Hong Kong

Illustrated books publisher The Quarto Group Inc on Friday said its pretax profit more than doubled in 2014 despite lower revenue as the group boosted its margins through cost-cutting and an exceptional charge taken last year was not repeated.

Quarto said its pretax profit for 2014 was USD12.2 million, compared to USD5.8 million last year when the company was hit by a USD3.4 million exceptional restructuring charge. The profit was also pushed higher by lower administrative expenses and lower cost of sales, which slightly outpaced a fall in revenue.

It's midnight in the capital of Taiwan.

While some people are slowly walking home through the neon-lit streets, or getting ready to hit the club scene, others are on their way to a more unusual nocturnal hangout -- a bookstore.

The Eslite store in central Taipei opens 24 hours and has more night owl visitors than most Western bookstores could dream of during their daytime hours.

Here, young and old sit side-by-side on small steps or around reading tables, deeply engrossed in literary worlds.

This post comes courtesy of some comments by publisher Hugh Andrew, Managing Director of Birlinn Limited, in the course of the debate on the future for writers after the Scottish independence referendum at the Edinburgh International Book Festival – as well as from my former life in Hong Kong as Managing Editor of the Asian Venture […]

The post Publishing venture capital style – or, how most publishers throw money at the wall to see what sticks appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

Countless authors have taken advantage of a new and growing genre of literature aimed at primarily female readers between 18 and 25. Known as "new adult," the genre features mainly university or college-aged protagonists dealing with early twenties life, in particular romance and sexual relationships.

The segment of the book-buying market is hard to quantify as the wider industry has been slow to embrace the genre and the bulk of sales are made online. But a recent report by author and publishing data website authorearnings.com found that self-published books make up

The Bookseller reported that UK department store chain Sainsbury’s has bought out its publisher partners HarperCollins and Penguin Random House in aNobii, the book-focused social media platform originally launched by Greg Sung in Hong Kong in 2006, and has raised the 64 percent stake it bought from HMV for £1 in June 2012 to 100 percent. The aNobii website itself […]

The post Who exactly owns aNobii? appeared first on TeleRead: News and views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics.

The 2014 Binding Industries Association (BIA) announced the result of 2014 Product of Excellence Awards Competition. C&C beat other competitors in the world this year again and achieved a total of 9 awards, including 6 Products of Excellence (1st Place) and 3 Awards of Recognition (2nd Place).