Trends
- Welcome to the new golden age of rom-com. We’re all looking for feel-good entertainment in uncertain times. Read Maggie Gordon in The Houston Chronicle.
- “Light novels” are an emerging genre in North America. Translated from Japanese, a light novel is a work of prose with manga-style illustrations. Read Deb Aoki in Publishers Weekly.
- New literary fiction is borrowing from the horror genre. The goal: to better explore the fears and anxieties of modern motherhood. Read Alexandra Alter in The New York Times.
- The book isn’t the holy grail of earnings—the story is. Kristine Kathryn Rusch shares thoughts and learnings on the world of licensing. Read at her blog.
- Jenna Bush wants to be the new book club queen. Watch out, Reese Witherspoon. Read David Canfield in Entertainment Weekly.
- Smart speaker use is evolving. The longer people have the devices, the less they experiment. Read Edison Research.
Libraries
- Steve Potash of OverDrive calls on agents and authors to ask their publishers for library usage data. The information is available but not reflected in current publisher royalty statements. Read at OverDrive’s site.
- It may become harder for Canadians to borrow popular ebooks and audiobooks. Publishers are changing terms—often leading to higher pricing—while usage increases. Read Jessica Wong at the CBC.
- Library book clubs have loyal members. According to a recent study, there is little difference between happiness in public library book clubs versus closed, private ones. Read Davina Morgan-Witts at Book Club Central.
Traditional Publishing
- An O’Reilly author offers a clear statement of his earnings. He estimates he’s earned $23/hour, partly because of sponsorships. Read Justin Garrison at Medium.
- Book publishers must think about their printing and manufacturing up to a year in advance. Because of consolidation in the printing industry and printers shifting to more profitable work than books, publishers have to be prepared to deal with problems in the supply chain. Read John Conley at Book Business.
Bookselling
- Want kids to learn the joys of reading? Put books in barbershops and laundromats. Read Christine Hauser in the New York Times.
- Children’s booksellers challenge ABA leadership. At a town hall meeting, booksellers complained about lack of appropriate education and services for micro-stores. Read Alex Green in Publishers Weekly.
- CBA (Association for Christian Retail) is dead. But it could be reborn in concept. Read Emma Wenner at Publishers Weekly.
- B&N Education grapples with a changing market. The college retail bookselling arm of Barnes & Noble (which was spun off some years ago from the consumer business) is seeing sales declines. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly.
Culture and Politics
- Fans are better than tech companies at organizing stories. Archive of Our Own, the fanfiction database, has perfected a system of tagging to help with story discoverability. Read Gretchen McCulloch at Wired.
- Will horror literature diversify? While film and TV have figures like Jordan Peele, where’s the equivalent breakout talent for horror novels? Read Jef Rouner in the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Romance authors can be the target of online abuse. Apparently some people don’t like stories where women have sex and pleasure. Read Julia Carpenter at Glamour.
- Gutenberg didn’t actually invent the printing press. Learn about the unsung Chinese and Korean history of movable type. Read M. Sophia Newman at LitHub.
- Are colleges friendly to fantasy writers? As far as epic fantasy and space opera, nope. Read at Wired.
Marketing Toolbox
- Learn some lesser-known marketing tips for Amazon KDP. First up: you’re not really limited to just seven keyword phrases. Read John Doppler at the ALLi blog.
- Self-publishing author JA Konrath is back to blogging—and reveals his book sales income dropped by half after Kindle Unlimited appeared. Read at his site.
- Launch your next book at a bar. Yes, it’s partly because people who drink are probably more likely to buy. Read Vanessa Blakeslee at Publishers Weekly.
New Imprint Alert
- Little Brown UK is launching a new nonfiction imprint. The Bridge Street Press will publish upmarket nonfiction, up to five books a year. The imprint is intentionally limiting the number of books published. Executive publisher Tim Whiting says, “The world is frantic with ideas and voices; I want to cut through all that by directing resources solely to a small number of books.” Learn more in the press release.
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.