Links of Interest: February 6, 2019

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ABA Winter Institute / Bookselling

  • Never heard of Winter Institute? It’s the annual national conference for the American Booksellers Association (ABA), an advocacy organization for independent booksellers. Ann Trubek of Belt Publishing offers a publisher’s perspective.
  • At Winter Institute, past ABA presidents reflect on a bookselling industry that may need socks and tea towels for profitability. Multiple panelists spoke to the finances of bookselling. Gayle Shanks, co-owner of Changing Hands Bookstore in Arizona, commented that while the general bookselling environment has improved, “When I have to take out a case of books to replace them with tea towels or socks so I can meet the minimum wage increase or put in new floors, that worries me.” Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
  • Meanwhile, a New York City bookstore speaks out about paid-vacation legislation and its potential harmful effects on small business. Greenlight Bookstore writes an open letter to New York City council members. Read.
  • The son of the owners of Politics & Prose (a Washington DC bookstore) discusses whether the indie bookstore revival can last. The article is clear-eyed about business challenges and quotes one bookseller who says that selling community is “bullshit.” Read Max Graham in The Politic.

News

  • Scribd surpasses 1 million subscribers. About half of its subscribers are outside the US, and unlimited audiobook listening is a key part of Scribd’s growth. Read more from Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly.
  • A news site is publishing science fiction. The Verge is releasing stories meant to inspire; novelist John Scalzi is one of the contributors. Read Christine Schmidt in Nieman Lab.
  • The Book Industry Study Group has released an updated guide to accessible publishing. It is available for free in digital format, and it’s written so that it can be understood and applied by nearly anyone. Get a copy.
  • Hachette Livre is acquiring a board game company. Gigamic has annual sales of over 15 million euros. The press release says the move is “part of a strategic desire to explore leisure activities adjacent to the publishing world.” In 2016, Hachette UK acquired British mobile game company Neon Play. Read the press release.

Trends and Culture

  • The secret life of Amazon’s Vine reviewers. The New York Times looks at the select group of reviewers who receive a lot of stuff for free. Read John Herrman.
  • Poetry sales soar in the UK. The trend is a result of young people’s passion for politics, combined with the success of Instapoet megastars like Rupi Kaur. Read Donna Ferguson in The Guardian.
  • A group of researchers uses computational methods to study comp (comparable) titles used by publishers to determine a manuscript’s marketability. The conclusion: comps can perpetuate institutional racism. Read Laura B. McGrath in LA Review of Books.
  • Something is broken in our science fiction. So argues Lee Konstantinou, who says we can’t seem to move past cyberpunk. Read in Slate.

Traditional Publishing

  • Random House is closing their digital genre-fiction imprints. Most of these imprints operate under Loveswept, and they include Alibi, Flirt, and Hydra. Existing digital backlist titles will continue to be published. These imprints received bad press several years ago for having author-unfriendly contracts. Learn more in Publishers Lunch.
  • Hallmark Publishing is moving into audio. The publisher is a division of the Hallmark Channel and produces ebooks. Read John Maher in Publishers Weekly.

Libraries

  • An in-depth report on how academic libraries acquire books and what market share the vendors control concludes that Amazon controls about 10 percent of the market. Learn more from Joseph Esposito at The Scholarly Kitchen.
  • Are publishers overcharging libraries for ebook lends? The Philadelphia Inquirer studies regional library costs for circulating ebooks and other digital content. For their most popular title in 2018, The Woman in the Window, the library’s cost was $1.04 per checkout for the ebook and 16 cents per checkout for the print book. Read Bob Fernandez.
  • Author Kristine Rusch discusses the library issue from the author perspective, both traditional and indie. She sees libraries as a major opportunity and bright spot. Read at her blog.

Marketing Toolbox

  • How to build a strong book-marketing foundation. The digital-marketing experts at Ingram offer a three-part series on metadata, audience engagement, and paid media. Start at the beginning.
  • How to get book reviews: the ultimate manifesto. This report is long and detailed, as the title indicates. Not every author will be up for the work involved, but this step-by-step process also offers details of the actual results you can expect. Read at Archangel Ink.

International

  • The issues facing German publishers in 2019. A recent report claiming that the German book industry lost 6.4 million readers has everyone concerned. Read Hannah Johnson in Publishing Perspectives.
  • StreetLib increases its number of author and publisher portals. The Italy-based ebook aggregator StreetLib is now available in six languages — Italian, English, Spanish, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi—with more languages to come this year. They’re also planning to add audiobook distribution to their ebook/POD distribution program. Learn more in the press release.

New Imprint Alerts

  • Amazon launches a children’s picture book imprint. It will focus on translations into English. Read the press release.
  • Boldwood Books is a new UK imprint focusing on commercial fiction. The company expects to publish 20 titles in 2019 and more than double that in 2020. They are not paying advances initially. Visit the publisher’s site.
  • Otto Penzler and Pegasus Books launch a new suspense imprint called Scarlet. Six to eight titles are planned for 2020. Read more in Publishers Weekly from Calvin Reid.