Self-Publishing
- Draft2Digital adds library distribution via OverDrive. Draft2Digital has become increasingly competitive as an ebook distributor over the last year or two, especially when compared to Smashwords. This latest distribution agreement comes after a partnership announcement with audiobook distributor Findaway Voices; they also have distribution agreements with Kobo Plus, Playster, Tolino, 24symbols, Inktera, and Scribd. Authors will earn 46.75 percent of the list price for ebook sales through OverDrive. Learn more.
- Amazon has released a Microsoft Word plugin to assist with EPUB conversion. This follows their earlier release of free, downloadable software to help authors with Kindle ebook formatting. The Word plugin is only available for PC users. Take a look.
News and Trends
- The toxic drama on YA Twitter: There’s growing dysfunction and it’s ugly. Read about it in a Vulture article by Kat Rosenfield.
- Is Trump hurting book sales? The political news cycle is consuming media resources and leaving less time and attention for books and author coverage. Read Morgan Jerkins’s report in the New Republic.
- Everyone’s excited about chat fiction (again). TechCrunch’s Sarah Perez takes a look at Wattpad chat fiction as well as Amazon chat fiction. Andrea Park of CBS News looks at the trend of millennials reading chat fiction.
- The New York Times book critic Michiko Kakutani is retiring. She has been with the paper since 1979. So far, no new chief critic has been named. Learn more from Publishers Weekly’s Rachel Deahl.
- Canada’s infamous copyright crisis may have come to an end. At stake was whether educators can freely and limitlessly reproduce copyrighted material they had previously paid for. The situation has cost publishers $50 million or more in lost revenues annually; the court ruled in the publishers’ and authors’ favor, but universities are expected to appeal. Learn more in Publishing Perspectives.
- Barnes & Noble Education’s acquisition of Student Brands—described as “a leading direct-to-student subscription-based writing skills services business”—comes with a reported 20 million users in the US, Brazil, France, and Mexico. Read more in the news release.
Traditional Publishing
- Pearson just announced 3,000 more jobs will be cut as demand declines for educational materials. Last year, Pearson cut 4,000 jobs. Combined, the two cuts represent a 25 percent reduction in the Pearson workforce worldwide. The company sold part of its stake in Penguin Random House last month. Learn more from Natasha Bach in Fortune.
- HarperCollins is partnering with Wattpad on YA titles. An executive editor at HarperCollins will select stories published on Wattpad for print publication, but there are no specifics so far about how many titles or authors will be involved. Wattpad also collaborates with Sourcebooks to publish books for the YA market. Learn more from Emma Kantor in Publishers Weekly.
- Publishing industry analyst Mike Shatzkin discusses the downsizing of the book business. In his latest blog post, he mentions that Barnes & Noble would be wise to reduce its overhead by using Ingram. Read more at his blog.
Elsewhere
- Does your book seem like a Hallmark movie or TV series? Hallmark Publishing is seeking submissions of wholesome romance and cozy mystery. Unpublished and self-published work is accepted. Learn more.
- Netflix acquires comic book publisher Millarworld;this is the first acquisition of this type by Netflix. Read the press release.
- If you ever have to research copyright or ownership of music, rejoice. ASCAP and BMI, the nation’s two leading performing rights organizations, are creating a single database of musical works that offers a comprehensive view of ownership of music. Learn more in Variety from Jem Aswad.
- Writer’s Digest is partnering with London Book Fair on a one-day authors’ event in London on November 11. Learn more at Publishing Perspectives.
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.