The latest in bookselling, AI, and culture & politics.

The tool, by software company Trilogy, helps agents and publishers evaluate unsolicited manuscripts—but are any likely to admit to using it?

Bond Literary Agency and Copps Literary Services have merged to form Confluence Literary Agency.

Storm Literary Agency founder Essie White has launched a new agency representing authors and illustrators.

Charlie Serabian represents genre fiction and select nonfiction; Jess Taylor represents primarily YA and new adult.

Previously a scout and book-to-film agent, Phoebe Schmidt is primarily interested in upmarket science fiction and fantasy.

These are the news stories and topics I’ll be following closely this year, from growth in AI translation to ad-supported Substack and more.

We looked at an app which claims to retell popular books via brief animated chapters, and the results range from absurd to possibly infringing.

Deals for adult fiction saw 9.3 percent growth, nonfiction deals were down 1.6 percent versus 2024, and children’s deals were flat.

If you’re hearing that your story lacks structure or impact, you might be missing the interconnected cohesion of plot, stakes, and character.

Needing to build audience for a new book, one author examines her avoidance of creating video content in favor of face-to-face connections.

This excerpt from Nina Amir’s Change the World One Book at a Time examines how nonfiction authors can best effect change in readers.

The latest in traditional publishing, audiobooks, and marketing & promotion.

Each issue of this newsletter contains dozens of links. Here’s what caught readers’ interest in 2025, in order of popularity.

Of the year’s top 10 bestselling print nonfiction titles, only one was published in 2025; everything else was a backlist title.

Human translators will still be involved but only to edit the machine output in French.

For 2026, works from the year 1930 enter the public domain, including the first four Nancy Drew novels, The Maltese Falcon, and many more.

The Guild argues that interactive chatbots represent a new format for books, with rights that must be negotiated and paid for.

A roundup of new publishers, imprints, and agents announced in 2025, as covered in The Bottom Line.

A social media manager shares her observations on how current trends might impact authors and publishers in 2026.

Sharing his work-in-progress has helped one writer build confidence and conviction about who his readers are and what they’re interested in.

The latest in AI, traditional publishing, trends, marketing & promotion, and culture & politics.

Bill Ames was previously an acquiring editor at Triumph Books, where he focused on sports publishing.

Nonfiction sales will likely continue to decline in the years ahead due to competing sources of information and entertainment.

In 2026 the publishing business will be moved into WEBTOON Entertainment. The entertainment business will be moved into WEBTOON Productions.