Links of Interest: May 8, 2024

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Traditional Publishing

  • Yes, people buy books. This is the most comprehensive rebuttal to that viral article from last month on how “no one buys books.” Read Lincoln Michel at Counter Craft.
  • Publishing is designed to make most authors feel like losers. A nonfiction author and Substacker looks at the culture war that motivates people to bash the book publishing industry. Read Freddie DeBoer.
  • A closer look at Entangled Publishing. The publisher’s Red Tower imprint focuses on 18- to 25-year-olds and the romantasy genre. Entangled founder and publisher Liz Pelletier discusses the success of Rebecca Yarros and what’s ahead for 2024. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly.
  • Remembering and honoring agent Janet Reid: Her friends and colleagues are running a GoFundMe to raise money for a bench in Central Park (now funded) as well as Janet’s favorite charities. Donate.
  • How did Penguin Books choose the penguin? “Choosing a brand character, and specifically a penguin, allowed [publisher Allen Lane] to appropriate the utopian dynamic of mass consumption and mold it to fit his own progressive cultural project.” Read Matthew Wills at JSTOR Daily.

Trends

  • Latest research: 75 percent of YA readers are adults. And 28 percent of these adults are over the age of 28. Read Lucy Knight at The Guardian.
  • Decline by 9. Middle-grade book sales have been suffering perhaps because the number of kids reading for pleasure is dropping at the age of 9, research shows. Read Dan Kois in Slate.
  • Children’s publishers embrace Taylor Swift. Take a look at the upcoming books inspired by the pop star. Read Shannon Maughan at Publishers Weekly.
  • There’s surging demand for manga in North America. Manga sales in the US have quadrupled since 2020, partly due to the success of anime streaming on services such as Crunchyroll and Hulu. Read Deb Aoki in Publishers Weekly.
  • Another mainstream outlet comments on the “filthy” romantasy genre. It’s a snarky piece, and underlying the snark you’ll find the tropes common in romantasy. Read Paulina Prosnitz at Air Mail.
  • Sprayed edges at Barnes & Noble. Such books have their own section now. H/t Anne Trubek.

TikTok

  • BookTok’s influence is set to last. So says the Financial Times (subscription may be required) about the UK market. In 2022, 9 million of the 348 million books sold were found through video platforms such as TikTok, according to Nielsen BookData. Read Nathalie Thomas.
  • Substack tries to lure TikTok influencers. A new program, Substack Creator Studio, is a fellowship “for the next wave of video stars to turn their TikTok channels into Substack shows and communities. … Substack is evolving into video and beyond, because the people who want to benefit from this model are pushing us forward.” What would Substack do without these video stars to push them forward? Read the announcement.

Amazon

  • Audible will make audiobook recommendations based on Amazon Prime activity. Audible regularly tracks audiobook listenership following the release of related film and TV adaptations. Read Emma Roth at The Verge.
  • KDP authors have uploaded more than 40,000 AI-narrated titles. All such titles are labeled as having “virtual voice” narration. Some customers have asked Audible to provide a search filter that would omit these titles. Read Ashley Carman at Bloomberg.
  • Read a summary of changes to Amazon’s popularity-list rankings. An indie author discusses where to find these popularity lists and why they’re important. Read Monica Leonelle.

Libraries

  • How Seattle libraries deal with soaring demand for digital books: Some are reducing the number of digital holds patrons can place. Read Clare McGrane and Patricia Murphy at KUOW.
  • Seven states are looking at how to control costs of digital lending at libraries. However, legislation has so far gone nowhere, and libraries are looking at open-source alternatives to digital distribution services like Libby and Hoopla. Read Jennifer A. Kingson at Axios.

Culture & Politics

  • PEN cancels their annual festival. The announcement came not long after they canceled their awards ceremony. The organization writes, “The decision to cancel was not taken lightly and happens amid an escalating pattern of suppressing discourse in cultural institutions and on campuses.” Read at PEN America’s website.
  • A romance conference debacle in Denver: Authors, vendors, and readers at Readers Take Denver complained so loudly and publicly about the poor conditions that the organizers decided to cancel the 2025 event. Bestseller Rebecca Yarros was one of the authors who pledged not to return and apologized to her readers. Read Elizabeth Hernandez at the Denver Post.
  • How fiction became edible. New cookbooks offer recipes from your favorite books, movies, and TV Shows. Read Callum Bains in Esquire.
  • Who’s to blame for inaccuracies in a ghostwritten book? And how do such inaccuracies end up in a ghostwritten book in the first place? An experienced professional speculates on the Kristi Noem case. Read Josh Bernoff.

SPD Closure

  • Poetry Foundation offers a bridge fund for small presses. Nonprofit presses that publish poetry can request a grant from the Poetry Foundation, with up to $7,500 available per press to cover unanticipated expenses resulting from SPD’s closure. Learn more.
  • CLMP has launched a funding initiative for small presses based in New York state. One-time grants are available for $500 and $1000 to small presses affected by SPD’s closure. Learn more.

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