News
- Publishers request exclusions from US/China tariffs. Those who stand to be most affected are children’s publishers and publishers of Bibles and other religious books. Read Jim Milliot at Publishers Weekly.
- There’s potential rights fraud at ACX. ACX, the Amazon-owned marketplace that helps authors produce and distribute audiobooks, is being infiltrated by people who seem intent on stealing authors’ audio rights. There’s also some funny business related to promotional codes. Read more from Victoria Strauss at Writer Beware.
- Cengage, Elsevier, Macmillan Learning, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson filed suit against websites that sell illegal, unlicensed ebooks using Google ads. The court has already granted a temporary restraining order to shut down the alleged activity. To learn more, you can visit the site created by the publishers to make their case, Stop Counterfeit Textbooks!
Newspapers and Magazines
- Hearst magazine staffers unionize as part of WGA East. Hearst includes employees of Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, and others; the move makes WGA East one of the largest editorial units in the media industry. In recent years, more than 2,000 new members have joined unions represented by WGA East and NewsGuild. Read Maxwell Tani at Daily Beast.
- One in five daily US newspapers is now owned by the newly merged Gannett Media. New Media Investment Group, owner of newspaper chain GateHouse Media, has successfully acquired Gannett, which owns USA Today, completing a merger that puts roughly 260 dailies under the same umbrella. Layoffs now loom. Read Marc Tracy in the New York Times.
Barnes & Noble
- Barnes & Noble cuts freelance writers from its blogs. CEO James Daunt told Publishers Lunch (subscription required) that the move is part of a larger effort to empower local booksellers, and that opinions about books on the store’s website should be those of booksellers. For more background, read Judith Rosen at Publishers Weekly.
- Meanwhile, Daunt also says that Barnes & Noble stores are “crucifyingly boring.” At the FutureBook Live conference in London, Daunt said the stores must find character to succeed. Read Porter Anderson in Publishing Perspectives.
- There’s an age discrimination lawsuit against Barnes & Noble. A California employee terminated in September alleges that the store puts in place policies, practices, and procedures that disproportionately affect employees age 40 and older. Here is the filing, made available through Publishers Lunch.
Follow the Money
- A spreadsheet of anonymous, self-reported book-publishing salaries is growing. It includes information about gender identity, salary history, and more. Apparently, a good number of NYC book-publishing employees survive on less than $50,000 a year. Browse.
- Cash-strapped small businesses—including independent bookstores—seek help using GoFundMe. Featured: Books of Wonder in Manhattan. Read Kate King in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required).
- One in every five bookstores is in need of financial assistance. That’s according to an industry survey by the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. Read Ed Nawotka in Publishers Weekly.
- Perlego gets $9 million in funding as a “Spotify for textbooks.” The company is based in London and offers 300,000 ebooks from 2,300 publishers. Read Steve O’Hear at TechCrunch.
- Scribd has raised $58 million in new funding. The company has claimed profitability since 2017, as well as 1 million paying subscribers. Read Anthony Ha at TechCrunch.
Trends
- Amazon Crossing is the most prolific publisher of translated literature in the United States. First established in May 2010, the imprint has now published more than 400 books. Read Ed Nawotka at Publishers Weekly.
- When can an author expect to publish their first bestseller? Someone has crunched the numbers and created an interactive graph that explores the age of every bestselling fiction author when they first achieved NYT bestseller status. Take a look at In the Book.
- The benefits of the board book boom. For 2019, sales are on track to surpass last year’s once again. Read Jim Harbison in Publishers Weekly.
- What tweets and emojis did to the novel: A writer considers why Elena Ferrante and Karl Ove Knausgard seem destined to define the last decade. Read Charles Finch in The New York Times.
- A look at podcast dramas: They’re reviving a genre that, at least in the US, was considered long dead. Read Jack Seale at The Guardian.
Culture & Politics
- Four of the Big Five publishers have imprints specifically dedicated to right-wing authors. Publishers have been cashing in on authors like Donald J. Trump, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Tomi Lahren. Left-leaning people (the well-known majority in the publishing industry) find this problematic. Read Maris Kreizman at Vanity Fair.
- Book deals for government employees: bad for democracy? Instead of testifying, people like John Bolton are instead locking down a book deal. Dahlia Lithwick at Slate says this a terrible trend.
- Author Alexander Chee discusses whether to write about people who don’t look like you. First, ask why you want to write from this character’s point of view, and be sure you’re already reading authors from the community you intend to write about. Read more at Vulture.
- Bread Loaf ends the “wait scholar” program, where recipients received tuition in exchange for labor. The decision took place after the prestigious writers conference learned about concerns of sexual harassment and racism. Read Sindya N. Bhanoo in The New York Times.
- There’s been mild improvement in lit mag gender parity. The annual VIDA count is now available. John Maher at Publishers Weekly summarizes the findings.
Marketing Toolbox
- How to take action on a media opportunity and boost book sales. In a free case study from Ingram, learn how a ten-year-old title was able to increase sales and discoverability with a very small investment. Read the report. We also covered it here.
- Do podcasts sell books? Yes. Get insights from an interview with Kathy Doyle, vice president of podcasting at Macmillan. Read Simon Owens at Medium.
New Imprint Alert
- HarperCollins is launching a Native-focused imprint for children. It’s called Heartdrum and is co-headed by author Cynthia Leitich Smith, a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation. Read Sally Lodge in Publishers Weekly.
- Zondervan launches a new nonfiction imprint. Thrive will focus on nonfiction titles in personal development, health and wellness, and marriage and family. Read Emma Wenner in Publishers Weekly.
- There’s a new graphic novel imprint from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Etch will gather all of the publisher’s graphic novels into a single imprint, to debut next fall, with plans to publish about 15 titles per year. Most of the books on the initial list are middle grade. Read Brigid Alverson in Publishers Weekly.
- IDW debuts a line of Spanish graphic novels. IDW is author and actor George Takei’s publishing house. Read Calvin Reid in Publishers Weekly.
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.