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Card Decks Are Having a Moment in Publishing—and It’s Not Just Tarot

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This new crop of paper products is geared toward activities, conversation starters, or introspection.
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Manage Your To-Do List with Todoist

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An enthusiastic user explains the life-changing power of finding the right to-do app, making professional and personal task management a breeze.
Image: on a patch of dry earth amid withered stems of dead plants is an incandescent lightbulb, inside of which is a small bit of healthy soil and a tiny green plant growing.

More Than Setting: Centering Nature in Your Fiction

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If the natural world is important to your story, be sure to engage it on a deeper level than descriptions of pretty scenery.
Image: at the University of Chicago Press Books' booth at the 2025 AWP Conference in Los Angeles, Jane Friedman stands with her editor Mary Laur, who holds a copy of Jane's book The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition.

The Second Edition of The Business of Being a Writer Officially Releases Today

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This new edition dramatically revises and re-envisions how to best help writers understand the business they’re entering.
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Links of Interest: April 16, 2025

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The latest in trends, traditional publishing, culture & politics, AI, and libraries.
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New Christian imprint at Andrews McMeel

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Amen Editions will release eight to 10 nonfiction titles per year, including inspirational, self-care, gift, and activity books.
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New agent at Azantian

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Selected as a 2020 Publishers Weekly Star Watch honoree, Shelly Romero has joined as an associate agent at Azantian Literary Agency.
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Update on tariffs for publishing

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US publishing has escaped the worst of the tariffs, but that doesn’t mean publishing is unaffected by the tariffs that remain.
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Subscription box service OwlCrate launches publishing arm: is this a glimpse of the future of publishing?

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These subscription services have built a meaningful fanbase and may understand and serve specific readerships better than some publishers.
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Respected independent publisher Two Dollar Radio acquired by Seven Stories Press

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Two Dollar Radio will keep ownership of its headquarters and bookstore it opened in Columbus in 2017.
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The Women’s Fiction Dilemma: A Contested Label Continues to Sell Books

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Publishing industry professionals disagree on the definition of "women's fiction" but acknowledge its marketing value for readers.
Image: a woman stands with a microphone in one hand and a marker in the other, prepared to make notes on a large pad of paper while giving a presentation to an audience in a well-lit modern office-style room.

Lay the Professional Groundwork for a Successful Nonfiction Book

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If a nonfiction book is an immediate or distant goal, start thinking now about how to visibly position yourself as an expert in your topic.
Image: a vector illustration of a laptop computer requesting that it be unlocked via a security code displayed on a nearby smartphone.

Self-Publishing Assistance Is Becoming Threatened

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In an attempt to crack down on bad actors, KDP and IngramSpark have made it very difficult for anyone but the author to publish a book there.
Image: a bridge with a suspension arch in the middle spans a river.

The Secret to Avoiding a Sagging Memoir Middle

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The finest memoirs are distilled experiences: the more you compress, the more potent your story becomes.
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Links of Interest: April 9, 2025

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The latest in AI, legal issues, Amazon, trends, and culture & politics.
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The Romance Rate Database

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Kaitlyn Arford has launched a tool to gather info on what freelancers working in the romance space are paid for their work.
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On the List: Here Be Dragons by Melanie Shankle

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Shankle incentivized pre-orders by offering the first three chapters for early reading, a digital discussion guide, and more.
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Book Sales Update: First Quarter of 2025

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According to BookScan, print unit sales fell about 1 percent for the first quarter versus last year.
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Amazon to display reading sample for ebooks on pre-order

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This feature will work exactly like the “Read Sample” feature that already exists on Amazon today.
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Publishers ask Congress to support libraries and fund IMLS; states and ALA file lawsuit over IMLS closure

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Meanwhile, 21 state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop the elimination of IMLS, among other agencies.
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NEH grants canceled, even those made under the Biden administration

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The Department of Government Efficiency has terminated funding for state humanities councils in all 50 states.
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Publishers Weekly starts charging for book review consideration (with some exceptions)

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The fee does not have to be paid by publishers who are Publishers Weekly site license subscribers, which carries a minimum cost of $950.
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Book publishing may escape the worst of the tariffs—for now

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All the tariffs just announced last week or this week largely don’t apply to books, but that doesn’t mean prices won’t go up.
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Copyright cases against OpenAI and Microsoft consolidated in New York court

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Some of these cases are class-action and include any writers whose work was used for AI training without permission or licensing.
Bottom Line March 2025 Bestseller Lists

Bottom Line March 2025 Bestseller Lists

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Three distinctive monthly bestseller lists: top 50 hidden gems, top 50 self-published ebooks, and top 50 self-published print books.