News and Trends
- Marie Force is disbanding the Indie Author Support Network (IASN). See our earlier report here for background. All members who donated money will receive a full refund. In a note to supporters, Force said her Facebook group, the Author Support Network, will operate as usual, and that she will continue to help indies who ask for assistance. The homepage for IASN is now a 404 page and redirects to Force’s homepage.
- The latest VIDA count is out. The organization analyzes the gender of writers being published in major literary outlets. Take a look.
- The biggest book cover trend of the year. LitHub staff have noticed a particular design trend overtaking traditional publishing covers. See for yourself in this article by Emily Temple.
Digital Publishing
- Google Play has reopened their publishing portal to indie authors. Since 2015, it hasn’t been possible for authors to directly upload and sell their ebooks through Google Play. Now, the doors are open again—sort of. First, you must complete this interest form.
- Amazon Kindle now supports Arabic-language books. Traditional publishers and indie authors alike can now publish and distribute works in Arabic for Kindle. Learn more in the press release.
- A Rotten Tomatoes for books. Publishers Weekly takes a look at the success of the LitHub website, launched in 2015 by the literary publishing establishment. It’s now a top destination for literature lovers and is expanding its online offerings. Read John Maher.
- WordPress owner buys the digital publisher Atavist. Atavist is a startup founded in 2011 that has gone through several pivots, but it is mainly a platform for publishing stories through a digital subscription model. Read more from Benjamin Mullin in the Wall Street Journal.
Legal Issues
- A Supreme Court ruling has implications for all authors and booksellers. Until this most recent ruling, internet companies with no physical presence in a state could forgo collecting sales tax. That’s about to change. We’ll bring you analysis in a future issue when more becomes clear. For now, here’s Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
- Were you represented by Donadio & Olson? If you are represented by the firm now exposed for embezzling from its authors, reach out to the Authors Guild, who is helping coordinate efforts among those affected. Learn more.
Audio Everywhere
- Podcast advertising revenue is growing fast. Data from the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows an 86 percent increase of ad dollars from the year prior. Read more from Nicholas Quah at Nieman Lab.
- Publishing industry vet Mike Shatzkin says words-to-be-read are losing ground to words-to-be-heard. He references a recent New York Times piece about the rise of audio. Read more at his blog.
Marketing Toolbox
- You can license anything to anyone—if you know what you’re doing. Author Kristine Rusch discusses the lucrative potential of licensing your intellectual property. Read at her 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.