Booknews

Trade Announcement - Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd

Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd announces the appointment of Carlo Romao as National Marketing Manager. Carlo starts work as the new leader of our Marketing and Publicity team on Monday, September 6th 2010. He will be based at our offices in the Isle of Houghton in Johannesburg.

Carlo graduated from the University of Johannesburg with majors in Marketing Communication, Marketing Management and Journalism. His professional career began in the advertising industry. He was closely involved with brands such as Vodacom, Coca Cola, SAB, Stanbic Bank, Multi Choice and Nokia. His stint in advertising was followed by an appointment as Brand & Communication Manager with French-based, electronics firm, Schneider Electric where he was tasked to establish the company’s marketing operation in South Africa. Carlo’s latest professional position was as Marketing Manager for the Sub-Sahara Region at Siemens SA.

We are thrilled that Carlo has accepted this strategically critical role at Random House Struik in this exciting time of industry transition. We look forward to his skills and experience complementing the creativity and commitment of the peerless marketing and publicity team already at work to ensure innovative and effective marketing of our authors, both local and international and, of course, the many wonderful books that they entrust to us.

Signed: Stephen Johnson

SPUD - LEARNING TO FLY - WINS NIELSEN BOOKSELLERS� CHOICE AWARD 2010

Spud - Learning to Fly by John van de Ruit wins this year’s Booksellers’ Choice Award. The winner was announced last night at a glittering awards ceremony held at the Wanderers Club in Johannesburg as part of the annual PASA and SABA Conference.
John van de Ruit won the award for the second time; having also won in 2006 with the first title in the series Spud. The second title: Spud - The madness continues…was shortlisted in 2008.

read the full article here

RECOGNISING SOUTH AFRICAN TALENT � NIELSEN BOOKSELLERS� CHOICE AWARD SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

The Booksellers’ Choice Award continues to recognize South African talent with another diverse shortlist for 2010. Two previous winners, a Springbok rugby captain and three journalists make up the shortlist as nominated by South African booksellers. Nielsen Book proudly sponsors the award which aims to highlight the quality of South African writing and encourage new authors. It has been running for over 10 years and previous winners include Antjie Krog (2004), John Van de Ruit (2006) and Peter Harris (2009).

read the full article here

ISTC: A CRUCIAL TOOL FOR PUBLISHING MARKET INTELLIGENCE

22 July 2010, Woking

“ISTCs are as revolutionary for the book trade as the ISBN was, and ISTC is the natural evolution of the ISBN in a more complex and mature book industry”.

This was the rallying cry from Jeremy Neate of Nielsen BookScan at a seminar organised jointly by Book Industry Communication (BIC) and Nielsen Book on 2 July at Pearson’s offices in the Strand to
promote the International Standard Text Code (ISTC); a new ISO identifier which identifies abstract textual works and enables individual ISBNs comprising the same work to be grouped together for
search and analysis.

read the full story here

Interview with a winner

Amanda Patterson, CEO of Writers Write, speaks to Mia Botha, winner of The Mills & Boon Voice of Africa Competition.

RANDOM HOUSE STRUIK ACQUIRES NEW IMPRINT

Random House Struik is proud to announce the addition of Fernwood Press, to its already stellar list of imprints.

Managing Director, Stephen Johnson said: “Random House Struik is thrilled and extremely proud to have acquired the fine list of books into which Pieter Struik invested so much passion, insight and impeccable judgment. Fernwood Press authors and their books are a highly valued addition to our company’s existing range of titles and imprints, not least because they bring into our fold a quality of book production, design and content that is second to none in the South African market.”

Fernwood Press specialises in illustrated, non-fiction reference works on southern Africa's cultural and natural history. There are currently 18 active titles, but the imprint boasts a publishing history of over 40 books.

“Everyone at RHS is exited about this new venture and fully committed to ensure that the Fernwood Press list enjoys the focus, care and attention that its splendid reputation asks of us”, continued Johnson.

Fernwood Press will be known as an imprint of Random House Struik and will be placed alongside our Travel & Heritage imprint, managed by publisher, Claudia Dos Santos.

For more information, contact Kim Rudman at kimr@randomstruik.co.za / 011 484-3538

RECOGNISING SOUTH AFRICAN TALENT � NIELSEN BOOKSELLERS� CHOICE AWARD SHORTLIST ANNOUNCED

1 July 2010, Woking, UK
The Booksellers’ Choice Award continues to recognize South African talent with another diverse shortlist for 2010. Two previous winners, a Springbok rugby captain and three journalists make up the shortlist as nominated by South African booksellers. Nielsen Book proudly sponsors the award which aims to highlight the quality of South African writing and encourage new authors. It has been running for over 10 years and previous winners include Antjie Krog (2004), John Van de Ruit (2006) and Peter Harris (2009).

2010 Librarian of the Year Award

Dear LIASA Members
The Awards Committee is pleased to announce that once again our most prestigious award, that of Librarian of the Year, has been made possible through the generous support of the following sponsors:
First Prize:
UKS - R 30,000.00
Second Prize:
EBSCO Information Services and EBSCO Publishing South Africa - R 20,000.00
Third Prize:
Sabinet - R 10,000.00

THE PHENOMENON THAT IS STIEG LARSSON

21 June 2010, Woking
Nielsen Book today released sales information for the Millennium Trilogy in some of its key markets worldwide. Nielsen Book runs BookScan the world’s largest book market measurement and analysis service, which tracks retail sales data in the: UK, Ireland, US, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Spain and Denmark. Transactional data is collected at the point of sale from 33,500 retailers and provided to publishers, booksellers and the media worldwide. Nielsen Book also measures Library borrowings in the UK through its LibScan service to provide data to libraries both at local and national level.

read the full article here

Read between the lines: National Book Week 2010

READ BETWEEN THE LINES

NATIONAL BOOK WEEK ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN BOOK PUBLISHING SECTOR

We all speak about it.Some of us are doing it. Many of us would love to do something about it. And all of us know that it is one of the most important interventions for our existence.

Yes, we’re speaking about promoting reading, and there’s no better time to do so than in inaugural National Book Week (NBW), taking place from 6 – 13 September this year.

So what is NBW exactly? Well, it has been developed to assist the South African Book Development Council (SABDC), in partnership with the Department of Arts and Culture, to encourage reading amongst South Africans and to find innovative ways to strengthen industry initiatives, develop skills and increase book sales, particular by South African and African authors.