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On the List: The Mad Wife by Meagan Church

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Meagan Church’s historical fiction chronicles the plight and fight of unheard voices of the past.
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A Deep Divide Emerges Between AI Users and Nonusers

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A new survey provides ample evidence that AI is being used by many writers across all sectors.
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Book sales update: Europe and the UK

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Pricing increases on books have masked an overall decline in the volume of sales in Europe—more than 5 percent from 2021 to 2024.
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Beventi and INKfluence partner up to support direct sales

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The partnership between the two companies is meant to take the guesswork and endless quoting out of special editions.
Indie Author Day event is Nov. 14, free to everyone

Indie Author Day event is Nov. 14, free to everyone

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Indie Author Day is part of the Indie Author Project, a library-backed initiative that recognizes self-published authors.
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Grammarly rebrands as Superhuman

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The new name, Superhuman, comes from the email app Superhuman Mail, which Grammarly acquired earlier this year.
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How I Secured a Big Five Publishing Deal with Almost No Social Media Platform

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Learn how one author’s publishing “fairy tale” hides years of struggle, with practical lessons to unlock your own resilience.
Image: overhead view of a woman seated on the floor and knitting a scarf, with multicolored strands of yarn chaotically strewn all over her legs.

Make Good Knots: How Learning to Knit Saved My Novel

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Learning to knit renewed one author’s confidence, allowing her to take a risk revising a manuscript that was already out on submission.
Image: collage of screenshots of three book prologues, and a photo of gold type reading "What is past is prologue" painted onto wooden boards mounted into the window of a brick building.

Prologues That Work and Why

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Prologues get a bad rap as backstory or info dumps but, done well, they can intrigue readers and ignite interest in the story to come.
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Links of Interest: October 29, 2025

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The latest in bookselling, trends, culture & politics, AI, and legal issues.
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New children’s imprint: Plata Kids

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Plata Publishing is launching a children’s imprint that’s an extension of the parent company’s adult nonfiction title, Rich Dad Poor Dad.
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New literary arts fund for literary nonprofits

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A coalition of seven charitable foundations announced the launch of the Literary Arts Fund in the United States.
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More Thoughts on Direct Sales

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Last week’s article on direct sales elicited significant response from readers and service providers. Here’s what they had to say.
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Book sales update: third quarter 2025

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The adult market accounted for 80 percent of the most recent quarter’s declines. Romance and thrillers are the categories hardest hit.
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Authors Guild lawsuit against OpenAI moving forward

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The suit, consolidated with several other cases from a range of authors, alleges that ChatGPT’s outputs constitute copyright infringement.
Image: headshot of David Will with quote from the interview reading, "The biggest challenge for hybrid publishers is that it’s actually a pretty straightforward process to publish a book. We know how to do this. But it’s really difficult to market and sell books. Nobody really knows how to do that unless you are literally paying people to buy books (which sometimes is what happens). And every single toolset that you think works, or did work in the past, doesn’t seem to work anymore."

The Current State of Hybrid Publishing: Q&A with David Wilk

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An in-depth discussion of hybrid publishing today: what has driven its growth, and what should you know before investing?
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Sacha Black’s Success with Direct Sales Requires a Warehouse

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The bestselling author, who writes under the name Ruby Roe, has seen her career take off after getting on TikTok and investing in direct sales.
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Links of Interest: October 22, 2025

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The latest in traditional publishing, news from the Frankfurt Book Fair, the creator economy, culture & politics, and contracts.
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Royalty Reader: AI-powered software for agents

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The founders hope the software will address data management problems in literary agencies, where information entry is often manual.
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On the List: On the First Day of Kindergarten by Tish Rabe & Laura Hughes

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The engaging adaptation of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” convinces parents and kids that no place is cooler than a kindergarten classroom.
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Authors Who Sell Direct Are Winning the Long Game

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Authors who have strong brands and/or serve identifiable communities have plentiful tools to reduce reliance on Amazon and Ingram.
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Book sales update: cookbooks and the Bible

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Baking cookbooks have seen 80 percent growth this year over last year, and Bible sales grew by 36 percent in the month of September.
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Big Five publisher Hachette is doing well

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Year-to-date sales are so strong that the CEO says the company has moved from number four to become the number three publisher.
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Spotify launches Audiobook Selects

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Earlier this year, Spotify put out a call for authors to submit their short-form stories for consideration as a Spotify exclusive audiobook.
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Coach Your Characters: A Life Coach’s Toolkit Offers a New Lens

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Life coaches help clients gain insights about how we shape our own life stories, and the same tools can be used to create richer characters.