News & Trends
- Ebook subscription service Scribd says it has a half-million subscribers and is profitable. The only competitor left to Kindle Unlimited in the United States remains in the game, although the subscription service is no longer all-you-can-read. It also offers digital audiobooks, magazines, and now some newspaper content. Learn more at Nieman Lab. (Self-published authors: You can distribute your work to Scribd via Smashwords, Draft2Digital, or BookBaby.)
- Learn about China’s massive version of self-publishing, called “online literature.” A newly launched English-language platform targets North America and Western Europe. Read in Publishing Perspectives.
- It’s a seller’s market for anyone producing video—and Amazon is buying. The Investigative Reporting Program at the University of California Berkeley has inked its first big distribution deal with Amazon, which is taking first-look rights to the projects coming out of the organization. Learn more at Nieman Lab.
Traditional Publishing
- Mass-market print has been declining for years, but is the decline now over? An in-depth report from Publishers Weekly takes a look at the history and fortunes of the mass-market paperback; plus one agent says the midlist romance author in print is going away. Take a look.
- Current trends in middle-grade fiction: Middle-grade fiction is rivaling YA in sales and excitement. Find out more in Publishing Trends.
- Want to sample the books being pushed at BookExpo this year? As usual, you can get a glimpse via the annual Buzz Books sampler from Publishers Marketplace. Download a digital copy. (If you have trouble with the download, make sure ad blockers are disabled.)
Bookselling
- A letter from the outgoing president of the American Booksellers Association focuses on the work being done to sell and profit from backlist. Read at the ABA site.
- Amazon’s latest brick-and-mortar bookstore has opened in New York City. The opening was accompanied by a range of articles from national outlets based in NYC, of course. Read the take from the New York Times.
Marketing Toolbox
- Firebrand Research Labs has been researching how marketing and discovery strategies work in the real marketplace with real readers. One study demonstrates that keywords drawn from readers’ own reviews (and that therefore match readers’ own terminology)—such as bad guys, action-packed, surprise ending, and courtroom drama—work much better in the market than publisher terms, such as noir atmosphere, urban settings, and harsh realism. Improved keywords led to sales increases for 34 percent of titles, with an average sales increase of 20 percent. Get more information on the Firebrand Research Labs data and results.
- Wondering how to effectively advertise your ebook on Amazon? Dave Chesson has a free course available. Check it out.
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.