Audio
- Libro.fm enjoys surge in subscriptions after the US presidential inauguration. The CEO and cofounder of Libro.fm says people have been canceling their Audible subscriptions, plus independent booksellers have been marketing the service to customers, since they share in the profits. Read Nathalie op de Beeck at Publishers Weekly.
- Get a glimpse at a day in the life of a professional freelance audiobook narrator. The audiobook industry calculates nearly everything by the final runtime of the book, so narrators must do their work efficiently. Read at Anne Helen Petersen’s Culture Study.
Culture & Politics
- The University of Iowa International Writing Program has lost its US State Department funding. The government terminated grants totaling nearly $1 million for some of Iowa’s programs. Read the press release from the university.
- Who will pay for the literature of the future? More questions than answers here as NEA and NEH funding for nonprofit publishers and literary organizations becomes perilous. Read Anne Trubek at Notes from a Small Press.
- Bloom Books pulls romance novel from publication. Criticism began on social media as advance review copies circulated. Readers were upset with some bits of dialogue, especially one line where a character says they were inspired by Elon Musk. Notably, the author defended her publisher, Bloom Books, saying that editors had suggested she cut the lines that readers found racist or offensive, but she decided not to. Read Alexandra Alter in the New York Times (gift link).
AI
- How AI is changing and will change the world of writing. An interview with Tyler Cowen, an economy professor and popular podcaster. One key takeaway: Don’t let AI smooth out what makes your writing weird and uniquely yours. Watch or browse the transcript at Marginal Revolution.
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.