The May 2024 bestseller lists are now available at the Hot Sheet website, free to everyone. Here are some points of interest.

When your writing hits a wall the solution is often to stop for a moment, take stock, and look deeper into what it is you’re trying to write.

As an early architect of the novel form, Austen’s use of a unifying thematic question contributed to the development of long-form narratives.

When executed well, a memoir with a message can touch lives through the power of personal narrative combined with practical wisdom.

Whatever settings you choose, they need to align with your theme, support the plot, and help define your characters.

A writing retreat attendee shares some of the unique benefits that intensive study offers versus conferences and online classes.

If someone has repeatedly hurt you, trying to make them more redeemable on the page might hit your gaslight button. But it doesn’t have to.

The latest in traditional publishing, legal concerns, culture & politics, and AI.

Spotify’s new audiobook subscription service already includes all of the Big Five publishers.

Shimmr is an automated book advertising service based in the UK; Pix is a chatbot that offers book recommendations.

The Firebrand Group (which runs Firebrand Technologies, NetGalley, and Supadu) will host the three-day event in Nashville this September.

Thais Carreira Afonso interned at Writers House before joining Azantian.

Emma Fulenwider has joined as literary agent with a focus on adult nonfiction books in the general and Christian markets.

Lori Steel has founded SteelWorks Literary; she was previously at Red Fox Literary.

Emily P. Freeman is the host of the Next Right Thing podcast, and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six books.

You ask, we answer—or find an expert to answer!

The genre that’s home to Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros holds continued growth opportunity for all kinds of publishers and authors.

In a word: romance. Stories are highly dramatic, romantic, sexually explicit and frequently feature werewolves, aliens, and cryptids.

In April 2024, print book sales declined by 4 percent versus 2023, according to Circana BookScan.

Three of the Big Five publishers are adding contract language that prohibits the publisher from training AI models on the contracted work.

OpenAI announced their new generative AI model that can accept (as prompts) and generate multiple types of media, all from one interface.

Both editors were high-profile hires and fairly new to the Big Five publisher.

Some authors have expressed anger and frustration that what they consider private information is now being made public by Amazon.

We all have limiting beliefs that essentially all say the same thing: you are not good enough so stop writing. They are not true.

When you manipulate spaces in between with intention, your readers will stay intrigued by emotion, mystery, and ambiguity.