Traditional Publishing
- Listen to a conversation with the other Jane Friedman. The former CEO of HarperCollins talks with Victoria Wilson of PRH about what lies ahead in books, business, and life. Watch on YouTube.
- William Morris Endeavor acquires Ross Yoon Agency. WME is the oldest and largest talent agency. Gail Ross and Howard Yoon will join WME as partners. Read Sophia Stewart at Publishers Weekly.
WGA Strike
- How authors are supporting the WGA strike. Mainly: They are not offering up material to sell or taking any meetings. Read Alexis Gunderson at Lit Hub.
- Book adaptation deals on hold with WGA strike. Options are being extended due to force majeure clauses. Learn more from the Authors Guild.
AI
- Will AI be good enough to replace the human touch in the publishing process? A publishing industry analyst argues that the vast majority of readers will be perfectly happy seeing and reading books where AI has played a major role in editing, design, and production. Read Thad McIlroy in Publishers Weekly.
- Sudowrite isn’t harmless, but it’s not evil. A long discussion about the arrival of Sudowrite’s Story Engine, which writes longform stories using AI, as well as its larger implications for all types of writing and storytelling. Read Tyler King.
Book Promotion
- How the pros pitch podcasts. Whether your book is old or new, learn tips and tricks for pitching yourself as a podcast guest, from a “podcast matchmaker.” Read Leigh Stein at Attention Economy.
- Written Word Media and Hello Books enter strategic partnership.Both services primarily help self-publishing authors market and promote their ebooks. Learn more.
- Authors, don’t take on book reviewers. It almost never ends well.After reading a four-star review of her YA book at Goodreads prior to publication, the author complained about it on BookTok. A firestorm ensued that was so bad that the hybrid publisher, SparkPress, said it was parting ways with the author. Read Blake Montgomery at Gizmodo.
Book Banning
- The majority of book challenges in the US were brought by 11 people. Most of the objections are related to sexual content and LGBTQ people. Read Hannah Natanson in the Washington Post (soft paywall).
- The US Dept of Education looks at potential civil rights violations due to book removals at schools. A school district in Georgia has agreed to work with the DOE to address student discrimination arising from book bans. Read Andrew Albanese at Publishers Weekly.
- Multiple publishing industry organizations file lawsuit against Arkansas. They’re fighting a recently passed law that exposes librarians to criminal liability for making allegedly obscene books available to minors. Read Andrew Albanese at Publishers Weekly.
Culture & Politics
- The autofiction writer and the torturer: One of France’s most popular authors became unable to write because he found it increasingly difficult to justify the “torture” of revealing intimate details about other people. Read Marcus Hijkoop in Compact.
- Mary Trump, E. Jean Carroll, and Jennifer Taub collaborate on a romance novel. It’s being serialized on Substack; Trump hopes to find a traditional publisher when it’s finished. Read Alexandra Alter in the New York Times (gift link).
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.