Latest News from The Bookseller

World Book Day dominates charts Top 10World Book Day titles claimed nine of the coveted positions in the Top 10 in the most successful WBD week since 2012. A combined total of 339,133 copies of the 10 books published to celebrate the annual charity reading event (held on Thursday 5th March) registered through Nielsen BookScan in the seven days ending 7th March.

Book revenues decline in Wiley third quarter 2014 acquisitions Profiles International and Crossknowledge helped John Wiley & Sons to a third quarter revenue rise of 5% on a constant currency basis (2% including the impact of foreign exchange), at $465m. However, the company said organic revenue – excluding the impact of the buys - was "essentially flat" for the third quarter, although up 1% for the first nine months of the financial year.

McKearney to be chair of Book Marketing SocietyThe Book Marketing Society (BMS) has appointed Miranda McKearney as its new chair. McKearney, founder and former c.e.o. of charity The Reading Agency, takes on the role from previous chair Martin Neild, who has stepped down after five years. McKearney stepped down from her role at The Reading Agency after 11 years in 2013, to be replaced by Sue Wilkinson.

Sphere acquires crime from Hardie Sphere has acquired two novels by debut author Mark Hardie, who began writing full-time after losing his eyesight in 2002. Jade Chandler, senior editor for Sphere Fiction, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Burned and Broken and its sequel from Juliet Mahony and Sarah Lutyens at Lutyens & Rubinstein.

Atlantic signs novel on senile PutinAtlantic has signed a novel which revolves around a senile future version of Vladimir Putin. Editor James Roxburgh has acquired world rights to The Senility of Vladimir P by Michael Honig in a deal with Ben Evans at the Oyster Bridge Agency. Set around 20 years in the future, the story revolved around a senile and neglected Vladimir Putin, looked after by a nurse while the rest of his staff skim money from his collected wealth. When a family tragedy means the nurse suddenly needs to find some money, he is forced into a moral dilemma.

Two Roads signs Bond débutTwo Roads has acquired a début novel that has been picked by Oprah Winfrey for her Book Club 2.0. Lisa Highton bought British Commonwealth rights excluding Canada to Ruby by Cynthia Bond from Lance Fitzgerald at Crown US. Ruby is an “epic, unforgettable story of a man determined to protect the woman he loves from the town desperate to destroy her”.

Wimbledon BookFest to pay authorsWimbledon BookFest is to start paying a fee of £150 each to all participating authors. This will be the first year the 10-day book festival has paid authors for appearing. Previously it only paid chairs of events. The announcement follows a story in The Bookseller in which a number of authors, including Joanne Harris and Linda Grant, spoke about the need for payment for appearances.

Edwards and Voss re-sign with Thomas & MercerMark Edwards and Louise Voss have signed another deal with Amazon’s Thomas & Mercer imprint. Emilie Marneur, senior acquisitions editor for Amazon Publishing, signed world rights to a new crime novel by the co-writing pair and a solo thriller by Mark Edwards through agent Sam Copeland of Rogers, Coleridge and White. The Blissfully Dead, by Voss and Edwards, is the second in the DI Patrick Lennon series in which a serial killer targets fans of a boy band. It will be published this autumn.

Pluto partners with prison books charityPluto Press is partnering with Haven Distribution to supply free books to prisoners in the UK.  Haven is a charity that has been sending books to prisoners since 1996 and is aims to help with their self-education and resettlement. It seeks to encourage self-worth and raise self-esteem in inmates by providing a structured service, which will assist in the resettlement of the offender back into his or her community.

Totally Entwined signs fiction from Jess WrightThe Totally Entwined Group has signed a three-book fiction deal with “The Only Way is Essex” star Jess Wright for its Celebritease imprint. Claire Siemaszkiewicz, founder and c.e.o. of Totally Entwined Group, said: “We are delighted to be working with the gorgeous Jess Wright on her first three-book fiction series. The storyline will captivate readers with its sweet romance plot and entertaining characters.” The series will tell the story of a budding shoe designer making her way in the celebrity world.

HarperCollins creates new Spanish-language divisionsHarperCollins is to expand its Spanish-language publishing via the creation of HarperCollins Espanol and HarperCollins Iberica, to serve the Americas and Spain/Portugal respectively. The company will build on its existing structures in the Americas and in Spain and expand the number of Spanish-language titles it publishes. It has made a decisive start by acquiring world Spanish rights to Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman (Ve y pon un Centinela).

Tyler, Waters and Smith on Baileys Women's Prize longlist Anne Tyler, Sarah Waters, Ali Smith, and five debut novelists including Emma Healey and Sara Taylor are on the longlist for this year's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction.  Meanwhile chair of judges Shami Chakrabarti has told The Bookseller: "Until you can honestly see that women are getting the placing they deserve on other lists, it is not time to give up on the Women’s Prize."  Independent publisher Legend Press has two books on the 20-strong list, with half the titles coming from Penguin Random House.