Book Deals
- Book publishers quickly sign Reddit rally authors. Also, the founder of WallStreetBets has already sold his life story to a film production company. Read Keith J. Kelly in the New York Post.
- Christopher Hitchens biography proceeds against the wishes of his wife and agent. The book by Stephen Phillips has been signed by Norton, but the author is having trouble getting anyone’s cooperation after the family spoke out against the project. Read Elizabeth A. Harris in The New York Times.
- Hunter Biden will tell his story in a memoir to be published in April. Beautiful Things “details Hunter’s descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety.” Simon & Schuster is the publisher. Read Alexandra Alter in The New York Times.
Agents & Contracts
- Don’t get lured in by a fake literary agency. Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware unmasks a fake literary agency and teaches writers how to spot one. Read.
- William Morris Endeavor has a new agreement with the Writers Guild. Ending a fight that began nearly two years ago, WME (the last major holdout) has agreed to union demands to end packaging and to cap their investment stake in production agencies to 20 percent. Read John Koblin in The New York Times.
- Morals clauses in book deals: They’re not going anywhere, much to the frustration of authors and agents. Read Elizabeth A. Harris in The New York Times.
Trends
- What’s Clubhouse all about? Imagine a Zoom meeting without the video or a podcast available in real time that’s not saved or recorded. With a considerable amount of bloviating. Read Sadie Hale at What’s New in Publishing.
- Another exploration of the book-to-screen adaptation boom. Meet the agents, managers, scouts, and executives who work on such deals. Read Meredith Maran in the LA Times.
- How it feels to be a debut novelist in 2021. A look at the ongoing challenges of having a book release during a pandemic, with advice for authors. Read Rachel Kramer Bussel at Forbes.
- Learn all about “pop futurist” books. Authors of these works offer a glimpse of what’s coming next. Read Samantha Culp in The Atlantic.
Amazon
- Jeff Bezos, managerial Mephistopheles: Now that Bezos is stepping down as CEO, we’ll be seeing a lot of think pieces and retrospectives about Amazon. Mark O’Connell asks if Bezos is the genius our age of consumerism deserves. Read in The Guardian.
- Amazon and anti-trust issues: This New York Times op-ed implies Bezos is exiting stage right partly because lawmakers are turning up the heat on Amazon. Read Maureen Tkacik.
Bookselling
- Independent bookstores that embrace e-commerce are seeing good results (surprise!). And also no surprise, e-commerce is here to stay for those stores. Read Alex Green in Publishers Weekly.
- Waterstones, as well as other UK retailers, have called on the government to reduce or remove property taxes. CEO James Daunt says Waterstones will close some of its 290 stores when their leases expire if taxes are not reduced. Read Elias Jahshan in Retail Gazette.
- Indigo challenged during the holidays. For its third quarter, ending December 26, 2020, sales decreased 5 percent, mainly due to mandated store closures in November and December. Learn more at BNN Bloomberg.
Culture & Politics
- We need to define “conservative publishing.” Editors at ECW Press argue that conservative houses and imprints like Regnery are responsible for giving a platform to a particular brand of conservative—far right and inflammatory—which is not the same as publishing a Milton Friedman book. Read Elham Ali and Anita Ragunathan at Publishers Weekly.
- Poetry magazine faces outcry for publishing poetry by sex offender. The February issue, which was edited by guests, is filled with work by incarcerated people. But one of the poets featured is a former English professor who was convicted of possessing and distributing child pornography. Read Dan Kois at Slate.
- The National Book Critics Circle is in the spotlight again for regrettable comments by a board member. A white author and critic took an unkind swipe at a Black queer author’s two-book deal. Read Alex Green in Publishers Weekly.
- The Justice Department dropped its lawsuit against the author of Melania and Me. The lawsuit, filed during the final months of the Trump administration, claimed the book violated the author’s White House nondisclosure agreement. Read Maria Puente in USA Today.
Self-publishing
- Facebook ads for authors in 2021. Author Margie Lawson offers a glimpse at possible changes ahead. Read at her site.
- What do authors actually earn from an audiobook sold through ACX? The Alliance of Independent Authors attempts to make the calculus plain. The breakeven point for the average book, when paying the narrator outright, is between 300 and 400 unit sales through Audible. Learn more.
- A primer on Brexit for indie authors. If you don’t live or work in the UK, this should deter you from moving there any time soon. Read Dan Holloway at ALLi.
- Quick beginner tips on Amazon ads. For those who haven’t yet used Amazon to advertise their ebooks, this is a good starting point for learning the metrics and terminology. Read Laurence O’Bryan at PublishDrive.
- The art and science of Amazon’s editorial reviews. What should you put there? What will make a difference to sales? Read Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur.
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.