Traditional Publishing
- Penguin Random House has launched a limited-time serialized effort. Season of Stories consists of 11 first-person fiction stories delivered directly to readers via email. Stories are by award-winning and bestselling authors such as Anthony Marra and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It’s free to sign up, but (of course) requires your email address.
- Rob Spillman discusses the virtues of small, independent presses. In a very long interview with an executive editor at Little, Brown, Spillman talks about literary magazine Tin House as well as authors switching from the Big Five publishers to smaller presses that offer more attention and support. Read at Poets & Writers.
- Remember Bookish? It’s the consumer book-buying site that the big traditional publishers launched—their not-very-effective answer to Amazon—that was later sold to Zola. Well, now Zola has sold Bookish to NetGalley. Read more at Publishers Weekly.
In the News
- The internet is integral to the survival of small, independent bookstores. The social media and marketing strategies of some bookstores help them effectively prevent sales from trickling over to Amazon. Read more in the New York Times.
- Audiobooks are on the rise—but do you know any audiobook talent? Learn about the voice actors helping publishers drive sales. Read in Salon.
Self-publishing
- The Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) offers formal service ratings of self-publishing services. Over time, ALLi has been offering more and more watchdog-type content at their website, and they now offer a formal area devoted to ratings of specific publishing companies. Take a look. They also recently wrote about 12 services that authors should beware of.
- Should independent authors invest in ISBNs? One author makes an unusual argument that we haven’t yet seen. Read a summary at the Digital Reader.
Marketing Toolbox
- Facebook offers a summary of what types of content work best on Live video. In brief, breaking news, suspenseful events, and severe weather are popular. Read more at their blog.
- Producing online content that you’re promoting on social media? To maximize visibility, shares, and clicks, you should learn how to write multiple headlines. The experts at Buffer offer an extensive guide.
- Do you promote your books on Instagram? The people at BookBub have rounded up author case studies of who’s doing it right. Read more at the BookBub blog.
- For authors who advertise (or want to) on Facebook: Learn how to make a Facebook funnel that converts. Visit the Moz blog.
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.