Connoisseurs of publishers’ stands had plenty to feast their eyes on at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair late last month. The styles varied enormously, from the National Centre for Documentation & Research which had a curved, Star Trek-like central pod, decorated in red and green neon, to a fabulous recreation of the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque — the famous “white mosque” — with its many domes and minarets where titles about the building and its history were on display. Roger Tagholm ask the question on publishingperspectives.com: Are they worth it?

Successful, large-scale print-on-demand publishing changes the (profitability of) distribution workflow for brick-and-mortar bookshops. A recent tour of the Ingram distribution and print-on-demand facilities in Nashville got one writer thinking: What happens if the physical bookstore ecosystem collapses? Read the full article on digitalbookworld.com

Founded in 2009, Amalion Publishing is an up-and-coming house that only publishes books by African authors. Based in Dakar, Senegal, Amalion distributes its books across the African continent, which requires different strategies for Africa’s various regional and national markets. Amalion does fulfillment through its U.K. distributor. The one exception, however, is South Africa, which is “a hard nut to crack,” as he puts it.
Ambition to Crack. Read more on Publishingperspectives.com

The barriers to publishing a book and distributing it widely have come down, creating a renaissance in the world of self-publishing. While great for authors and ebook retailers, this sea change has created some problems for publishers.

Notably, some authors wonder why they need a publisher. While distribution into bookstores is the No. 1 reason authors value the services of a publisher, there are others, including quality editing and providing the kind of marketing muscle that large organizations can muster.

Read this fascinating article on www.dbw.com

Waterstones has bagged Dan Brown’s only UK event for Inferno, his first ever event in London.”An Evening with Dan Brown” will take place at Freemason’s Hall in London, with a capacity of 1,500 people, on Tuesday 21st May. Tickets will be priced £25 (including a copy of the book) and are now on sale.” Read more at www.thebookseller.com