Traditional Publishing
- Learn more about book packaging. Last week’s issue offered a deep dive into the Crave copyright case and allegations of fraud. Book packager and editor Mary Kole (quoted in the piece) offers more insights into the industry, building off that piece. Read at Substack.
- The writerly status symbol: the Publishers Marketplace deal screenshot. “Authors have built their own galaxies of exalted cultural meaning out of the Publishers Marketplace deal-announcement screengrab—perhaps even more now, in an environment where anyone can self-publish independently.” Read Jordan Michelman at The Atlantic (sub may be required).
Trends
- Japanese fiction is booming, to the consternation of BookTok. Japanese authors have written nearly half of this year’s bestselling translated novels in the UK. Read John Self in The Guardian. Meanwhile, BookTok folks do not comprehend why one of these books, Butter, was named Waterstones’ book of the year. One TikTokker said, “I don’t know a single person that read and enjoyed it.” Another said, “It’s food porn. I was 50 pages in and she had made noodles with butter about 500 times.”
- The economics behind the business of ghostwriting. A new survey of 269 ghostwriters finds that one-third earn more than $100,000 in annual income from ghostwriting books. Read Sophia Stewart in Publishers Weekly.
- Does Ben Affleck know about fanfiction? Recently, Affleck argued (well) that AI doesn’t stand a chance against human creativity and storytelling, but in doing so seemed to discount fanfiction. Read Julia Alexander at Posting Nexus.
- Slate discovers public domain publishing on Amazon. It’s been around for a long time now. Anyone remember the seductive Anne of Green Gables covers? Read Kevin M. Kearney.
Culture & Politics
- Taylor Swift’s self-published book can still be purchased. Some locations did sell out; others didn’t. Read Earl Hopkins and Elizabeth Robertson at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
- Trump 2.0 and publishing: Trump’s first term was good for book publishing, but some in the industry believe there won’t be as much appetite for Trump books this time around. Read Emily Gould at The Cut.
- Most American comic books are printed in Canada, which may get hit with a 25 percent tariff. Comics publishers discuss what the tariffs could mean for them if they go into effect under the Trump administration. Read Rich Johnston in Bleeding Cool.
AI
- What’s the impact of AI on energy demand? Perhaps not as much as everyone seems to think. Here’s a nuanced, researched, and fact-based analysis. Read Hannah Ritchie in Sustainability by Numbers.
- How AI writing and editing creates headaches for publishing professionals. Human editors won’t be replaced anytime soon for quality work if this experience remains common. Read Josh Bernoff.
- AI might help catalog books. The Library of Congress discusses how they are testing AI models to support their work. Read Isabel Brador at LOC’s The Signal.
- What if 10 AI bots collaborated on writing a book? Someone programmed 10 AI bots to collectively write a book on their own. Each bot was responsible for a different part, like thematic relevance, tone, and narrative cohesion. The programming looks impressive, but as far as the reading experience, well, I suggest returning to Ben Affleck’s words of wisdom. Learn more (click on the circle graphs, on the chapters and scenes, to read the generated work).
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.