Trends
- Harry Potter fans are fueling romantasy’s dominance. Romantasy is responsible for growing fiction sales; the New York Times analyzes the bigger reasons why. Read Alexandra Alter (gift link).
- The Associated Press stops publishing book reviews. A sign of the times; I am only surprised that it took this long. Offering reasons why they stopped, publicist Kathleen Schmidt recently wrote, “Probably because the reviews aren’t generating enough clicks, and the AP can save money by not paying book critics—and because people are discovering books elsewhere.” She makes important, larger points about the role that book criticism plays versus how consumers discover and choose books today. As a side note, I notice the New York Times Book Review newsletter is much more about recommendations and listicles these days, or what I call “Wirecutter for Books.” They’re always proclaiming, “Let us help you decide what to read next.” Yes, the NYT still runs formal criticism, but their larger strategy of competing against influencers is clear. It’s an imperative.
- Threads now may soon have as many monthly average users as X/Twitter. But X outpaces Threads by many millions when it comes to website visits. Read Aisha Malik at TechCrunch.
- Horror is big in comics right now. Horror is the second most dominant genre, behind superheroes. Gain more insights from the publisher of Oni Press. Read Brigid Alverson at ICv2.
Marketing and Promotion
- Bigger publicity isn’t always better publicity. Echoing points I made above about the shift from major media to niche media, Cassie Mannes Murray discusses what moves the needle (maybe) on book sales. Read at Pine State Publicity.
Culture & Politics
- HarperCollins UK modifies biography about Prince Andrew due to legal threat. Andrew Lownie’s bestselling biography includes a claim from Hunter Biden that Melania Trump was introduced to President Trump by Jeffrey Epstein. Melania Trump threatened to sue Biden as a result. Read Heloise Wood in The Bookseller (sub may be required).
- Regarding that dour research about the decline in pleasure reading: Even my mom texted me about this one. Apparently a survey shows a 40 percent decline in pleasure reading over the last 20 years. But I’m always suspicious of such survey results, which inevitably carry the same finding. I appreciated what journalist and editor Maria Bustillos had to say on a private listserv: “‘The end of reading’ is a media panic-refrain I’ve seen my whole long life, and it’s never been true. Literacy takes a lot of ever-changing forms, and so does pleasure.” Take a look at the study, if you must.
- Related: It’s the golden age of reading (online). A new book by Federico Pianzola, Digital Social Reading: Sharing Fiction in the Twenty-First Century, suggests that “despite fears of very short attention spans and echo chambers, the reading of fiction—broadly and inclusively understood—might actually be experiencing a golden age through social media.” Read Angelina Eimannsberger at Public Books as a chaser to the above survey.
- Wealthy folks hire ghostwriters to pen their memoirs. My favorite part of this Wall Street Journal article is the revelation that a wealth management service offers clients with $10 million or more in assets a free ghostwritten memoir: “The 30–40 page books are included in a suite of softer services and meant in part to ease clients’ fears that their heirs won’t understand the value of hard work.” Read Rachel Louise Ensign (gift link).
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.