Links of Interest: August 31, 2022

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Amazon

  • Orders are down at Amazon, but no one knows why. As usual, we can only speculate about what’s happening. Let’s assume it’s just a passing phase. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly.

Book Banning

  • PEN America has released a new report on educational gag orders. Such orders restrict discussion of race, gender, American history, and LGBTQ identity. They’ve increased by 250 percent versus last year. Learn more.
  • The problem of soft censorship: Some books are not banned, but access is flagged or restricted in some way. Read Nadra Nittle at The 19th.
  • Virginia judge throws out obscenity cases. Earlier this year, a Virginia state politician filed suit, based on a state law that allows citizens to sue books themselves, to restrict sales of two books to minors. The judge said that law is “facially invalid” in a major win for free expression. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly.

Trends

  • Video game tie-in novels have declined. How popular a game will become is hard to predict; if the game doesn’t catch on, the tie-in novel will fail. That said, established franchises, such as Halo and Gears of War, see continued success in book form—so the game isn’t over yet. Read Gregory Leporati at The Washington Post.
  • The Game of Thrones effect: More publishers are reissuing “lost” fantasy classics, hoping to find new audiences. Read David Barnett at The Guardian.
  • Gen Z and BookTok are driving sales of romance. Two of the most popular authors right now are Colleen Hoover (of course) and Emily Henry. Read Deanna Schwartz and Meghan Collins Sullivan at NPR.

Artificial Intelligence

  • A new comic has entirely AI-generated art. It’s a debut comic by Steve Coulson about a photojournalist on assignment in a remote Scottish village. The art was generated by Midjourney. Read for free.
  • Learn about the blowback against AI-generated art. A writer discusses the avalanche of criticism he faced when generating AI art for his email newsletter—a decision he now considers a mistake. Whatever the moral conundrums, it’s going to be hard if not impossible to fight the future on this one. Read Charlie Warzel at The Atlantic.

Audio

  • Google launches a YouTube podcast homepage. According to one study, YouTube is the most-used platform for podcasts, with 78 percent of US podcast listeners 13 and older saying they have used the streamer for their shows. That puts it ahead of both Spotify and Apple Podcasts. A major factor is the rise of video podcasts. Read Ariel Shapiro at The Verge.
  • Storytel has a new CEO. The European-based subscription service for digital books has replaced its founder-CEO. On Oct. 1, the former head of HBO Max International, Johannes Larcher, will lead Storytel. He has also worked at Discovery’s streaming service. Read the press release.

Self-Publishing

  • IngramSpark offers more POD trim sizes. Paperbacks can now have widths ranging from 4 to 8.5 inches and lengths ranging from 6 to 11 inches. Learn more.

Culture & Politics

  • Washington Post’s stand-alone book section will return. Starting Sept. 25, the Sunday paper will include a separate section for book reviews and literary features. The previous book section was closed in 2009. Read Emily Firetog at Lit Hub.
  • A history of Clippy (really): Microsoft Word’s most annoying feature is long gone, but Clippy remains a cultural icon. The article is worth a look just to see Bill Gates smiling at some poor sap in a Clippy suit, with a young Jeff Bezos standing by. (Note to self: Halloween is coming; search Etsy for Clippy costumes.) Read Benjamin Cassidy at Seattle Met.

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