News and Trends
- Write On by Kindle will close on March 22. Sometimes referred to as Amazon’s answer to Wattpad, the Write On community for writers and readers was launched in 2014, but lacked sufficient growth to continue. A nice victory for Wattpad. Read more at GeekWire.
- Why is Hollywood turning to books for its biggest productions? One big reason: it’s less risky. Read more at the Verge.
- Top 10 trends in reading and book apps for children: Get an international look at innovations in the children’s publishing market at Publishing Perspectives.
- Improving the visibility of literature in translation: Chad Post of the Three Percent blog discusses how to improve the marketing and reach of translated works. Read at Ploughshares.
- Waterstones, the UK bookstore chain, has made its first profit since the 2008 financial crash. The positive turn comes from strong sales of children’s books, teenage literature, and fiction. Read more in the Guardian.
Publishing and Politics
- The new Trump administration creates uncertainty for libraries. That’s partly because of reports that Trump seeks to eliminate the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. The NEH has awarded library grants totalling $515 million since 1971. Learn more in Publishers Weekly.
- Roxane Gay pulls her book from Simon & Schuster to protest the book deal with Milo Yiannopoulos. She says, “I can’t in good conscience let them publish it while they also publish Milo.” Read more at NPR.
- Also, Roxane Gay urges bookstores to become sanctuaries. At last week’s Winter Institute (a gathering of independent booksellers), Gay gave the opening keynote and discussed the role of books and bookstores in the current political climate. Read the full text of her speech.
- Speaking of independent bookstores: Booksellers are organizing book clubs, donation drives, community discussion series—and much more—in response to current events. Read more in Shelf Awareness.
- Literary agents call for submissions from Muslim writers. Learn more about the call at agent Clelia Gore’s website. [Discontinued]
New Imprint Announcements
- Ten Speed Press has created a new cooking and lifestyle imprint: Lorena Jones Books. It will publish six to eight books per year in the areas of cooking, work life, and health. Read the press release.
- Kensington Publishing has a new eponymous imprint: John Scognamiglio Books. It will release four to six hardcovers per year starting in Jan. 2018 and focus on high-quality commercial fiction. Read more in Publishers Weekly.
Marketing Toolbox
- Why there’s no perfect time to post on Facebook. We expect the same is true of just about every social media network. Learn more at Buffer.
- How Patreon became a major source of revenue for podcasters. The lessons here could easily apply to writers as well. Learn more at the Simon Owens blog.
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.