New UK agent at Madeleine Milburn Agency
Callen Martin has joined the agency and will represent children’s and YA science fiction and fantasy fiction.
Premium Content
New prize for novels: The Libraro Prize
The winner receives a book deal with Hachette UK with a £30,000 advance and £20,000 towards the marketing of the finished book.
Major copyright ruling in the US related to global rights
In a break from industry norms, an appeals court ruling that says authors and artists can recapture their rights globally upon reversion.
Author’s voice clone used for deepfake audio edition of his book
There’s a twist: the author says sales of his books on Amazon have gone up as a result of the unauthorized YouTube recordings.
There’s a new bestseller list for small and independent publishers
It’s based on the fiction and nonfiction that’s selling at independent bookstores and includes only small and independent publishers.
2025 US book sales: holding steady for print
According to Circana BookScan, overall print unit sales were up just barely, 0.3 percent, in 2025 versus the prior year.
2025 UK book sales: slight decline
Like in the US, adult fiction was strong while nonfiction declined and showed its lowest performance since 2018.
AI Detection Software: Who’s Using It and Is It Necessary?
Policies that prohibit AI use are easy enough to create, but they are not necessarily easy to enforce.
New agent at Handspun Literary
Author Justina Ireland has joined as an agent, seeking both adult and children’s fiction. She is currently closed to queries.
Children’s publisher Marble Press expands to adult categories
Marble Press has acquired CamCat Books from B&T; their catalog includes more than 100 adult and YA titles across multiple categories.
New industry podcast: Printed
The podcast is for publishing professionals and meant to “answer all the questions you might have about the industry we all love.”
Links of Interest: Jan. 14, 2026
The latest in traditional publishing, trends, legal issues, audio, AI, and culture & politics.
New agent at Britt Siess Creative Management
Previously a scout and book-to-film agent, Phoebe Schmidt is primarily interested in upmarket science fiction and fantasy.
New agents at Martin Literary Management
Charlie Serabian represents genre fiction and select nonfiction; Jess Taylor represents primarily YA and new adult.
New agency: Essie White Literary
Storm Literary Agency founder Essie White has launched a new agency representing authors and illustrators.
New agency: Confluence Literary
Bond Literary Agency and Copps Literary Services have merged to form Confluence Literary Agency.
New AI-powered manuscript assessment tool
The tool, by software company Trilogy, helps agents and publishers evaluate unsolicited manuscripts—but are any likely to admit to using it?
Publishers Marketplace reports 1.9 percent overall growth in US deals
Deals for adult fiction saw 9.3 percent growth, nonfiction deals were down 1.6 percent versus 2024, and children’s deals were flat.
Beware of book-into-movie apps
We looked at an app which claims to retell popular books via brief animated chapters, and the results range from absurd to possibly infringing.
What to Watch for in 2026
These are the news stories and topics I’ll be following closely this year, from growth in AI translation to ad-supported Substack and more.
Authors Guild pushes Amazon on legality of “Ask This Book” feature
The Guild argues that interactive chatbots represent a new format for books, with rights that must be negotiated and paid for.
Public Domain Day
For 2026, works from the year 1930 enter the public domain, including the first four Nancy Drew novels, The Maltese Falcon, and many more.
Harlequin switches to AI for English-to-French translation
Human translators will still be involved but only to edit the machine output in French.
Book sales: The New York Times recaps what sold in 2025
Of the year’s top 10 bestselling print nonfiction titles, only one was published in 2025; everything else was a backlist title.
Top 10 Clicked Links in 2025
Each issue of this newsletter contains dozens of links. Here’s what caught readers’ interest in 2025, in order of popularity.
Links of Interest: Dec. 31, 2025
The latest in traditional publishing, audiobooks, and marketing & promotion.
TikTok signs deal for sale of US unit
The deal is set to close in January 2026. The new owners include Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX.
Nebula Awards prohibit LLM use “at any point during the writing process”
These policies ultimately invite writers to lie about using LLMs if they believe their own use can’t be detected.
Barnes & Noble and Waterstones may go public in 2026
Timing for an IPO would likely be summer 2026 or later, after parent company Elliott Investment’s fiscal year ends in April.
Division changes at Wattpad WEBTOON Studios
In 2026 the publishing business will be moved into WEBTOON Entertainment. The entertainment business will be moved into WEBTOON Productions.
UK nonfiction sales: down 8.4 percent in 2025
Nonfiction sales will likely continue to decline in the years ahead due to competing sources of information and entertainment.
New agency: Ames Sports Literary & Publicity Agency
Bill Ames was previously an acquiring editor at Triumph Books, where he focused on sports publishing.
Links of Interest: Dec. 24, 2025
The latest in AI, traditional publishing, trends, marketing & promotion, and culture & politics.
On the List: Disciplined Entrepreneurship for Climate and Energy Ventures
The new bestseller discusses how to bring your climate or energy startup to life, using the authors’ 24-step framework.
Amazon stirs up a hornet’s nest with Ask This Book feature
Customers can ask questions about the Kindle book they’re reading and receive AI-generated answers—and authors & publishers can’t opt out.
Amazon customers can now easily download DRM-free ebooks
Some authors are now choosing to apply DRM to their titles moving forward, as they don’t want their books downloaded as PDFs.
Walt Disney and OpenAI’s Sora strike a deal
The companies have struck a three-year licensing agreement that allows users to create AI videos using more than 200 licensed characters.
Poetry publishing collective
Poetry Corp is an informal collective of five New York–based small presses.
Links of Interest: Dec. 17, 2025
The latest in audiobooks, traditional publishing, bookselling, trends, and culture & politics.
IngramSpark will increase pricing in 2026
As of Feb. 1, 2026, IngramSpark is increasing their pricing in two different ways: distribution fees and production costs.
Perplexity sued separately by New York Times and Chicago Tribune
The lawsuits accuse Perplexity of retrieving information in real time from paywalled sites without licensing.
Spotify’s Wrapped now includes audiobooks
For the first time, the personalized data story that recaps a user’s listening habits throughout the year includes audiobooks.
YouTube Offers Revenue and Readership for Self-Publishing Novelists
YouTube is the second-biggest search engine, and I spoke with three savvy authors for whom it’s a key driver of readership growth and revenue.
Everand and Fable release “state of reading” report
The headline finding is that personal recommendation is the top source of book discovery, surpassing social media and platforms like Amazon.
New nonfiction publisher: Full Set
The Dublin-based publisher will focus on current affairs and business titles with a global focus.
Penguin Random House launches KPop publishing program
PRH is collaborating with Netflix, which streams KPop Demon Hunters, to publish “fan-forward” titles about the show.
New agent: Brian King at Metamorphosis
Brian King is seeking YA and adult fantasy and romantasy. He has years of experience writing and working for Barnes & Noble.