The Bookseller - The Bookseller | At the heart of publishing since 1858

The Bookseller's Bullying Survey: staff welfare an issue for sector, as Hachette and Sweet Cherry are singled out for criticism

The Bookseller’s investigation into bullying in the book trade has raised concerns about the sector’s approach to staff welfare, with reports of a culture of denial within some businesses, a sense of fear among employees, and a lack of accountability among some senior management teams.

Bath Children's Lit Festival to 'try harder next year' after line-up criticised for lack of diversity

Bestsellers

Second Dan: Brown fights his way to a second week in charge

Publishing has 'lowest uptake of AI across creative industries', according to new report

God is back: Young people leading the charge with rise of religious literature

The British Book Awards

Nibbies Podcast | Chris Chibnall

Today's News Stories

Hachette UK 'saddened to learn small group of people had unhappy experience' following investigation

Sweet Cherry denies 'toxic workplace' and launches staff survey

Publishers share bullying policies following The Bookseller's investigation

YA Book Prize 2026: William Hussey discusses The Boy I Love

The Bookseller Children's Conference 2026 to have new venue and date

Verve Books acquires backlist titles from recently closed 404 Ink

Jessica Kingsley Publishers to offer ‘safety covers’ for books

HQ launches new romantasy fiction imprint, MoonFire

Greg Stobbs’ Cloud Boy wins the Oxford Children’s Book World Cup

Anthropic’s $1.5 billion copyright settlement approved

Kristen J Sollée launches hybrid publishing house for horror and witchcraft

English PEN announces 2026 PEN Translates winners

Inspired Selection promotes Verity Hawson to managing director

Every year 6 and P6 child to be given Katherine Rundell book at Christmas

Indie Children’s Authors Network launches new literature festival

Jobs in Books

Head of Sales, Asia & Middle East

An exciting opportunity has become available in Pan Macmillan’s sales team! We are looking for a Head of Sales to drive the growth, commercial strategy, and reach of Pan Macmillan’s outstanding publishing list across these dynamic international markets.

Rights Report

Penguin Michael Joseph acquires the Wretched Trilogy by Miles Lyon

Hodder & Stoughton to publish standalone thriller by John Connolly

Bloomsbury acquires debut novel from HarperNorth’s Alice Murphy-Pyle

Hodder & Stoughton acquires official history of Claridge’s hotel

British Library to publish book exploring the life and legacy of Agatha Christie

Hutchinson Heinemann to publish anthology in partnership with Choose Love

Today's News Stories

Hachette UK 'saddened to learn small group of people had unhappy experience' following investigation

The Bookseller's Bullying Survey: staff welfare an issue for sector, as Hachette and Sweet Cherry are singled out for criticism

Sweet Cherry denies 'toxic workplace' and launches staff survey

Publishers share bullying policies following The Bookseller's investigation

Bath Children's Lit Festival to 'try harder next year' after line-up criticised for lack of diversity

YA Book Prize 2026: William Hussey discusses The Boy I Love

The Bookseller Children's Conference 2026 to have new venue and date

Verve Books acquires backlist titles from recently closed 404 Ink

Jessica Kingsley Publishers to offer ‘safety covers’ for books

HQ launches new romantasy fiction imprint, MoonFire

Greg Stobbs’ Cloud Boy wins the Oxford Children’s Book World Cup

Second Dan: Brown fights his way to a second week in charge

Latest Issue

17th July 2026

In this week's issue:

Editor's Comment:A federal structure is about the bond as well as the profit
Author Profiles:Holly Bourne & Chloe Benjamin
Children's Preview:October

READ IN FULL

Comment

Opinion from The Bookseller and other columnists

A problematic gift

by Claire Linney

Queen Camilla’s book initiative is well-intentioned but completely misses the mark

The elephants in the reading room

by Louis Provis

The success of the National Year of Reading hinges on two glaring issues: tech and infrastructure.

Every book deserves a bespoke success strategy

by Nadim Sadek

The 35th International Publishers Congress in Kuala Lumpur offered rich insights on publishing and AI.

