Links of Interest: Feb. 16, 2022

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News

  • There’s a new executive director of SCBWI. The children’s writing organization will be headed up by Sarah Baker. She’s been with SCBWI since 2011 and was previously the associate executive director. Read her letter to members.

Supply Chain

  • The latest update on publishers’ supply chain woes. The Guardian leads with the anecdote about the cookbooks that fell into the ocean off a container ship but then segues into the broader problems of printer and paper shortages. Read Lauren Aratani.
  • HarperCollins sees higher sales but lower profits. In their most recent earnings report, Big Five publisher HarperCollins said profit growth has been held back by “the increase in manufacturing and freight costs exacerbated by supply chain pressures,” as well as “higher costs related to increased sales volumes and mix of titles.” Sales grew in their UK and Christian divisions. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly (subscription required).

Traditional Publishing

  • Ebook sales dip in the UK. The dip was expected after digital growth during the pandemic, but notably Bloomsbury did not see any contraction in digital sales because of word of mouth on TikTok as well as its acquisition of Head of Zeus, a company at the forefront of digital publishing in the UK. Read Tom Tivnan at The Bookseller (subscription required).

Bookstores

  • Waterstones is in discussions to purchase Blackwell’s bookstores. Waterstones is led by James Daunt—who is also CEO of Barnes & Noble. Such a deal would likely require regulatory approval. The Blackwell family has owned Blackwell’s since its founding in 1879. Read Mark Kleinman at Sky News.
  • Christian retailers bounce back. From 2019 to 2021, sales increased by 15 percent for Christian retailers; books make up about a third of their sales. Christian living remains the bestselling adult book category, although sales are declining for the fourth consecutive year. Read Emma Wenner at Publishers Weekly.
  • What’s left of Follett has been sold to an investor group. College bookstore operator Follett Higher Education and its parent company have been sold to a group of private investors. That’s the last piece of the puzzle—all of Follett’s other divisions have been sold off to other companies or investors, including library distributor Baker & Taylor. Read the press release.

TikTok

  • Book retailers benefit from BookTok activity—and some have started their own accounts. Waterstones and Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt claims that the two stores combined account for 50 to 70 percent of sales for TikTok sensations such as Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles. The more active bookstores on TikTok post a few times per week. Read at The Bookseller (subscription required).
  • How BookTok shaped the bestselling year for books. This article summarizes what is largely known from existing NPD BookScan reports: 2020 and 2021 book sales benefited from TikTok. Read Anna Kaplan at Forbes.
  • BookTok is driving library circulation, too. BookTok has had a massive effect on trade paperback sales and school libraries. Read Kelly Jensen at School Library Journal.

Amazon

  • Amazon increases Prime cost. The annual membership will cost $139, up from $119, effective in March for current members. Amazon has not adjusted Prime pricing since 2018. Read Annie Palmer at CNBC.
  • Meanwhile, profits doubled at Amazon in the last quarter of 2021, driven not by retail but by other corporate endeavors:sales at Amazon Web Services, Amazon’s cloud computing arm, rose 40 percent, and advertising revenues were up by more than 30 percent. Read more in Shelf Awareness.

Trends

  • Romance enjoys a sales boom with a bit of help from Netflix and BookTok. In the UK, romance hasn’t seen such robust sales since Fifty Shades in 2012. Read Tom Tivnan in The Bookseller (subscription required).
  • A look at novels in verse for young readers. Such books have won significant honors in recent years. Publishers Weekly previews upcoming releases in 2022. Read Matthew Broaddus.
  • Travel book sales have been challenged during the pandemic. Learn how travel publishers are navigating unknown territory. Read Liz Scheier at Publishers Weekly.
  • AI influence on audiobooks grows alongside controversy. Professional narrators fear loss of livelihood, among other things. Read Shannon Maughan at Publishers Weekly.
  • Literary magazines are in danger. Colleges are cutting back the departments that house literary journals, and few (if any) are sustainable without donations and grants. Read Leah Asmelash at CNN.

Writer Beware

  • Watch out for copyleft trolls. Cory Doctorow describes at length a new form of copyright trolling that targets people who use Creative Commons licensed images. Read at Medium.

Culture & Politics