News and Trends
- An indie romance author is accused of plagiarizing countless other authors in her published work. The first author to spot a problem was Courtney Milan. Alison Flood at The Guardian offers journalistic coverage; you can also read Milan’s advice for affected authors at her blog.
- Controlled digital lending continues to draw opposition—this time from the National Writers Union. The article discusses how different librarians have different views on what problem CDL is intended to solve—the high cost of library ebooks, or the high cost of storing rarely circulated books in accessible stacks. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly.
- Largest German book wholesaler files for bankruptcy. It was an unexpected development, and the German book market remains shaken. Read Publishing Perspectives.
- Do authors really need a crowdfunding literary agency? Not really. Victoria Strauss takes a close look at Publishizer. Read at Writer Beware.
- Open Road Media focuses more on marketing ebooks (which apparently offers a better business model than selling ebooks). Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly.
Children’s and YA
- One in four children’s books is a licensed property. Licensed books also comprise 12 percent of total book sales in the US. Read more from NPD.
- Trends in the children’s lit market. At the SCBWI conference, agents and editors said they’re seeing interest in narrative and fun nonfiction, more heavily illustrated middle grade books, and YA novels with strong voices. Read Ellen Creager in Publishers Weekly.
Media and Tech
- The cost of Apple News. Apple is starting a news subscription business, and publishers don’t like the sound of the revenue split so far. For a full analysis, read Ben Thompson at Stratechery.
- Patreon users, pay attention. You may be getting a pay cut in the future. The company is feeling pressured to boost revenue. Read Brandon Gomez at CNBC.
- What happened to the Google Books search function? A professor and researcher is disappointed in the degrading functionality of the system. Read Ben Schmidt’s blog.
Politics and Culture
- When social media goes after your book, what is the right response? A debut YA author recently canceled publication of her book after Twitter criticism mounted; afterward some argued the author was bullied or effectively censored. Was cancellation the right move? Read a discussion in the New York Times by two authors with differing experiences and perspectives.
- #DVPit connects agents and diverse authors. Children’s and YA authors are landing book deals through Twitter pitch events. Learn more in a much-needed good-news piece about Twitter by Claire Kirch in Publishers Weekly.
Audio
- Storytel, the audiobook subscription service, is reducing visibility of erotica. Its move follows in the footsteps of other such services, including Amazon, Smashwords, and Scribd. Read Mark Williams at The New Publishing Standard.
- Spotify’s podcast aggregation play. Spotify recently purchased Gimlet Media (a podcast media company with high-profile talent) and Anchor, a tool for creating/distributing podcasts. Ben Thompson of Stratechery writes in-depth about what it means for the podcasting business.
- Libro.fm partners with independent booksellers to sell audiobooks. More than 500 bookstores now sell audiobooks through Libro.fm. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
Amazon
- A publisher of computer books finds counterfeit copies being sold via Amazon KDP (formerly CreateSpace). It’s not the first time, and the fakes are easy to spot. Read Sean Gallagher in Ars Technica.
- Choose Your Own Adventure comes to Alexa. Just tell your Alexa-powered device to “open Choose Your Own Adventure” and let the fun begin. Read Chris Meadows in TeleRead.
- Amazon buys adaptation rights for its own books. For the first time, Amazon has kept the entire content pipeline in-house. Read Andrew Liptak at The Verge.
Sales and Marketing Toolbox
- Traditional to hybrid: how to carry authors over to a new book. In this older but still-relevant post, Beth Revis discusses her marketing strategy for her self-published book after working with a traditional house. Read at the BookBub blog.
- Amazon KDP is now offering free educational sessions on book production, business, and marketing for indie authors. Instructors are not so far named, and details are few. You can show up for the live event or watch recordings. Take a look at Amazon’s site.
- Develop your own Alexa Skill without knowing code. Amazon has rolled out Alexa Skill Blueprints, which allows you to easily create Alexa skills for anyone to find, use, and review. For example, Alexa Skills can tie into your WordPress blog and feature lecture content, in addition to telling stories. Learn more.
- A roundup and comparison chart of ebook distributors and aggregators. Learn the differences among popular options available to self-publishing authors. Read David Wogahn.
New Imprint Alert
- Verso Books is launching a fiction imprint. Verso is an independent press mainly known for its nonfiction with a smattering of fiction. Its new imprint, Verso Fiction, will publish two to four fiction translations per year that are “uncompromisingly intelligent and beautiful books without regard for borders, genres, and political convention.” Read Calvin Reid in Publishers Weekly.
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.