News
- Penguin Random House creates a new Spanish-language division. The new division combines two existing groups, Vintage Español and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial USA. It will be run out of Miami. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
- Pan Macmillan (UK) experiments with putting three titles in Kindle Unlimited. Most Big Five publishers don’t participate in Amazon’s KU service, but titles from Jeffrey Archer, Lucinda Riley, and Winston Graham have all been added to the subscription platform in what Pan Macmillan describes as a trial. HarperCollins UK has also put a limited number of backlist titles in KU in what it called a “strategic and tactical” push. Read Benedicte Page in The Bookseller (subscription required).
Trends
- Is your podcast a book? Agent Kate McKean discusses what kinds of podcasts are well positioned to secure a book deal. Read her newsletter.
- The market for comics and graphic novels is growing. Driven by strength in middle grade and YA graphic novels, North American sales in 2019 increased by 11 percent versus 2018. The bookstore channel has now surpassed sales of comics shops. Declining in demand: the superhero genre, once dominant in the industry. Read Calvin Reid in Publishers Weekly.
Bookselling
- Bookshop has strong UK sales during its first week of launch. Since launching Nov. 2, Bookshop has sold £440,000 (about $582,217) worth of books, earning £83,000 (about $109,827) for local bookstores and attracting nearly a half million visitors to the website. About 250 UK bookstores are using the platform. Learn more from Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
- Australia’s Booktopia raises $30 million. The largest online bookseller in Australia is about to go public and will start trading on Dec. 3. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
Libraries
- Penguin Random House extends open license for reading. Online story time and read-aloud videos are now permitted through March 31, 2021. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly.
- Best practices for library events. The Panorama Project has established a directory of resources to assist publishers, authors, and libraries in hosting book-related events. Take a look.
Amazon
- Audible allows returns of audiobooks for any reason for a full year. When that happens, authors see the sale and royalty deducted from their account—and are understandably unhappy. We wonder if publishers experience the same problem. Read more at Susan May’s site.
- Audible adds 100,000 podcasts to its service. After putting out a call for podcasters to join its platform earlier this year, Audible announced it now has 100,000 shows consisting of 5 million episodes available free to members and non-members. Read Todd Spangler at Variety.
Culture & Politics
- Publishers step up diversity efforts. The New York Times recaps what Big Five publishers have done since June’s civil unrest to address underrepresentation in the industry. Read Alexandra Alter and Elizabeth A. Harris.
- A brief history of audiobooks going all the way back to vinyl. They were once called talking books and produced primarily for the blind. Read Yashvi Peeti at Book Riot.
- Literary fiction and popular fiction affect the brain differently. Researchers have found evidence that literary fiction reading is linked to more accurate estimates of other people’s opinions, and that popular fiction reading is linked to increased egocentric bias. But they caution against inferring that literary fiction is “inherently better” than popular fiction. Instead, they cultivate different socio-cognitive processes. Read Beth Ellwood at PsyPost.
- How the science fiction genre is changing. A group of BIPOC editors in science fiction discuss what they’re seeing in the field and what the next decade might hold. Read Tasha Robinson at Polygon.
- Fantasy fiction and role-playing games have a racist history. Such works are often nostalgic for colonial cultures and medievalism. Read Payal Dhar in The Guardian.
- People with chronic illness are missing from YA fiction. An author seeks to write about and raise awareness of teenagers who suffer from conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Read Penny Joelson at We Need Diverse Books.
Book Marketing
- The ultimate guide to influencer marketing for authors. The Alliance of Independent Authors offers a free 101 guide. Read at their site.
- Learn about digital distribution channels available to self-publishing authors—including smaller players. Mark Williams discusses lesser known methods of distributing ebooks and audiobooks, such as Ebook Partnership and XinXii. Read at ALLi’s site.
- How four children’s authors are using Animal Crossing as a promotional platform. The bestselling video game Animal Crossing offers a novel way for authors to connect with their young readers. Read Sarah Yung at Publishers Weekly.
- How to use TikTok for bookish purposes. It’s not just dance moves and music videos. Read Nataly Alarcón at BookNet Canada.
- There’s a big change in BookBub ads. David Gaughran explains what’s new with BookBub’s click-based advertising and how it might affect your campaigns. Watch at YouTube.
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.