TikTok
- The new empress of self-help is a TikTok star: Ever heard of the Shadow Work Journal? It is always on the Hot Sheet bestseller list and has sold 600,000 copies on TikTok alone. Learn more about the author who wrote it from Caroline Mimbs Nyce in the Atlantic.
- TikTok fuels Europe’s book sales. The effect is so pronounced as far as English-language sales that some countries are looking to acquire English-language book rights for their home market. Read Ed Nawotka at Publishers Weekly.
Contracts
- Webtoon contract comes under scrutiny. The Beat takes an in-depth look at the business model offered by Webtoon and what creators don’t like about it. Webtoon responds on the record to complaints. Read.
Trends
- Shorter books for kids, please: Some believe the adults have unrealistic expectations when writing and publishing long middle-grade books. Kids may struggle to finish such books, then not see themselves as readers. Length should not be a marker of merit. Read Lauren Brown at The Bookseller.
- “[Hollywood] is in a deep and existential crisis.” That’s according to the head of a midsize studio. Sustainable TV and film writing jobs are reportedly becoming scarce due to the streaming business model. Read Daniel Bessner at Harper’s.
- There’s market appeal surrounding authors who start off in fan fiction. Online fan communities can be proving grounds for potential bestselling writers and a place for agents and editors to identify new talent to meet demand for recreational book spending, especially in science fiction, fantasy, and romance markets. Read Allegra Rosenberg at Sherwood.
Marketing & Promotion
- HARO founder launches HERO. Help a Reporter Out has long been recommended to authors and experts as a way of getting known by journalists. But years ago HARO was sold to a PR software corporation, Cision. Now the founder of HARO has started a new effort to replace what Cision has ultimately taken away. See Help Every Reporter Out.
- How to add A+ content to your Amazon book page. Children’s author Darcy Pattison offers screenshots and ideas for what to feature. Read at Indie Kids Books.
Distribution
- StreetLib partners with the IBPA on distribution: Digital book distributor StreetLib has partnered with the Independent Book Publishers Association to offer StreetLib’s distribution tools at a discount. Learn more.
- Substack podcasts now on Spotify. If you listen to podcasts hosted by Substack, Spotify now allows you to link your Substack account so you can listen to their free and paywalled podcasts on Spotify. Learn more.
AI
- An AI-powered publisher gets millions in funding. The company is called Spines, and whoever funded this company doesn’t understand authors or publishing very well or what might actually disrupt it. Read Mike Wheatley at SiliconANGLE.
- Reflections on spam publishing. A couple people planned to “create a bit of chaos” at Amazon by publishing a lot of spam titles using AI—until profit-seeking authors beat them to the punch and did a better job of it. Read Ezequiel Soriano at Institute of Network Cultures.
- Where do garbage ebooks come from? Partly, they exist because of courses from the Mikkelsen twins. Hot Sheet offered some insight on this last year; Vox digs even deeper. Read Constance Grady.
- HarperCollins will create AI-narrated audiobooks of select foreign language backlist titles. They’re working with text-to-speech software company ElevenLabs, which can create an audiobook in about an hour. The titles would not have otherwise been created. Read the press release.
- Translators’ livelihoods threatened by AI. A third of translators in the UK have lost work due to generative AI, while about 37 percent have used it to support their work. Read Ella Creamer at The Guardian.
Culture & Politics
- PEN America cancels its literary awards ceremony. Authors continue to boycott PEN America over the organization’s response to the war in Gaza, some by withdrawing their work from awards consideration. For one award in particular, nine of the 10 authors longlisted withdrew their books. Some authors have called for the resignation of PEN’s CEO, president, and entire executive committee. Read John Maher in Publishers Weekly.
- More publishers join Penguin Random House in suit against Iowa book ban. All the Big Five publishers are now suing the state over a law that, among other things, bans books depicting or describing sex acts from school libraries and classrooms (religious texts are exempted). Read Jeffrey A. Trachtenberg at the Wall Street Journal.
- Literary events in New York can charge admission. Don’t try this at home, kids. Read Kate Dwyer at the New York Times (gift link).
- Taylor Swift teams up with Spotify to launch a pop-up poetry library. It’s all in support of her new album, Tortured Poets Department. Read P. Claire Dodson at Teen Vogue.
- Florida governor Ron DeSantis limits school book challenges. You can now object to only one title per month if you don’t have children in school. Florida has banned more books from schools than any other US state. Read Rebecca Falconer at Axios.
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.