Man Booker Prize eligibility, availability rules changed

The Man Booker Prize has made changes to its rules on the availability of longlisted titles and eligibility of international titles, reports the Bookseller. Following complaints that the prize was not enforcing its own rule that ‘no fewer than 1000 copies’ of a longlisted title be available in bookstores within 10 days of the longlist announcement, the rules now only require that published books be available for sale as an ebook within 10 days. Books published after the longlist announcement must also be made available as ebooks, although no timeframe is specified. Also under the new rules, international titles must be published in the UK within two years of their original publication date to be eligible. There has also been a clarification to the definition of a publisher and self-publisher, with the latter not eligible to enter the prize. The adjustments follow changes announced in 2013 to open the prize to any novel published in English by a UK publisher.

Category: International news