Traditional Publishing
- The DOJ demonstrates it doesn’t understand book publishing that well. Industry vet Mike Shatzkin explains the economics of big-book advances and why the biggest publishers will continue to consolidate. Read at his site.
- A look at Midwestern publishers: Learn about the publishing scene in the Twin Cities and Chicago and the spillover into Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Read Claire Kirch in Publishers Weekly.
- Meet the ghostwriters of celebrity books. They are getting more respect and acknowledgment in today’s industry and are beginning to be called collaborators. Read Rachel Deahl in Publishers Weekly.
- Unionizing has surged in bookselling, a business where unions had been rare. Since 2020, employees have unionized or are attempting to do so everywhere from Printed Matter in New York City to Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle and Bookshop Santa Cruz in California. Read Hillel Italie in the AP.
Culture & Politics
- An in-depth look at Realms of Ruin, the YA collaborative NFT project that died within hours of launch. The general lack of understanding and overall confusion about the project signals a critical, ongoing problem: whether the general public will ever find crypto and NFTs comprehensible in the first place. Read Amanda Silberling at TechCrunch.
- The short life of antiracist book clubs. Many antiracist book clubs that began in summer 2020 are no longer. Those that continue may be less public about their antiracism journeys. Read Fabiola Cineas at Vox.
- There is an unprecedented spike in attempts to ban books from schools and libraries. According to the American Library Association, there is a 60 percent increase in challenges to books compared to last year. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly.
- Trump is self-publishing a photo book of his time in office. It will release on December 7; a signed copy retails for $229.99. Read Elizabeth A. Harris and Alexandra Alter at The New York Times.
Potpourri
- Medium acquires Knowable. Knowable offers podcast-style lessons from experts and will remain a stand-alone product for now. Book authors can apply to be a Knowable expert. Learn more.
- Hollywood loves books. The streaming industry is as hungry as ever for intellectual property to adapt. Read Kate Dwyer in Marie Claire.
- 21 authors to follow on TikTok to learn book promo. This list offers inspiration and a set of people to follow when you join the platform. Read Shailee Shah at BookBub.
- Avoid this editor. Victoria Strauss investigates recent complaints against an editor who’s been featured at a variety of high-profile sites. Read at Writer Beware.
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.