmayne (CEO of HarperCollins) delivered his first address to members at our Annual General Meeting, outlining the key themes of his presidency: copyright, competition and opportunity. He urges publishers to sign up to The Literacy Project and lend their support to areas with the greatest literacy needs. Read Charlie’s full address below. Over…

Published Friday 27 April 2018. Delegates at The London Book Fair this year heard from Andrus Ansip, Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for the Digital Single Market, on the copyright reform package, which aims to update the EU’s copyright laws for the digital age. Watch the video for the full speech,…

Written by Gloria Bailey (International Book Fairs Manager). It has been a busy start to the year for book fairs—we took publishers to Taipai in February, Bologna in March and, finally, to London in April. If you are thinking about venturing into international markets, there are plenty of opportunities coming up, from fellowship programmes in…

The Publishers Association, as ever, had a busy Fair—from social mobility to copyright, from rights fairs to award ceremonies — we could be found in all corners of Olympia supporting members, speaking for the industry and building relationships with visiting officials. This year, we hosted a number of high-profile attendees to the Fair, including Baroness…

The Publishers Association launches A Blueprint for UK Publishing with 10 priorities for government at The London Book Fair. The UK Government must be steadfast in its support for ‘gold standard’ intellectual property rights and radical in its commitment to promoting digital if the £7.8bn UK publishing industry is to make the most of global…

By Stephen Lotinga, CEO of the Publishers Association The unmanageable increase in teacher workload has been well documented over the past few years, leading to reports that schools are struggling to both attract and retain new teachers. With more than 20 per cent of teachers reporting that that they routinely work more than 60 hours…

By William Bowes, Director of Policy & General Counsel The UK government recently launched its Digital Charter, designed to make the UK a great place to operate and innovate in the digital space, while managing the risks associated with the internet. The charter will see new norms established and rules drawn up over the course of the next few years, aimed at making the internet work for…

School textbooks need to save teachers only four and a half minutes a day in order to pay for themselves, according to new independent research which suggests cutting textbook use is a false economy. With the UK school system facing real-term budget cuts of 8% by 2019/20, according to the National Audit Office, textbooks are…

Hybrid journals play an important role in extending author choice, a report by the Publishing Research Consortium, Research Consulting and Pleiade Management & Consultancy has shown. The report, which aims to understand authors’ motivations when selecting to publish in Hybrid Open Access journals, found the most important factor for researchers when deciding where to publish…

Today the APPG on Publishing is announcing a call for evidence into how to maintain a world-leading publishing sector.  The publishing industry generates up to £7.8bn gross value added (GVA) for the wider economy and supports more than 70,000 jobs directly and indirectly. It is also far greater than the sum of its parts. The…