News
- The launch of Audible Captions is on hold, but Audible claims the whole thing is a contractual dispute, not a copyright issue. So far, it appears that the launch of Captions will not move forward for works protected under copyright until the court rules on the preliminary injunction (the ruling is expected on Sept. 23). Michael Cader noted in Publishers Lunch (subscription required) that authors are a major supplier for Audible—accounting for 160,000 titles, according to Audible’s website. Meanwhile, Audible is arguing the whole case should be dismissed because the use of Captions falls under licenses that publishers agreed to. Audible also argues that, in any event, the use is fair. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly. For an understanding of the underlying issues, see our Sept. 4 item.
- The sale of “used” ebooks in Europe will likely be considered illegal. A US court case already looked at the matter and did not offer support for legal ebook resale; the EU is on the verge of coming to a similar decision. Read Katie Mansfield in The Bookseller.
- AWP has fired its new executive director after six months. The nonprofit organization, composed of university writing programs and many others in the literary writing community, is in the news once again for abrupt changes in leadership. Read Claire Kirch in Publishers Weekly.
- Libraries have begun a national campaign against the Macmillan ebook embargo. Librarians are making a direct plea to Macmillan CEO John Sargent to abandon the two-month embargo on new ebook releases, and they are also launching a public advocacy initiative. Elsewhere, industry commentators like Michael Cader question when libraries will focus their efforts on gaining access to ebooks and audiobooks published by Amazon, none of which are sold to libraries—while Amazon has access to valuable library patron data through Kindle use. Read Andrew Albanese in Publishers Weekly. Also, over at Slate, Heather Schwedel explores why librarians are “going to war.”
Trends
- Illustrated romance covers are now a thing. They kind of look like chick-lit, which is not a good thing. Read Annika Barranti Klein in BookRiot.
- Book publishing experiences a Trump slump. After a two-year run, is the fun about to be over? Read Sridhar Pappu in The Washingtonian.
- Where has the horror section of the bookstore gone? Even as Halloween approaches, it’s difficult to find horror in a brick-and-mortar store. Read Jef Rouner in Houston Press.
- Celebrity book clubs are a ticket to success. We covered this issue last month, but here’s NPR’s take. Read Lynn Neary.
Children’s Publishing
- Sourcebook Kids now accounts for 50 percent of the publisher’s overall sales. Unit sales rose 24 percent in the first six months of 2019 over the comparable period in 2018, while revenue increased 26 percent. Read Jim Milliot in Publishers Weekly.
- Publishers share their strategies for reaching pre-teens. A long feature in Publishers Weekly discusses the marketing of middle-grade work, including school tours by authors, library marketing, book festivals, online communities, and reaching gatekeepers (educators and librarians at schools). Read Shannon Maughan (subscription required).
- Marvel and Scholastic will produce original middle-grade novels based on Marvel superheroes. The first titles release in 2020. Read Calvin Reid in Publishers Weekly.
Bookselling
- The Testaments is off to a record-breaking start. Penguin Random House reports that 125,000 copies sold during its first week, and the book enjoyed the best day-one sales for any PRH title in 2019. Read Rachel Deahl and Claire Kirch in Publishers Weekly.
- The American Booksellers Association will soon launch BookShop. It’s an online bookstore with an explicit mission to help promote and financially support the brick-and-mortar bookselling community. Yes, it’s meant to compete against Amazon. Read the press release.
Sales and Marketing
- Hiring a book publicist is expensive and doesn’t always work. Literary agent Kate McKean discusses how to cope with such a system and set expectations. Read her newsletter.
- Optimize your LinkedIn profile as an author. The Penguin Random House blog offers tips on maximizing your LinkedIn presence. Read Neda Dallal.
- Open Road appears to be experimenting with ebook rentals. You can find them at Google Play. Learn more from Nate Hoffelder at The Digital Reader.
- How publishers can capitalize on video in book publishing. The man in charge of video content at Penguin Random Houses shares his thoughts on the future of video and digital marketing strategy. Read Peter Rossiter in The Bookseller.
- Goodreads is broken. The site has stagnated for 12 years and become clunky and slow—and that’s just the beginning. Read Angela Lashbrook at Medium.
Self-publishing
- Using BookBub’s Chirp to promote a self-published audiobook. An author moves from ACX to Findaway Voices and tries a Chirp promotion. Read Mary Locke at the ALLi blog.
- Draft2Digital now distributes to Hoopla. Hoopla serves library systems worldwide. Learn more in the announcement.
- A successful children’s author launches his own publishing company, Pipweasel. Author-illustrator David Kirk, best known for his 23-book Miss Spider series, has decided to break free from corporate publishing. Read Claire Kirch 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.