News
- The National Endowment for the Arts will distribute $135 million to arts organizations. The money is part of the American Rescue Plan recently passed by Congress. The NEH has also received $135 million for cultural organizations. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
- A bipartisan bill would give US media companies the ability to collectively negotiate with Google and Facebook. Right now, antitrust laws prevent newspapers and magazines from banding together against tech companies. That may change. Read David McLaughlin and Sara Forden in Bloomberg.
- The executive director of Small Press Distribution steps down. The organization has been under fire from employees for wage violations and discrimination. Read Alex Green in Publishers Weekly.
Audio
- Podium Audio hits $50 million in revenue in 2020. The audio-first publisher, which we covered last year, focuses on plucking successful self-published titles from Amazon and producing them in audio. It recently hit 2,000 titles. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly (subscription required).
- So you want to start a fiction podcast? This free, 50-page how-to guide is all about scripted fiction podcasts. Download the PDF.
- Have you been asked to work for a fiction podcast? If you don’t have an agent, you need to protect your rights by carefully negotiating your contract. Check out these contract tips from the Writers Guild of America.
- What sets a good audiobook apart: An award-winning narrator who has recorded nearly 400 books offers insight. Read June Thomas at Slate.
- Spotify podcast listeners will surpass Apple podcast listeners this year. Spotify is expecting to grow more than 40 percent this year. Learn more at eMarketer.
Traditional Publishers
- Midwestern publishers rebound after last spring. Even though sales took a tumble early in the pandemic, some independent presses are reporting sales gains in 2020. Read Claire Kirch in Publishers Weekly.
- UK book orders from the EU are down by 43 percent since coronavirus and Brexit. That’s according to freight forwarding firm Unsworth. Read Mark Chandler in The Bookseller (subscription required).
- Regnery revenue fell in 2020. The conservative imprint (which is publishing Senator Josh Hawley’s book) reported a decline of 13.5 percent, reportedly due to Amazon’s decision to prioritize essential products over books in spring 2020. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly (subscription required).
Trends
- The book club business is booming online. The niche is increasingly led by actresses and fashion models using Instagram. Read Kate Dwyer in The New York Times.
- Why tweens crave horror. The quality of children’s horror literature has increased, and horror offers a safe way to escape scary times. Read Julie Shatterly in School Library Journal.
- Learn all about Canadian book buyers. BookNet Canada offers a three-part blog series on Canadians who bought at least one book in 2020. Read Shim Hirchberg.
- There’s a teen writing scene, and it’s competition oriented. Teens are showing much greater interest in writing competitions, and quality is up. But there are negative repercussions, like plagiarism and self-hatred. Read Amanda Silberling at Electric Lit.
Culture & Politics
- A new kind of Western novel is sweeping away some of the genre’s long-standing myths. Instead of portraying the frontier as a place to be mastered or overcome, the Western becomes a way of thinking about humans’ relationship to land, the past, and the idea of home. Read Anna North at The Atlantic.
- Our autofiction fixation: Why do we assume all fiction is autobiographical? Because so much of it is. Read Jessica Winter in The New York Times.
- Amazon explains why it pulled a controversial title from sale. Responding to an inquiry from a group of Republican senators about its decision to stop selling When Harry Became Sally, representatives from Amazon wrote, “We have chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.” Read the letter.
Marketing Toolbox
- How Amazon’s algorithms work. This is your comprehensive, plain-English guide to how products—including books—achieve good visibility on Amazon. Read at Reedsy.
- How to be a great podcast guest. Longtime podcaster and indie author Joanna Penn offers tips on how to nail your next interview or appearance. Read at her site.
- The ultimate guide to publishing wide. The team at the Alliance of Independent Authors breaks down the services available to self-publishing authors and how to successfully leave KDP Select (Kindle Unlimited). Read at ALLi’s site.
- What’s the best day of the week to discount your ebook? Data collected from BookBub featured deal emails suggests that it doesn’t really matter which day your deal runs. Read Diana Urban at BookBub.
- Speaking of BookBub Featured Deals, here are 9 reasons your book was rejected for one. They include fairly simple and direct reasons (your book is too short) but also such things as poor cover design. Read Danielle Perreault at BookBub.
- The indie author’s guide to ebook pre-orders. This is a comprehensive look at how to run, promote, and set up a pre-order across all major ebook retailers. Read Clayton Noblit at Written Word Media.
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.