Last week, Publishers Lunch reported (sub required) that Amazon and ebook distributor OverDrive are limiting summary titles in their online catalogs. This amounts to 30,000 titles in the case of OverDrive. The reason given for removal? No one likes them.
Amazon’s KDP guidelines now state, “Companion guides (including summaries, study guides, workbooks, analyses, and other related content based on other books) are not allowed, with limited exceptions for guides with positive reader engagement.” Hallelujah.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
