The Atlantic finds more diversity in what books get published—but will it last?
Despite the foreboding headline, there’s good news to be found in the latest diversity counts among the biggest New York publishers.
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New AI licensing platforms beg the question: who gets paid for training and how much?
Collective licensing for AI training received heightened visibility last week when the co-founder of Scribd launched a licensing platform.
Book sales update: July 3, 2024
May 2024 was a very good month for print book sales, making it the third straight month of increased sales versus last year.
Sprayed Edges, Booming Sales: Why Deluxe Editions Are Suddenly Everywhere
Fans are willing to spend on special editions of their favorite authors and series.
Costco pulls back on stocking books
The New York Times reports that Costco will stop stocking books regularly in January 2025, except for the holiday season.
New class action lawsuit against Amazon over audiobooks
Romance author CD Reiss has filed suit, claiming that Audible/ACX terms have eliminated competition and hurt self-published authors’ earnings.
Publishers Lunch launches a bestseller list: The New List
The list looks at new releases only across four categories: hardcover fiction, hardcover nonfiction, trade paperback fiction, and children’s books.
Book sales update: June 19, 2024
Circana BookScan reports strong May 2024 print book sales that put 2024 sales on par with 2023 thus far.
Inside the Sales Pipeline: How Books Get from Publisher to Retailer
What does it take to place a book on shelves nationwide? A panel at the US Book Show offered insights.
Detecting AI Writing: Is It Even Possible? And So What If AI Is Used?
Experts discuss the evolving issue of what constitutes ethical use of AI in writing and publishing processes.
On the List: A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
Hafsah Faizal is the number-one New York Times and international bestselling, award-winning author of We Hunt the Flame.
New agent at KT Literary
Kait Feldmann has joined KT Literary as an agent. Previously she worked at Scholastic and HarperCollins.
New adult imprint at St. Martin’s Press (Macmillan)
The imprint is described as “commercial, voice-driven fiction with a focus on fantasy, speculative fiction, romance and genre-adjacent fiction.”
Disney launches Planet Possible Books
Disney will designate three to four children’s books annually as Disney Planet Possible titles.
Links of Interest: June 19, 2024
The latest in traditional publishing, trends, legal concerns, AI, and culture & politics.
Did you know? Spotify pays lower music royalties by offering bundled music + audiobook subscription
The National Music Publishers’ Association has filed an FTC complaint against Spotify over a recent move to bundle music and audiobooks.
Barnes & Noble says it “cannot maintain availability for all books” at BN.com
Self-publishing authors were shocked to find that B&N had removed some, and sometimes all, of their print editions for sale through BN.com.
NYT bestseller list: Yes, it’s politically biased, says The Economist
For years, conservatives (among others) have complained that the New York Times list is biased against them.
Self-published author of Shadow Work Journal moves to Simon & Schuster
Keila Shaheen, the self-published author who has sold more than a million copies of her book, is now working with a Big Five publisher.
Membership increases 9 percent for the American Booksellers Association
The ABA now has 2,433 members, which is 200 more than the previous year and double the number of 2016.
Webtoon, which includes Wattpad, is going public
Webtoon’s filing to become a publicly traded company reveals some interesting stats about their platform.
Audiobook sales update
According to the Audio Publishers Association, revenue increased 9 percent in 2023 for the 27 publishers surveyed.
Romance Writers of America: From Powerhouse to Bankruptcy
An expert on the history of romance writing over the last 40 years discusses how and why the RWA no longer serves as the central pillar for the writing community.
How Much Are Publishers Concerned about AI? Depends on Who You Ask
While some encourage using AI to boost efficiency, concerns remain over how AI is trained and its effect on creative professions.
From Copyright to Labor Rights: Cory Doctorow on AI Challenges
Doctorow added nuance and case studies to his discussion of copyright law and the creative class.
New UK imprint: Headline Press
Headline Press is a nonfiction imprint with a focus on politics, current affairs, history, personal development, popular science, and memoir.
New imprint at HarperCollins
Harper Influence is a new, general nonfiction imprint that will begin releasing titles this fall.
Calling all business authors: new author study
Business writing expert Josh Bernoff, along with several sponsors, are fielding a comprehensive survey of business authors.
New agent at Mad Woman Literary
Alex Brown represents adult, YA, and children’s fiction authors. She is a Locus Award finalist who used to work on the CW show Supernatural.
Links of Interest: June 5, 2024
The latest in industry coverage, AI, traditional publishing, legal concerns, and media.
Links of Interest: May 22, 2024
The latest in traditional publishing, legal concerns, culture & politics, and AI.
Amazon testing “book trends data” on product detail page
Some authors have expressed anger and frustration that what they consider private information is now being made public by Amazon.
Penguin Random House dismisses two top editors
Both editors were high-profile hires and fairly new to the Big Five publisher.
New OpenAI model: GPT-4o
OpenAI announced their new generative AI model that can accept (as prompts) and generate multiple types of media, all from one interface.
Publishers begin to add AI language to contracts
Three of the Big Five publishers are adding contract language that prohibits the publisher from training AI models on the contracted work.
Book sales update: April 2024 & first quarter 2024
In April 2024, print book sales declined by 4 percent versus 2023, according to Circana BookScan.
What Kinds of Stories Can Be Found in Serial Reading Apps?
In a word: romance. Stories are highly dramatic, romantic, sexually explicit and frequently feature werewolves, aliens, and cryptids.
The Growth of Romantasy
The genre that’s home to Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros holds continued growth opportunity for all kinds of publishers and authors.
On the List: How to Walk into a Room by Emily P. Freeman
Emily P. Freeman is the host of the Next Right Thing podcast, and the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of six books.
New agency: SteelWorks Literary
Lori Steel has founded SteelWorks Literary; she was previously at Red Fox Literary.
New agent at WordServe
Emma Fulenwider has joined as literary agent with a focus on adult nonfiction books in the general and Christian markets.
Firebrand launches Publishing Innovation Forum
The Firebrand Group (which runs Firebrand Technologies, NetGalley, and Supadu) will host the three-day event in Nashville this September.
AI book marketing startups: Pix and Shimmr
Shimmr is an automated book advertising service based in the UK; Pix is a chatbot that offers book recommendations.
Two more publishers join Spotify’s audiobook offering
Spotify’s new audiobook subscription service already includes all of the Big Five publishers.
Links of Interest: May 8, 2024
The latest in traditional publishing, trends, TikTok, Amazon, libraries, culture & politics, the SPD closure, and AI.
No more noncompete clauses in publishing contracts?
Recently, the FTC in the United States announced a rule banning non-competes nationwide, making noncompetes no longer enforceable.
Changes to Amazon’s Kindle Vella program
Kindle Vella is Amazon’s serialization platform where readers must pay to keep reading new installments.
Penguin Random House launches internal ChatGPT tool for employees
PRH has made an internal generative AI tool available to its employees as an alternative to the public version of ChatGPT.