Publishing just doesn't add up for authors

by Anna Ganley

The book trade is economically thriving — but its creative engine is not.

Comment

Opinion from The Bookseller and other columnists

A problematic gift

by Claire Linney

Queen Camilla’s book initiative is well-intentioned but completely misses the mark

The elephants in the reading room

by Louis Provis

Every book deserves a bespoke success strategy

by Nadim Sadek

Bestsellers

Weekly print bestsellers from Nielsen BookScan. Other digital charts from Bookstat and Audible.

Bestsellers

Second Dan: Brown fights his way to a second week in charge

The latest Robert Langdon thriller from Dan Brown, The Secret of Secrets (Transworld) has been awarded a second week atop the Official UK Top 50, according to the latest data from NielsenIQ BookScan’s Total Consumer Market (TCM).

PrinteBookAudio

1

The Secret of Secrets

2

The Correspondent

3

The Family Friend

4

River She Became,The

5

My Husband's Wife

6

It’s Not What You Think

7

Heartstopper Volume 6

8

Boleyn Traitor

9

The Names

10

The Divorce

1

Dear Debbie

2

Silent Bones

3

Beautiful Ugly

4

An Offer From a Gentleman

5

When the Cranes Fly South

6

The Housemaid

7

Missing

8

The Housemaid's Secret

9

The Daughter

10

Bridgerton: Daphne's Story

1

It Could Have Been Her

2

Dungeon Crawler Carl

3

The Odyssey

4

Project Hail Mary

5

Yesteryear

6

The Weekend

7

Odyssey

8

London Falling

9

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Full-Cast Edition)

10

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Join The Bookseller

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Books

Authors interviews, news and book previews

Books in the Media: David Sedaris' 'extremely funny' essays take on mortality and political polarisation

From essays exploring the personal and political, to ice swimming, chase thrillers and short story collections, this week’s review pages offered a breadth of reading material.

YA Book Prize 2026: Anika Hussain discusses Heartbreaker

Anika Hussain’s enemies-to-lovers romcom has been shortlisted for the YA Book Prize 2026.

Books on BookTok: BookTok's impact on book buying

A recent report from Public First, with additional research from EY, found that in 2025 TikTok helped generate £175m in consumer spending on books and concluded that one in four 18–24-year-olds on TikTok bought a book after seeing it on the platform.

Holly Bourne talks about her new YA body horror thriller

Taking inspiration from real-life reports, Holly Bourne changes direction in her latest YA novel, And Then We Screamed, which confronts the horrors facing teenage girls.

Books in the Media: David Sedaris' 'extremely funny' essays take on mortality and political polarisation

YA Book Prize 2026: Anika Hussain discusses Heartbreaker

Books on BookTok: BookTok's impact on book buying

Holly Bourne talks about her new YA body horror thriller

More Author Interviews

Chloe Benjamin introduces her third novel, a speculative story about the possibility of another universe

YA Book Prize 2026: Ravena Guron discusses Mondays Are Murder

YA Book Prize 2026: Bea Fitzgerald discusses A Beautiful Evil

Julia Gray and Imogen Russell Williams on their Pride and Prejudice sequel for teens

Louise Kennedy’s second novel is a piercing tale of love, friendship and loss

Latest Previews

Non-fiction Previews

With titles from David Byrne and Judi Dench, October’s is a starry line-up – but there is more to enjoy beneath the showbiz glow.

by Caroline Sanderson

Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up

David Byrne

Peck & Peck

Bonnie Garmus

Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It

Cory Doctorow

And Then We Screamed

Holly Bourne

The Great Dictator: A Life of Barbara Cartland

Matthew Sweet

Stations

Louise Kennedy

Into Thin Air

SE Durrant

How to Kill a Crime Writer

Sarah Lotz

Great and Unfortunate Things

Jason Arday

Paperback Previews

by Will Smith

Discover Previews

by Natasha Onwuemezi

Fiction Previews

by Madeleine Feeny

Children's Previews

by Caroline Carpenter

Spotlight

Features, trade interviews, and people listings