Links of Interest: March 26, 2025

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Traditional Publishing

  • Simon & Schuster wants to become the “A24 of books.” When I read the headline of this piece, I had no idea what it might mean to become the A24 of books. I’m still a little perplexed, but it seems the goal is to become an entertainment company that inspires the same kind of loyalty that people have for A24 productions. I must admit I did not know about such A24 loyalty until now. Publisher Sean Manning says in the article, “Every Tuesday, we have a new author who’s a cultural tastemaker. Why aren’t we using them? Why are we so dependent on outside media?” Manning is the same person who caused industry debate over the use of blurbs, so he certainly knows how to get attention. Read Cat Zhang at The Cut.

Trends

  • The state of romantasy: What tropes and trends are popping up on BookTok? Who are the latest self-publishing authors to get picked up for traditional publishing deals? And more. Read Alyssa Morris at Romancing the Phone.

Marketing & Promotion

  • A roundtable with five women who work in book media: Learn how the media decides which books to cover and what coverage draws the most readers. Read Alia Hanna Habib at Delivery & Acceptance.
  • How do publishers market and promote “difficult” or “serious” novels? This article is probably most interesting for the sales numbers mentioned for serious novels that have been successful. Read Greta Rainbow at Dirt.

Culture & Politics

  • Canadian booksellers ask the prime minister to exempt books from Canada’s 25 percent countertariffs. Books by Canadian authors printed in and distributed through US warehouses would be subject to the countertariff. (Many of the largest Canadian publishers are divisions of US publishers, such as Penguin Random House Canada.) The tariffs are scheduled to take effect on April 2. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
  • US blocks Canadian access to a US library that straddles the Canada-US border. Canadian visitors were once able to enter the library on the US side of the border but now will need to go through a formal border crossing to do so. The Department of Homeland Security said the change was in response to drug trafficking. Read at The Guardian.
  • An Alabama public library has been defunded. Parents complained about books in its teen section, most specifically Sold by Patricia McCormick, a National Book Award finalist, about a girl sold into sexual slavery in India. Read at the AP.

AI

  • Academic publisher Taylor & Francis to use AI for translation. The publisher says it is using AI translation tools to publish books that would otherwise be unavailable to English-language readers. Read Matilda Battersby at The Bookseller.
  • The audiobook industry begins to embrace AI. This is a report arising from London Book Fair, with perspectives from Bookwire (a German distributor), Hachette, and Storytel. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
  • Researchers find that people like AI-generated poetry more than human poetry. Why? The researchers write, “We propose that people rate AI poems more highly across all metrics in part because they find AI poems more straightforward. AI-generated poems in our study are generally more accessible than the human-authored poems.” Read Brian Porter and Edouard Machery at Nature.
  • Publishing pros in Spain retain optimism about AI in the industry. Self-employed professionals, illustrators, and translators were most likely to view AI negatively. Read Ed Nawotka at Publishers Weekly.